Guerrilla growing in town

Hi.  I'm living in a condo association in South Jersey. My townhouse backs up to the border with this development and the next one. They are divided by a ten-foot wide strip of trees and brambles.  It's wider in parts but that's as narrow as it gets.

This past year I have been guerrilla composting to avoid putting food scraps in the trash.  This coming year I would like to start guiding the plant life while still maintaining the native plants. I'd be adding some edible diversity and trying to grow under the radar.

Does anyone have any experience with getting started on natural farming or farming on the sly?

I'm planning on something similar in the greenbelt adjacent to my dad's yard in the city.  I've started by planting a diversity of native seeds which I hope will jumpstart the biology of the edge habitat.  Later I plan to plant some fruiting trees and shrubs and edible perennials that do well in part shade.  I will also probably stick in seeds of annual vegetables that might be able to do well in a wildish spot, such as indeterminate tomatoes, and the aggressively rambling Tatume summer squash.

Thanks @tyler ludens I was thinking about seed bombing with paw paw and mulberry this year.  I might try a squash or too as well.  Nothing seems to eat those.  

Sarah Moore wrote:Thanks @tyler ludens I was thinking about seed bombing with paw paw and mulberry this year.  I might try a squash or too as well.  Nothing seems to eat those.  

Be careful with the mulberry, it can spread very quickly and become a problem in an urban setting if no one is tending to the tree.

I planted some seeds from my Paw Paw in brushy railroad embankment next to park near my house last fall. Hopefully some of them will sprout!

I've been thinking about doing this for pawpaw and peach around town and in my neighborhood parks. I think if I plant them I'll put edging around them and metal stakes with twine to look like the city planted them on purpose.

Sarah Moore wrote:Hi.  I'm living in a condo association in South Jersey. My townhouse backs up to the border with this development and the next one. They are divided by a ten-foot wide strip of trees and brambles.  It's wider in parts but that's as narrow as it gets.

This past year I have been guerrilla composting to avoid putting food scraps in the trash.  This coming year I would like to start guiding the plant life while still maintaining the native plants. I'd be adding some edible diversity and trying to grow under the radar.

Does anyone have any experience with getting started on natural farming or farming on the sly?

currants /gooseberries grow easily from cuttings and tolerate shade. grapes will climb up the trees there and get to the sunlight. you would have to prune so they don't take over. do you have room to grow in root pouches? 4-5 ten gal. ones can grow you a lot of veggies in a small area. also google wall planters. a sunny wall is all you need and takes 0 space. i built mine with a pallet. i screwed board shelves on every other board on the pallet and bought some cheap planters at the dollar store to put 20 alpine strawberries in. works good and i get several gallows of berries off of them every summer. they grow easy from seed. i get them at rareseeds.com.