Urban Organic Gardener is the brainchild of Brooklyn native Mike Lieberman (pictured above).
UrbanOrganicGardener.com is about giving you practical container gardening tips to grow your own food so you can avoid toxic pesticides, eat healthier and not feel limited by your lack of experience and space.
Don’t worry if you have no previous gardening experience or training. That’s why you’re here! You can turn the little space you have (in and around your apartment) into a place to grow your own vegetable gardens.
On a 2×3 fire escape in New York City, you can grow cherry tomatoes, peppers, kale, swiss chard, lettuces, oregano, mint and more.
This site is dedicated to providing your with proof that you don’t need to have lots of land or space to be able to grow and regularly eat your own fresh food while not worrying about chemical pesticides…once you know how to utilize the space.
In Los Angeles you can take a 13×4 balcony and convert it into a steady supply of non-chemically treated greens.
Sound interesting?
What Readers Say About Urban Organic Gardener
“I love that you have this site! There are a number of sites that address the organic gardening issue. Yours however shows how to do this for a number of us that have real space limitations and shows it done for pats with there limited lighting. Addressing these issue by showing how it’s done it GREAT. Plus us very small food gardeners have you to contact with and know you will be the one responding with practical experience for us to work on with.” — Comment left by Cheri on Facebook
“I am so glad I have found your site,love it ! I have been thinking of growing my own vegetables for awhile now & reading & seeing what you have done has motivated me. I do try & buy seasonal organic when I can as I also hate that most of our fruits & vegetables have pesticides. Keep up the great work ! :)” — Comment left by Debbie on the site
More About UrbanOrganicGardener.com
This site has been featured or quoted in some of the following events and publications:
Good luck Mike. I will be watching and learning from you. The student becomes the teacher…LOL>
Good luck Mike. I will be watching and learning from you. The student becomes the teacher…LOL>
Gracias. See I was taught well.
I am proud of you for believing in something and going for it!!!
Keep doing what your doing, hella cool.
I love the can-do tenacity of this site, it’s fantastic! I’m still not entirely sure why you’re hell bent on growing things upside down? I’m fairly impressed when my veg manage to grow the right way up!
Hey I'm with you. I'm tring to grow my own herbs and tomatoes, for now on conventional containers but I'll soon try self wattering containers. I plan to do this lifetime, so I have to find out a way for it not to be time consuming.
Keep up the good work. I'll follow your blog for now on.
Great. Thanks Hibai. The self watering containers have been great so far – effective, low maintenance and producing wonderfully. My cherry tomato plant is starting to bear fruit and will likely harvest some of them pretty soon.
Thanks for following and hope you are enjoying.
Hi Mike, When I started The Dinner Garden I had someone write me a long letter about why it would never work and how people can't learn to garden by reading. The letter arrived a long time ago, but it still motivates me. People have been gardening for ever and if they can do it, I can do it too. Your plants look great and your site is an inspiration!
That's awesome. Good for you. My sentiments are exactly the same. What did people do 600 years ago. They didn't get a fancy piece of paper that said they could grow food or anything like that. They just did it. Our lives have lives have become so “complex” and mired in BS that we constantly look towards others to get the simple things done.
Love what you are doing and keep up the great work. You're inspirational.
Hi Mike, When I started The Dinner Garden I had someone write me a long letter about why it would never work and how people can't learn to garden by reading. The letter arrived a long time ago, but it still motivates me. People have been gardening for ever and if they can do it, I can do it too. Your plants look great and your site is an inspiration!
That's awesome. Good for you. My sentiments are exactly the same. What did people do 600 years ago. They didn't get a fancy piece of paper that said they could grow food or anything like that. They just did it. Our lives have lives have become so “complex” and mired in BS that we constantly look towards others to get the simple things done.
Love what you are doing and keep up the great work. You're inspirational.
Hey Mike,
I have been gardening for years and recently relocated to Jersey City where I am trying my hand at container gardening. I came across your site after doing a little research. I know you try to garden on the cheap (as do I now that I am unemployed!) so I wanted to make sure you knew about freecycle.org. Check out the website and register for your local area. I just swapped some tomato seedlings for some pepper seedlings last night and met a new neighbor to boot. Best of luck to you and keep it up… I am anxiously watching my squash blossoms and anticipating a rewarding harvest! Hope LA is treating you right.
Best,
Destené
Hey Mike,
I have been gardening for years and recently relocated to Jersey City where I am trying my hand at container gardening. I came across your site after doing a little research. I know you try to garden on the cheap (as do I now that I am unemployed!) so I wanted to make sure you knew about freecycle.org. Check out the website and register for your local area. I just swapped some tomato seedlings for some pepper seedlings last night and met a new neighbor to boot. Best of luck to you and keep it up… I am anxiously watching my squash blossoms and anticipating a rewarding harvest! Hope LA is treating you right.
Best,
Destené
Thanks Destene. I need to check out freecycle more often. Appreciate the tip.
I have a balcony in the back of my apartment – just outside the French Quarter in New Orleans. Last year I started growing herbs, peppers and tomatoes. One of the first things I learned was to get the right variety to grow in containers. I tried to grow Creole tomatoes, and they did not respond well. This year, I tried zucchini, and didn't have good results either. Lots of blossoms at first, but no zucchini. A neighbor planted a variety of tomato called “Patio”. They kept to a small size (for tomato plants) and they were full of green tomatoes within a month to 6 weeks. I replaced my zucchini with patio tomatoes and will see what happens (our first frost here is around Dec. 15). Next year, when I re-plant, I will definitely be trying the self-watering containers. Food is an important part of the New Orleans culture. There are certain things I will not cook unless I can use ingredients from my own garden.
Sweet. Food is and should be an important part of all of our cultures. I def wanna start to grow much more of my own and become more dependent on it.
Hey Mike, I live in a townhome but grow food in my balcony: I have 4 or 5 different kinds of pepper, oregano, Italian basil, tomatoes, parsley, mint, and this year, trying eggplant and cucumber but those are much more slow. What I am amazed about is the peace and calm I feel when I water my plants or see a new fruit every day! I take so many photos of these silly plants it's quite ridiculous :)! I hear your passion …..
Yes. Most definitely enjoyable. Thanks for the comment.
I just found this blog, and I love it! I've been trying to grow vegetables at home too… even though I live in my parents' house and probably going to leave in a year or so… it'll be one of my returns for food and lodging 😛
I've grown two tomatoes and one okra from seed so far – and three or four chilis, lots of fenugreek, basil, coriander and spinach. I'm loving it! My friends can't understand why it's so exciting to me… but it is! I've planted onions and more okra, I'm looking forward to doing more.
I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Nice. Sounds like you got a good trade-off going on. You need to do a better job of explaining it to your friends 😉
Hi Mike, great Site. I live in San Francisco and there's a large movement out here and in other parts of California to start turning the sidewalks into Gardens in residential areas . Its great for people
that don't have backyards or fire escapes and helps stop rainwater from flooding the sewer systems and running into the ocean as run off . It builds good neighbors and neighborhoods
Love the idea of growing food on sidewalks. Food and everything about it is community.
Mike very nice blog! I'm struggling with cabbage worms right now. I'm also blogging about my Thrifty and Green Experiences in Wyoming. Currently I'm on a five day journey to BUY NOTHING. You can check out my little musings at:
http://www.christinemccreedy.blogspot.com
Cabbage worms are a huge pain. Might want to look into some row covers to help with those. Congrats on starting the blog. Keep it up.
Great website and thanks for sharing. I got the topsy turvey plant on my porch and doing great also
Thanks for the comment. I've heard mix about the topsy turvy, but sounds like it's working well for you. That's all that matters.
You're an awesome dude. I also like your 365 ways to go green. Thanks for sharing all this. I started balcony gardening 2 years ago and wondering what to do with the old soil.
see my bacony from last year: http://www.flickr.com/photos/migirl/3698030898/
Greetings from Germany.
Thanks Maya. Love the photos. You can start a compost pile with the old soil and use it for your garden in the future.
Bravo Mike:
You are who Authentic Haven Brand packages our premium soil conditioner teas for…Look forward to your growing success…Annie
Thanks Annie. Loves what you do.
hi Mike. I am new to container garening. I tried it last year but wasn’t succesful. I love the self watering idea. My question is the green way… WHERE do you get food quality FREE containers? I am disabled and anything free works for me and if this works out for me, I will get my grand kids involved too!
Thanks Kathy. You can ask for them at your farmers markets, delis, restaurants, etc. They should all be good sources to get them.
Keep me updated!
You’re really awesome! I just came across your site while I was trying to figure out how to set up my new worm bin. I love sustainable living, and eventually want to open an organice business, with the idea of eventually being completely off the grid. Thanks for the ideas, and I plan to check your site often =)
Denny
Thanks. Appreciate you visiting and the kind words.
The problem with squash, cucumber, and melons is that they need help polinating. In my garden, I haven’t seen any bees and the only fruit I have actually produced are the ones I hand pollenated. It is fairly simple, but you need to check daily, which is why mine were so limited.
Another thing i recomend is a gardening journal to keep track of what works and to plan changes that you can make. Every fail is a success in learning.
Hey mike You are cute(sorry i had to get that out of the way) i love my trash garden(yes all the stuff i garden with is from the dumpster but its cleaned out to remove toxics). have you though about aeroponics hydroponics and aquaponics??(i thought hydroponics and aqua ponics were the same thing the difference for those who dont know is aqua deals with fish being in the water sysem so imagin mike 2 liter self water bottle with nemo in the water that would make an interesting coffe table decoration) also i modified the 2 liter bottle SWS and added another bottle bottom on top with poke holes to create sws with a green house. major props on your crops man. PLUR – KyleRR
Kathylynn67, i use food container i buy food in. yogurt cups butter tubs milk jugs juice cartons egg cartons(especially the bio degradable cardboard egg cartons) i also use toilet paper tubes paper towel tubes cereal boxes etc… the list goes on if i can buy it from the grocery store and its biodegradable i use it for my planting containers if its a hard plastic i use it for watering
Thanks. I’ve been experimenting a bit with hydroculture, but it’s too many things for me at this point. I like planting in the containers…hopefully will have land to plant in one day.
This is great stuff, Mike, but then you knew that already. You are preaching the same message I am trying to do over on my Blog and podcasts. keep it up!
Steve
http://www.borntofarm.com
Hey Mike, Nice to have someone spreading the word about organic gardening & going green while doing it. I have been an avid gardener most of my adult life & grow both indoor & outdoors. I also run a small home based business manufacturing hydroponic growing systems, after a trip or Disney World in Orlando 6 years ago I took a behind the scenes tour & quickly saw there was a much less expensive way to grow without spending thousands on grow systems from big box stores. You can use anything that will hold water to grow in hydroponic system. Best thing is they are great for indoor during cold months & outdoor in spring/summer. We would be glad to contribute any information you may need if you decide to start an hydroponic or aeroponic system. You look to be very handy constructing things already so hydroponic system would be no problem for you to build.
Bill
http://www.aerocustoms.com
Thanks Bill. I experimented with hydroculture without much success mostly due to my lack of taking care of it. As for growing indoors, my current apartment doesn’t get much direct sunlight.
Thanks man. Appreciate the comment.
WOW. You are AWESOME! My friend told me about your website, and of course, I’m here! Just in time for my own garden I’m about to start soon! I was gonna give away my sons custom wooden sandbox I gifted him for his 5th Birthday because it was getting to be way too messy. Instead, my brilliant friend suggested me turn it into a section for me growing my veggies! I’m OBSESSED! Can’t wait to start, and thank you for creating this website!
That is awesome. You gotta take pics and send em to me. Thanks for stoppin by.
Thanks so much for the inspiration! You’ve motivated me to start growing my own as well 🙂
Nice. Keep me updated on your progress…
Hello Mike,
My name is Susie and my son Carlos and I are new composters. He started at school with a 2lr coca cola bottle and a mystery seddling that now has sprot high but we can’t tell what it is yet. In order to be supportive of this new hobby I purchase a larger container and organic poting soil. We live in Vancouver, BC Canada in a small walk up apartment with no balcony or fire scape stairs like yours. He is composting without worms and i wonder if you could tell us if the decomposers he used added to a bigger container would enough to keep it active? Please let us know. Your site was the only one that was clear enough and informative for me to understand without feeling like a dork. Thank you for your site.
Susie & Carlos
Appreciate the message Susie. I’m glad that you found the site to be informative, but not too overwhelming. If I understand you correctly, you should be able to transfer the compost to a larger container without a problem.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to hit me up.
Keep me updated.
Hey Mike,
I’m actually a neighbor of yours.
Have about the same amount of space to deal with as you do. I hit a wall with brainstorming how to get highest herb/plant yield with such small space this spring. Then a friend pointed me to your YouTube channel.
Such a huge inspiration, especially knowing you’re probably a 10 min. bike ride away.-Giangabriel
I take that back, I mean in Bushwick, Brooklyn, not L.A.haha
Good work dude!
Hahha. Yea a 10 week bike ride away not 10 mins. There’s def lots you can do and ways to get creative.
Keep me updated on what you wind up doin.
Good luck.
How is California working out for you? I tried it and i hated it …maybe because I was in the OC . Well I’am back in NYC but i do miss the Sunny Days..
Is March a good time to start a garden. I want to plant fruit.
Cali is definitely an adjustment from NYC, especially if you are out here alone. Makes it more challenging to connect with people.
Hm, not sure about optimal time to plant a fruit tree. Will ask around.
I like your philosophy of gardening – how people did it hundreds of years ago. We don’t need the crap. Just give me good, wholesome, natural food from the garden and I’m happy. Love your blog.
We planted our fruit trees – grafted peach, nectarine, plum and apricot – in December, 2009. Had fruit in 2010. Worked out well. We live in the I.E.
Thanks Julie. Gotta keep it simple because that’s the way it should be.
I am so glad I have found your site,love it ! I have been thinking of growing my own vegetables for awhile now & reading & seeing what you have done has motivated me. I do try & buy seasonal organic when I can as I also hate that most of our fruits & vegetables have pesticides. I also loathe the “bad seed” Monsanto Corp. 🙁
Keep up the great work ! 🙂
Awesome. Glad that we could connect too. We all gotta do our part and what we think is best. We certainly have the power to make a difference.
I live in Puerto Rico and I am being blessed for finding your site. I’ve been wanting to start an organic garden with my children and thanks to you I know how to start a simple an inexpensive one. Thanks again and keep up with post and the exelent work you are doing.
Awesome. Yes, please keep me updated.
Canarsie? My best buds are from there…long time ago.
Representin Canarsie.
Been growing food in a community garden for a few years but am considering taking the next step and getting into composting now. Thanks for the great tips to avoid bringing worms into my apartment and for an excuse to use my drill!
Hahha. Glad to help out. Keep me updated.
Thank you! I’m thinking vegan, and your page is helping push me. Food comes from the earth, not a box!
Regina Dorich, Michigan
Glad you’ve found the info useful. I think what we should be focusing on is Conscious Eating and not worrying about being vegan or omnivore.
https://www.urbanorganicgardener.com/2011/03/conscious-eating-vegans-and-omnivores-unite/
Keep me updated.
Hi Mike! I find your site very useful and motivating. I’m from Puerto Rico and in here we need a change! I study environmental engineering and I am very motivated to go green and grow my own garden. First, I am very interested to make a garden with water bottles but I have no idea how. I remember a year ago I saw a project in New York that people did their garden in the windows with bottles of water. is a very interesting project and I can motivate others to change. have any idea how I can start? and I have A LOT of bottles of water!!! lol What other materials you think Ill need?
Thanks for the message Jomary. I believe that the window garden project that you are talking about was done using hydroponics and can be found here http://www.windowfarms.org/
Something a bit more easy to make are these https://www.urbanorganicgardener.com/creative-gardens-in-small-spaces/hanging-garden-planter/
Keep me update.
Thanks for the information Dee.
Hey Mike, I’m from Canarsie too (been here for over 20 years 🙂 and love my veggie garden. Looking forward to reading more of your blog 🙂
Nice. Canarsie represent!
Mike…..I love your site & your spirit……keep “BANGIN”!!! I’m reppin’ Park Slopes, Brooklyn (currently living in Atlanta, GA).
Peace & Blessings,
Doc
Nice. Glad to connect and keep it BK.
i am an old hippie tree hugger, bunny hugger. i just love seeing younger people taking on all the issues we never were able to change. thank you for having this site. i love it.
love your site. im an old hippie, tree hugger, bunny hugger. i love seeing how much the younger people today care about the world. i feel like my generation did something right after all.
Thanks for connecting Maggi. All of our actions summed up together will make a difference.
maybe if you woulda taken a fancy course you woulda realized those containers you’re growing in heat up and off gas into your soil and then get absorbed by the root systems of your precious lettuce. which you then eat. douchebag
We love your site, your initiative, your tips and inspiration! Building our roof bucket garden now! Thanks Mike!
Si & Jessie BK, NY
Thank you. Keep me updated and holdin it down in the BK.
I came across your blog and you have inspired me to start (as I like to call it) my bucket garden. I have just purchased my first two 5 gallon buckets and will have my husband drill the holes in them. (I did try to get some for free but couldn’t find anyone willing to give me any).
Thanks for you site!
Alison from Tacoma, WA
Nice. Good stuff Ali. Try harder 😉
Keep me updated on your progress.
Love your blog, and must admit I love that you’re not a hippy and that you have a Brooklyn accent…I know that sounds weird, but it’s true!
Hahhaa. That’s a much appreciated compliment.
Hi Mike! I’m a Brooklyn (Canarsie) girl too and I just started my balcony garden right here in Brooklyn. To start small I started with a tomato plant and some basil. (sauce, anyone?) I know almost nothing, except that I have to find out if I have enough sun coming in on the southern exposure that is partially blocked by a tree and a building. Love your site.
Brooklyn’s in the house. Represent. Represent. Good stuff. You’ll find out soon enough if you have enough sun. It’s all part of the fun. Keep me updated.
Hi Mike,
I wrote to you about a month ago telling you I started my first garden on my small balcony in Manhattan, NY. I was excited to see the strawberry plants, pepper plants, herbs, tomotoes and lettuce all growing well. However, I recently started seeing what I thought were little flies by my lettuce container. Soon after more and more were living on the soil and flying all over. Then I realized that they were not flies and I thought, could they be flying aphids? I didn’t think they were supposed to have wings. So I looked them up and sure enough, aphids can have wings. Anyway, I no longer want to harvest the lettuce since they have beige spots on them now from those bugs. I decided to get ladybugs and letabout 50 of them out on the container 2 nights ago. Only 2 have stayed. There seems to be less of the pests. I’ll see in another few days. Have you had such pest issues on your veggies?
Ugh, pests suck. Figuratively and literally. You can still harvest and eat the lettuce. Just be sure to rinse it off. You can try to mix up some Dr. Bronner’s soap with water and spray your plants down everyday. Follow it up by spraying them down with water about 15-20 minutes later. It might take a few weeks, but that should help.
Lemme know how things proceed.
Hi Mike,
I must say that I really enjoy your videos, but I have a bit of a question. My pots are not of uniform size, the big ones are pretty much just used for big tomato plants, while wine crates house greens and beans. What do you do about crop rotation to prevent disease in nightshade type plants, especially if you like to have lots of tomatoes every year? (I am on a standard concrete high-rise balcony in the Bronx.)
has anyone had flies.. yes actual flies attack their garden? i’ve seen horse flies and regular house flies eating at my plants and my soil…. I tried the soapy water method and even got some venus fly traps planted in the buckets with the plants, but they keep coming back! I dont think ladybugs will help, cuz they only attack smaller pests… but any suggestions?
For crop rotation just make sure that each year you aren’t planting from the same family in the container. That should help out. Way to represent the BX.
Hm, not sure. Hit me up with an email and I might be able to put you in contact with someone who can answer that for you.
Hm, not sure. Hit me up with an email and I might be able to put you in contact with someone who can answer that for you.
Hi, I love your site, it’s one of the most non-boring gardening sites I’ve seen. It’s good to see other young people that love growing and nutrition. I’m a nurtition & food science student, which is what got me into gardening. Keep up the good work!
Hahha. Thanks for the compliment. The non-boring approach is why I started this site. Was feeling the same way.
Thanks for all the help!! I am a Queens qirl (never had a yard) who moved to SF and began planting in my yard here. Its an amazing feeling to enjoy the literal fruits of your labor. I am a cook who lives with three other cooks. food is so important and I cant wait to get back to the east coast and share all I have learned and hopefully they will feel compelled to grow their own food or at least make better choices in food.
That’s great that you are a cook and taking it back to the land.
Dude, what a truly wonderful and inspiring web site. Really cool DIY projects. The self watering containers sound doable. I’m really glad I stumbled upon your site. You got me thinking about how to use my vegtable gardening avocation for some sort of good works/giving back project. Actually, as I am sitting here staring at the screen, I’m also thinking since we are SoCal neighbors and there’s a underutilized backyard where I garden that could be expanded. You think you’d like to try growing stuff in a raised bed in a backyard that gets 6-8 hours sunlight in the summer? Something to think about. Thanks for all that you do. It really makes adifference.
Yea man. That’d be dope. Hit me up and let’s talk on it.
I wholly support what you are doing, and agree with most of your views. However, I’ve come across several blog posts, which seem to be taken out of context, and somewhat misinformed.
I feel as if there was not enough research done into the topics you are discussing. I think it somewhat discredits the arguments you are posing. For example, take the post on the judges ruling about consuming what you cultivate not a fundamental right. I certainly see where you can bring this point up in argument, but it was stated as if that is exactly what the judge said. For me, this discouraged me from taking anything you said to heart.
I hope you consider this and add more research into your posts, so that they can be fully informed and therefore more persuasive.
Thanks for comment Anna, though I am not sure what you are talking about. What did I say about what the judge said that was so wrong? I quoted his exact words and gave my opinion and what he said. If I misspoke or misquoted him, please let me know and I will correct it.
Mike, I found your website really helpful and I’m writing a paper on the subject of organic gardening. Don’t worry, I’m citing all my sources properly so you’re getting the credit for your work, but I thought you’d like to know how useful and informative your site is. I’m sure I’ll reference it often when I start my own container gardens.
Thanks. Keep me updated!
Mike, I trying to conduct a science experiment about how the change of gravity affects plants. Any ideas to get started?
not sure, but keep me updated.
Your website is awesome. I’m looking forward to trying out the tp roll seed starters. I recently was working on an urban garden/farm in Berkeley, and am continuing on my farming journey. It is always inspiring to see how others are growing, and I greatly appreciate your mission to spread knowledge and awareness on growing locally, organically, and space-consciously.
Keep on growing!
Best,
Stephanie
Glad to connect Stephanie. Keep me updated on your progress.
I’ve been receiving your newsletters. Thank you for all the BEST info!!!
Have you yet discussed growing plants upside down? And why this works?
Also, about reflective mulch?
Wishing you a wonderful growing season!
Thanks. Have not had any success growing plants upside down.
asdasdasdasd
Did you ever find out anything for the houseflies in the garden? I’ve had them attacking my Jap plants since I put them in the ground. Have sprayed onion water but to no avail 🙁
I just stumbled across your site and am loving it! I have a community garden plot with 50 others, and I love to grow my own organic produce to feed my family of 6! Lately i am really into growing my own strawberries as I learned there is way too much pesticide on store bought ones! Any advice on how to get a bumper crop organically? I have my deck at home lined with planters full of strawberry plants!
Thanks!
love it.
I can’t figure out if there is a way to “subscribe” to this site here or do I just bookmark it and come back to it periodically. I know I can get fb feeds if I choose but I’m rarely on fb (and don’t do twitter). Thanks!
Mike, have you read a book entitled “Teaming with Nutrients”? It is relatively new. It explains how important a nearby source of water is to a feeding plant. The book delves heavily into botany and some basic chemistry. I believe once you understand how important it is to a plant to have a constant source of water, you will know why the plants do so well in the self-watering containers.
Mike, just found your site while searching for complementary sites to an upcoming web series. Would love to engage in a discussion offline. Interested in integration of your websites APIs and striving towards applicable goals. Hence and offline discussion. Please email so we can schedule an appropriate time to discuss. I’m in the PST zone. Kudos on an awesome site!
I have asked in other sites, but get no answers. I read the Miracle Grow might not be good to use for my garden tower planter, but no one tells me where I can get soil to use. Any suggestions, PLEASE!