by Ryan Robert Hallett

Created on: August 16, 2009   Last Updated: October 23, 2009

I'd always thought it would be really cool to have a vegetable garden. Even renting in the city, you might find a place with a little yard, or an apartment with a south-facing balcony. I've often seen people growing tomatoes and such, high above the bustling streets. However, I also always wanted to live on my own, without roommates, so when I saw the chance to get a large bachelor pad with a great view for a steal, I had to take it. The freedom I gained came with the likely reality that I wouldn't get my garden for quite some time.

In the summer, my girlfriend gave me a basil plant as a gift, which I managed to keep alive, even over the icy Canadian winter, where my windows high-up on the ninth floor frost over and freeze shut, making the place seem about a million miles away from any nice summer garden.

The following summer was a scorcher, and my south-facing windows were a real killer, even with the opaque blinds the previous tenant had kindly left behind. That year, my girlfriend had become involved with an urban agriculture project and had rented a spot at a large city garden. In this climate, it really helps to start seedlings indoors before it's quite warm enough outside, in order to get a good yield before first frost the following autumn. The problem was, my sweetie lived in a dank basement apartment where a seedling had little hope for survival. At my place, however, my bathroom had a long fluorescent light under which there was an equally long shelf, perfect for sprouting, as sprouts can thrive under that low quality light. We lined the pots on the shelf, which was also convenient because you can keep the bathroom light on 24/7 and just shut the door so that it's still dark in the apartment when you want to sleep. Then, when the sprouts got a little bigger and needed natural light, we placed them on a desk in front of the sunny, south-facing window.

It turned out that between my girl and her friends she was doing the gardening project with, there were more veggie sprouts than needed, so on a whim I tried to grow some way up in my ninth floor pad with no balcony. Sure enough, I was able to grow some small, but edible bell peppers and cucumbers, nice African red devil peppers, and some kale which was unfortunately too small to eat. In addition, I had aloe vera, an ivy vine, and a Mexican hat plant (AKA mother of thousands), which, true to its name, was soon to become many.

Like the basil the year before, my hot pepper plants survived

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