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How a city backyard became an urban farm

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUL 26, 2019

Joe Robustelli's garden, near 13th and W, produces a bounty of fruit and vegetables. (Photos courtesy GardentheGrid.com)

One Grid gardener did it; see how on Midtown Garden Tour

How much food can be produced in a city backyard? A few pounds? Make that a few tons.

Joe Robustelli knows, and he’ll show how he does it. His garden is among the featured stops on Saturday’s Midtown Garden Tour.

“I have a large lot with very, very old fruit trees,” Robustelli said. “I got 800 pounds (of fruit) from my apricot tree this year alone. My peach tree went crazy, too.”

What did he do with all that fruit? “Urban Roots (brewery) is just down the alley from my house,” he said. “They’re making beer from my peaches.”

In all, Robustelli has 15 fruit trees and five raised beds for vegetables at his Sacramento home, near 13th and W streets. He also has his own chickens, which provide eggs as well as a constant source of high-grade fertilizer. He shares his bounty with neighbors and at the Victorian Alley farmers market.

“I let people come and get produce,” he said. “I have plenty.”

During the tour, Robustelli will explain how he manages to pack so much produce into a relatively small space.

“My favorite thing to grow? Anything that’s self-seeded,” he said. “I like all the volunteers that keep coming back on their own year after year: Cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, cucamelons.”

Cucamelons? Those are Mexican sour gherkins, tiny little cucumbers than look like miniature watermelons.

Edible gardening is a big focus of the Midtown Garden Tour, which features 15 gardens on Sacramento’s Grid. Tickets are $10 and available at www.gardenthegrid.com . The gardens will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 27; come early to beat the heat.

On tour day, tickets also will be available at New Era Community Garden, 204 26th St., Sacramento.

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Garden the Grid tomatoes Sacramento midtown events chickens urban farm fruit trees gardening farmers markets backyard produce garden tours

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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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