Tokyo DIY Gardening Hands-on gardening for a crowded city
Curbside
Lush Potted Alley
Permanence of impermanent structure; Relaxed hiding space; Natural cooling; Shade.
Conjunctive Gardening
Pots, blocks, dirt and plants sit, stand on and burrow over and into each other.
Breeze Block Parking Pots
Breeze blocks that form the edging of a carpark double as sturdy plant pots.
A tree of death outside Family Mart
a tree of death, made of dozens of cigarette cartons and festooned with Christmas lights
Blooming Corner Container Garden
Made of a whole variety of containers – some purchased, some styrofoam coolers put to fresh use – it was a bright spot on an otherwise cement-filled busy street.
Classic Pot Garden in Shiba/Mita
Whether intentional or not, the impressive scale of this garden creates a natural security system…..
Curbside Embedded Pots
What made this particular garden stand out is the fact that it is composed entirely of plants still in their garden center pots and plastic containers.
Eye-level Pot Plant Rack
Precarious yet thoughtful, this construction does not intrude into the narrow thoroughfare any further than the curb line.
Pots Trump Cars in Kokubunji
Space for gardening more important that private transport in a leafy Tokyo suburb.
Makeshift plastic rope trellis for morning glory
Is this a new trend? I am looking forward to watching these plants grow this summer.
Dead Space Brick Planter
A few bricks in the right place can help turn dead into living + edible space.
Pot Plant Corner in Nakano
Resembling a battleship plowing through the water, this garden takes over almost the entire street frontage of the building.
Tomatoes and Rice on Harajuku Curb
While the resultant rice will probably not be enough for a meal, this experiment adds a different element to the usual curbside vege-garden fare.
Summer Vegetables on the Sidewalk
I love how seasonal and impromptu this vegetable gardening is. A city that’s safe for vegetables and plants is one that also welcomes people.
Garden Space in Stacked Bricks
An arrangement of pot plants is given shape and presence by a brick border.
No space for fruit tree? Check this out!
So many city dwellers think they have no space to grow anything. Recently I posted photos of a persimmon tree near my apartment that is three stories tall and full of fruit. I went back to take a shot of its trunk. Actually, it turns out that there are two trees growing in a space [...]
Intoxicating night scent of Angel’s Trumpet
hardy and decorative, with a shamanistic function in its native Amazon habitat
Potted plant in bicycle basket
Did the bicycle owner leave the potted plant in the basket, or did a stranger deposit it there?
Fall perennial border in pots on curbside
despite the lack of ground soil and space . . I admire the gardener’s generosity to passing pedestrians and bicyclists
Guest photo from Hiyoko Imai
Much of the daily fabric of urban life, instead, feels like this photo: a bunch of stuff bolted on to other stuff
Beloperone guttata or little shrimp plant (コエビソウ) growing between 2 walls
Tokyo’s ample rainfall allows plants to thrive in the most unlikely places.
Fall fruit growing in Tokyo’s back streets
Recently, I have noticed oranges, persimmons, and even pomegranate growing in my neighbors’ tiny gardens and balconies
Neighborhood sunflowers
I love how these sunflowers are growing at the intersection of two small streets, and how the round flowers echo the larger, convex street mirror. The flowers grow in a tiny scrap of soil just outside the wall around a residence. After preparing the image, I realized that I took a similar photo last year. [...]
Azabu Juban’s Kakuremino bar defined by street tree
this narrow Nishi Azabu Juban bar is defined by the curbside street tree
Beautiful water plants in bowl outside Shizen
A simple bowl with plants can really add visual impact to a central city sidewalk.
Shinjuku Ward Office greening
sidewalk awning with minimal space and maintenance, impacts thousands coming to ward office
Semi-wild, semi-cultivated space in Yoyogi
in between two train tracks, an elevated overpass, and a convenience store . . .
Concrete Curbside Planter
This concrete curbside planter adds a permanent garden in the narrow space between wall and curb.
Narrow Trackside Colour in Rocks
Rocks and concrete blocks mark out narrow marginal space for a bright shock of colour.
Dense and mature sidewalk garden in Chiyoda
The planting is amazingly thick, creating a green wall between the sidewalk and the large boulevard. . .
Sidewalk bitter melons in plastic buckets & twine
Bitter melon growing in plastic buckets with an elaborate plastic twine trellis supported by a tree branch
Growing rice in buckets at Waseda university
I am sure that tending rice in the city makes residents appreciate eating rice even more
Bitter melon green curtain growing on curbside
It covers the window, and dwarfs in size the adjacent vending machine
Cherry tomatoes and laundry
Ripe cherry tomatoes growing safely on the sidewalk, within arms reach of the laundry hanging to dry
Goya, Tomatoes and a Cool Drink
Healthy goya and tomato green curtain, with an interesting attachment.
Apartment Entrance Garden + Grapes
Grapes are a feature fruit in Tokyo, from the inner-city to the outer suburbs.
Volunteer Cactus
Another example of the resilient, resourceful ways that plants continue to confound our built environment.
Curbside Planting Technique
Pots-on-pots for a quick and cheap way to add garden space at the residential border.
Curbside Succulent Space in Concrete and Rocks
A bed of succulents created in the tightest of spaces – A sensitive, practical and elegant solution.
Curbside Planters
Scarce curbside space modified to create a pot plant garden. A sturdy, non-permanent solution.
Tree Breaks out of Pot and into Soil
I wish that governments and residents would begin to de-pave Tokyo, and it’s great to see that domestic plants are not waiting for us to act.
Pansies in a Sidewalk Crack
In the world’s largest mega-city, even a crack in the sidewalk can be a place to grow a flower.