apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

yes

Yes! But it would have to be close to home. And with a high fence. I would love my own Secret Garden!

yes, but I'd also buy it to have a place to relax and look at the stars.

Do you not have community gardens in KC? Buying land for gardening means you're probably paying about $100 a tomato.

Our Botanic Gardens has a community garden. The only problem is that the waiting list is 10 years long. Of course had I got on the list when I first learned of it my name would probably be up by now!

bcthree - There would need to be a deck like what JD has on Scrubs!

*I* would never condsider living in a noisy busy loft at the expense of having a yard! (Even if it's communal.) But I don't grow vegetables (I tried, too much work, a whole summer invested in fussing for one green pepper that would cost 69 cents at the supermarket... no thanks!) (Maybe some strawberries and raspberries and blueberries, later, though...)

But I like to plant things for my landscape and see them grow. It's very much the same for me as interior decoration --I plan the placement and contrasts and flow, and change out what doesn't look good, I coordinate colors, I look for bargains and freebies and see if I can make them work... I have decorating themes (wildflower meadow, japanese garden, natural woodland garden...) This weekend I moved three ugly builder-provided purplish pink azaleas from in front of the teal colored house and replaced them with striking white rhododendrons. (The azaleas have a new home removed from the front porch.)

Growing stuff (any stuff) is fun and good for you!

SherryBinNH, oh boy do I wish green peppers here were 69 cents!

I haven't had much luck with vegetables either.

To follow up on what Lisa (Montreal) said, here's a link to Kansas City Community Gardens. Community gardening is a great way to go if you don't have the option to do it at home. My difficulty was always making the time to go over to the plot, which never seemed an issue when it was in my backyard. But, if you're already contemplating buying land, which wouldn't be in your own backyard anyway, then that's a moot point.

I have been looking to buy a home here in Silicon Valley for nigh on two years now. My one deal-breaking criterion has that I want to be able to grow my own vegetables. The sunshine here is exceptional and there's no excuse not to. But I can't afford a million dollar freestanding home and my requirement rules out apartments, condos, and townhouses in complexes where there are rules about what you may grow. I went to a Mountain View town council meeting last year and homeowners shouted down a proposed community garden out of fear it would decrease their property values. It made me more than sad.

In Pittsburgh, you can buy vacant city lots next to your home for $250 through an abandoned lot reclamation program. Many many many people are buying that land just to grow food on.

Yes, and it would be called a "Farm"

No way. Land is too expensive for farming for personal use only. Besides not only is downtown kansas city great, the farmers market is even better. Consider yourself lucky to have such great resources and save your money.

In Germany a lot of people have a space for gardening apart from theire homes. It is called "Kleingartenanlage"
You can google it.....

I would suggest finding a community garden to join in the area.

Wow, what a great post and topic. I've been struggling with this very issue and finally found a solution in March.

I live in Seattle and at most p-patches or community gardens in the city, especially where I live (centrally), there is often a two to three year wait. And that does no good if you're in the mood to pull some weeds and plant tomatoes. Over Easter dinner I was talking with some friends when one of them was like, 'hey, why don't you garden at my space." I didn't think she was serious, but she owns her house and it was 9 block from me and it seemed perfect. So, as of today, I've go tomatoes in the ground, strawberries flurishing, a squash patch set up and ready to sprout and having nearly completed a new retaining wall (a LOT of work, let me tell you) I'll have a two tiered bed system ready to plant on Saturday. It's worked out great. We talk about what she wants yard work wise, which I do in exchange for the vegetable spaces.

There is also a lot of guerilla gardening going on in Seattle. I've seen several 'unused' sidewalk areas being cultivated in the Capitol Hill area of town. And there are a lot of round-a-bouts in Seattle (to slow down traffic) that the city often encourages people to plant and keep maintained as part of neighborhood beautification.

Lastly, had I NOT found my garden spot, I was on the verge of posting an ad on http://www.urbangardenshare.org/ which brings together gardeners with people who have space. Kinda like a craigslist, specifically for gardeners. A great idea! I've seen some people with tiny yards, but a 60 square foot sunny spot, post that they are willing to let someone cultivate. It's a great community minded project/website that really encourages urban gardening. Because we all know there are multitudes of yards that we look at all the time and think, 'if only I could get a hold of that yard...'

"I went to a Mountain View town council meeting last year and homeowners shouted down a proposed community garden out of fear it would decrease their property values."

People like that deserve to eat microwavable KRAFT food filled w/ HFCS...

When we bought our house in a small French town it came with a 'potager' (kitchen garden) about 5 minutes walk from the house. More than one of our neighbouring gardeners lived in rented acommodation (nearly all of them on modest incomes) and were proud to have been able to buy their little piece of land to cultivate. One elderly lady who had retired from Paris to a little apartement grows nothing but roses and has an annual summer drinks party for the other gardeners.