Urban gardener??

Living in Chicago, in a condo, with a concrete courtyard out back does not really lend itself to gardening at least not in the traditional way.  To garden in an urban setting you have to be a little more creative and perhaps a little more diligent.  For as long as I have lived in my condo I have been growing flowers in pots and window boxes and last year I tried my hand at some veggies.  I grew a tomato plant, zucchini, peppers, and I think something else that I cannot remember.  I grew then in these large galvanized tin tubs that I have and put them in the place that gets the most sun, which is not really full sun.  My tomato produced some very small fruit as did my zucchini, as did my peppers.  I was not disappointed at my rather small crop though, I was happy that anything grew at all.  I had set pretty low expectations and that worked out well for me last season.  This season is different, I have set my expectations a little higher and have planted  more then last year.  This year I have planted tomato, lettuce, string beans, bush beans, cucumber and will be planting carrots as well.  I have also expanded into more containers and moved the location to one that I think will get more sun for a little longer, still not full sun but more then last year.  This year I started my seeds inside and so I am hoping that will help too.  I have also been more aggressive with my porch garden this year.  This year I have a strawberry plant and two hanging baskets of herbs.   I decided that this year I really needed to embrace my surroundings and embrace what it means to be an urban gardener, thus the bigger garden.  I try to be as green as I can and so it just seemed like a logical step to garden and try to have less of an impact of the earth.  I have also tried to look at urban gardening as a challenge to myself, the city can throw concrete at me and what will I do with it, I will grow thing on top of it in containers, I will garden and hopefully each year will be better then the last.

Here are some pics of my garden and so you can see what I am doing.  You can see the containers and some of the plants.  Here is a close up of my cucumber plants, aren't they cute!And this picture I really love it is a picture of my garden with a backdrop of my neighbors beautiful yard that is full of dirt and grass and space to grow things in the ground. Last but not least is my porch, I have basil, dill, coriander, and mint in the hanging baskets.So there you have it, my little piece of earth and what i am doing with it.  I will keep you updated as the growing season progresses.  Wish me Luck!