Miss Green Jeans

Apartment renter Ramsey Bayer transformed her small front yard into a beautiful and useful urban garden. Photo by Ramsey Beyer

Last October, Christen Carter was thrilled to see three worms crawling around in her backyard. When Carter, owner of Busy Beaver Button Co., bought a 1920s storefront in Logan Square, she decided to install geothermal heating and cooling as part of the renovation—which meant digging 300-foot wells. When the digging was done, Carter’s 25x50 yard might as well have been made of concrete.
  Apartment renter Ramsey Bayer transformed her small front yard into a beautiful and useful urban garden. Photo: Ramsey Beyer

To bring life back to her yard, Carter worked with Ellen Bunch, owner of More Organics and an Illinois Master Gardener. Bunch founded More Organics in 2009 with an eye toward making it easy for city dwellers—from the green-thumbed to the plant killers—to grow food, flowers and beneficial plants. Her services run the gamut from soil testing, to consultations, from weeding to complete garden design and maintenance. Clients dictate their level of hands-on involvement.

She’s seen a lot, but Carter’s situation was a first for Bunch.

“The geothermal dig scared off the microorganisms, the soil was compacted and the vibrations of the construction equipment made conditions so bad that nothing wanted to live there,” she says. With a combination of composting, organic soil and tilling, they revived the soil. Adding “overly productive” plants like ferns speed up the process and, by October, Bunch got the call that the worms were back.

“Ellen got really excited about the worms,” says Carter. “She was so enthusiastic about this project and willing to take on anything.” Upcoming plans for the yard include an area for organic vegetables and herbs and a hammock.

While Carter’s situation was extreme, it does shed light on some of the environmental issues inherent in city gardening.

“I really recommend testing for heavy metals,” Bunch says. “I use A+L. The testing is easy; you send a cup of soil and they send you results telling you if you have arsenic or lead present. In an urban setting, you probably don’t know what has been going on with your soil. And if you’re going to eat something you grow, you should know what’s been going on.”

One Girl’s Fern…
Jim Holtzman, CFO of Fieldglass, has always considered his garden in the Southport corridor an urban oasis. His former wife was the gardener and he wanted make the space his own but didn’t have the time—in his spare time Holtzman prefers furniture-making to dirt-digging.

By the time he met Bunch, the plants had gotten a little unruly. “There were these ferns that were supposed to be fragile, but they grew like rabbits. Ellen spends a lot time pulling them out, they are miserably invasive.”

While Holtzman leaves most of the planning and maintenance to Bunch, he likes to get hands-on a few times during the season and spend an afternoon working with her. “Working together has given me the chance to get to know him so I can get his personality into the garden,” she says.

The garden is back in bloom and will be featured in this year’s Lakeview Garden Walk. But more importantly, it is bringing joy to its primary occupant. “The best day of the spring is when I come home beat, and I go outside and everything is cleaned and mulched and beautiful. Those are the days that I love,” says Holtzman.

Get Growing
Whether you have no idea where to start, want friendly advice about how to de-bug your tomatoes or would like to talk about worms, Bunch is interested in hearing from you. She believes that anyone can grow a garden and is happy to share what she knows.

“It doesn’t have to be huge or an all-encompassing life experience. If you’re scared of your soil, or don’t have a yard, don’t worry about it. You can grow salad greens in hanging baskets and tomatoes in planters. But whatever you do, you still want to add organic matter, like bat poop or worm castings, rather than fertilizers. There are just so many possibilities.”

Visit these websites to find help greening your urban space:

More Organics, more-organics.com

Topiarius, topiarius.com

The Garden Consultants, Inc., gardenconsultants.com

The Worm Lady, wormlady.com

By Libby Lowe