I LOVE seeing pictures of your garden. Reminds me so much of my father’s garden in south Chicago. He used every inch of dirt he could, even planted zucchini outside the fence as our house was on an alleyway. He figured no one would want to steal them and he was right.
Yes, real estate in densely populated cities is at a premium, and esp. facing South or West unobstructed. Thank God we are one of the minorities that have the space we do, with the LL permission. I have some butternut squash plants, but mostly grow tomatoes since they are expensive to buy, and the flavor is so much better than store-bought, and you get a lot to share (mostly cherry toms). But i am thinking about planting Swiss chard for the spring:
Chard is a spring harvest plant. In the Northern Hemisphere, chard is typically ready to harvest as early as April and lasts through May. It is one of the hardier leafy greens, with a harvest season typically lasting longer than kale, spinach, or baby greens. When daytime temperatures start regularly to attain 30 °C (86 °F), the harvest season is coming to an end.
In a 100-gram (3.5 oz) serving, raw Swiss chard provides 84 kilojoules (20 kcal) of food energy and has rich content (> 19% of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamins A, K, and C, with 122%, 1,038%, and 50%, respectively, of the DV.[3] Also having significant content in raw chard are vitamin E and the dietary minerals, magnesium, manganese, iron, and potassium.[3] Raw chard has low content of carbohydrates, protein, fat, and dietary fiber.[3] When chard is boiled, vitamin and mineral contents are reduced compared to raw chard, but still supply significant proportions of the DV (table)