Ever since I painted the murals on our back fence facing the alley, I knew there was more to do in this underutilized space.
When we first moved in, I noticed the back alley behind the house, like in our last neighborhood, was super drab...with exception of our nextdoor neighbor's hugelkultur-style raised bed where she had a ton of squash vining everywhere, bringing color and life that was otherwise missing. And that stuck in my head. Big time.
Still not quite used to the lesser amount of space compared to what we had on the farm, I really wanted to continue to maximize the space we have for growing both food and pollinator-friendly perennials and shrubs on our bit of land here in the Valley. In addition, I wanted to create a space that added beauty and functionality for those across from us, next to us, or just walking through the neighborhood.
The one thing I also wanted to ensure? That nothing NEW was acquired to create raised beds. No trees should be felled for this when there are so many materials already in existence that can serve the purpose. So many things can be taken apart, spruced up with a quick coat of paint from a can leftover in the garage, and filled with yard clippings before adding a layer of soil on top to plant through.
The raised bed on the left in the photo was quickly put together, using the side slats of an old bed frame dumped in the alley several houses down, clearly in hopes someone would claim it or the garbage collectors would take away. I saw it and immediately knew. Using some old screws we had on hand, leftover gray paint found in the garage (which I also used to paint our rain tanks), and a wee bit of muscle, I threw this together in the spring and ultimately am experimenting with growing some white corn in it. NOTE: initially I planted greens and cucumber as well, thinking the latter would vine up the corn and the corn would shade the greens, in a three sisters type fashion...til I realized that the local feral rabbits would inhale those two veggies...which they did. A quick internet search told me about what kinds of produce would be of no interest to them...so I pivoted for the next bed while letting the corn grow high (and then we had to creatively stake it after a sudden rare thunderstorm almost knocked it all down).
The tall raised bed on the right was more purposeful in that I knew if I had something of this height, rabbits could not get in there! In the "free" section of Craigslist's For Sale items, I found a guy giving away two old metal filing cabinets (all metal - you know those crazy heavy ones from the 1960's? yep, those ones.) and my husband and I cruised over there to get those, which just barely fit into our hatchback. I pulled out all the metal drawers and took them to the recycling depot, and used the outer shells, laid on their backs, to become two raised beds pushed up against each other to line up with the short one next to it. I again filled it up over the spring with a TON of garden clippings (even snagging some from my neighbor who'd taken out an old hydrangea bush), added a layer of potting soil, and sowed a bunch of leftover French heirloom pumpkin seeds (you know those weird warty looking ones - they're supposed to taste REALLY good)... taking inspiration from the neighbor to add vining veggies in an area where they were free to spread out (and where ducks could not snack on their leaves and our dog wouldn't do his bidness on or near them....). A thick layer of straw from the duck house used as mulch to help retain moisture, as both are quite water-intensive crops (not to mention it's far too easy to forget to water things in the alley since you don't have a daily visual like inside your yard), and they have, as you can see, definitely taken off!
I have two more beds built as well which don't have anything growing in them this year, and are serving as giant compost bins to collect all our garden clippings, and ultimately will grow more goodies for us to share with our neighbors...and keep adding the pretty!
The inspiration is slowly but surely catching on - I spoke to a neighbor further down the alley who said she was inspired to possibly grow her tomatoes in her section in the spring, and I'm now going to see if our neighbors directly across from us might consider growing some easy flowers like cosmos or sunflowers on their (sloped) side. Everyone could use more flowers, more pollinators...and more pretty!
"When strangers start acting like neighbors... communities are reinvigorated." ~ Ralph Nader
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