my urban garden

As those who've read this blog for a while know, I'm pretty passionate about living green and being creative. Three years ago we bought a cosmetic "fixer-upper" in downtown Santa Barbara and have been working to harmonize green and city living in our own DIY, creative style (on a major budget!).... It's all about maximizing your space and making every inch usable space. I'm excited we've found a nice balance of growing food, trees and flowers in our tiny backyard that both feeds our family and please the senses. Living green doesn't take acres of land,  just mindful and creative uses of the space you have. Here's a few of our current favorites...

top left: greens, greens and more greens, please! Spinach, chard, various lettuces and micro greens make up this 10x5 foot raised bed garden and provide salads nightly in our home.
top right: climbing pink jasmine is scattered next to pink mini daisies. Jasmine is a beautiful, fragrant bloom that will continue to grow and weave through the lattice to provide privacy from our neighbors!
bottom right: Our "dwarf citrus grove"! A sweet Meyer lemon tree is thriving in an old syrah barrel. Behind it is a dwarf orange that consistently provides fruit.
bottom left: I grow lavender anywhere we have an open pocket, or empty wine barrel. We use it in our wine bar organic soaps. Our tiny yard can't provide enough for all of The Grapeseed Co.'s needs, but it's fun to grow some of our own lavender.
Have you created an urban garden? I'd love to see it and hear about your creative uses of space!