You'll never guess where this man found a Secret Garden in real life.
What started as a secret garden, unbeknownst by all, became a place of refuge and restoration for Bruce Ingrassia of Santa Clara, California.
Where To Grow A Secret Garden
When I lived in the Bay Area in Santa Clara, Ca in a residential home back in 2009 I wanted to have a nice garden, but had no space at all as I had built a huge workshop and cemented a good portion of the side yard as it always got very muddy.
Then one night it came to me – if weeds grows in cracks why can't vegetables that bare above the ground?
Along the fence on the side yard which ran about 50 feet I had a 1 inch crack which I thought would be good enough to grow above the ground vegetables like tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, squash, green beans, spinach. I could have grown underground items like potatoes, but how would I get them out of the ground once they grew to full size.
When I had company over I would say “Would you like to see my Crack Garden?” Just to watch the expression on their faces.
I then took a hammer and railroad spike and as you know when you pour cement there is a sloppy leftover ledge slab that leaks into the soil and projects into the dirt. I proceeded to remove that leftover hanging pieces of cement all along the 50 ft run sometimes having to use pliers to pull out some of the pieces of broken cement that I chipped off. Took a screw driver (used as my one inch rototiller) and some fertilizer and mixed it all up to enrich the soil.
I bought some vegetable seeds and planted them in the 1 inch crack.
The nice thing was that I could hose off the cement and the water would gently run into the crack. The cement was put in so rain would drain away from the house foundation which worked to my advantage.
The concrete keeps its warmth at night after the sun sets. There is also very little weeding to be done since the plants only have a small space to grow.
To make a long story short, I had good sun exposure, water drainage, and good soil. My above the ground vegetable garden grew really well and I had lots of vegetables. Just as if I had a 20×20 garden space!
I gave my garden a catchy name “THE CRACK GARDEN”and when I had company over I would say “Would you like to see my Crack Garden” and watch the expression on their faces as they were thinking I was growing drugs in my backyard.
Friends and Family were amazed that I was able to utilize such a small area to grow a garden that flourished in a one inch crack. So now all of you that are reading this have no excuses not to start your own Crack Garden.
If you have a crack in your cement you can grow above the ground vegetables year after year…
What do you think of Bruce's crack garden? I'm very impressed.
Leave your comments below, and share this story with others so they too can make the most of their side yards. We can all have a little piece of the secret garden.
Fabulous Garden and I love the name!