Garden Plan: The Kitchen Garden and the Bedroom Annex

I was unable to find a convenient space outside--so I'm growing my food within my fourth floor apartment.  I'm calling it the "Kitchen Garden," and I plan to install 6-10 window box-shaped planters on top of my kitchen shelf and refrigerator.  I'm going to hang two grow lights from the ceiling to supplement to daylight in that room.  As my roommate said: "It's not going to look at all like we're growing weed in here."

What I'm growing: the first box will have rhubarb early on, them I'm going to switch it out for salad greens/spring mix (question: when should I plant greens? late june?). I'm going to have another box of mixed greens including chard, arugula, and spinach; two boxes of bush beans, including kidney beans and soybeans; two boxes of summer squash; one of zucchinis and cucumbers; one of eggplants; one of a "space saving" melon mixture.

In my bedroom, there will be two hanging planters in front of the window.  Out the bottom, I'm going to grow a tomato plant and a pepper.  On top, I'm going to plant strawberries.  I'm also going to grow 2-3 kinds of sprouts, and a mushroom kit.  In my windowbox, I already have mint growing, and chives (which I planted last year and grew pathetically; this spring they have BURST from the soil and are growing like maniacs).  I'm also going to plant parsley and cilantro.

That's all!  What do you think? Suggestions? Where am I going wrong? 

And it's already foraging season!  The wild garlic/onions are sprouting...

Garden Plan

Hi Everyone...

My marvelous permaculture design team was over this weekend, helping me finish up the plans for my yard.. and I thought I'd share! Here it is!

The round green things are vertical gardens; the round blue things are rain water catchment barrels; the figure eight in the middle of the back yard is a spiral garden, which is another cool space-saver that I will describe in a future post (probably in a couple weeks-- after I finish my thesis and have time again!)

And the blue thing in the back yard is a rain garden; being put in so we can divert (and use up) the water that pools in one area of the yard.

Just thought I might share!

(click on the picture to get to see the whole thing!)

Rule #3 - Is Pond Scum Considered Equal Substitution?

Hey fearless leader! We haven't heard from you in a while. I have a few vegan cookbooks that use seaweed. Is pond scum considered an equal substitution for seaweed?