In Week Two of the Apartment Therapy Cure, participants are asked to create a “landing strip” (nope, it’s not what you think). In Cure lingo, a landing strip is the place you “land” when you get home. Where you drop your keys and coat, and file through your mail.

Ben and I started the Cure process back in January, so we’re a little off schedule. But I do like the way our front hall (i.e. landing strip) has turned out. Our entrance is very narrow, so we didn’t have room for a console or other table. Instead, we painted out a skinny shoe cabinet (SANDNES from Ikea) to match the wall, switching up the hardware to match the door pulls on the coat closet opposite. It provides just enough room to hold a bowl for keys and a vase of flowers. Oh, and it hides shoes! Always a good thing.

The mirror hung in my parents’ bathroom for the past 30-plus years (and was, at one point, faux gold leafed); I snatched it up during their recent reno. I love being able to “check my face” before I leave the house now.

We installed three hooks at Lila height, to the right of the cabinet. It’s great for little girl coats and daycare backpacks.

I can’t remember where we found the low ceramic bowl that now holds our keys and sundry items, but I love it. And I love that I can (almost) always find my keys now.

I also love the white vase that sits to the left of the mirror. It’s got pussywillows and cherry blossoms in it currently, and I plan to change it up with seasonal blooms or branches throughout the year.

Next: the living room.

Lila “cultivating” the soil in our new raised beds.

Last fall, Ben and I built three raised beds and installed them in a small grassy area above the parking garage for our townhouse complex. The area was rarely used, so we decided to build a mini community garden to be shared by interested residents. (We also photographed the making of these beds for my book! They’ll appear in chapter four in a how-to section.)

Bamboo stakes divvy up my nine square feet.

On Monday, in celebration of the time change and the great weather, Lila and I got out there and planted. I’m trying out the square foot gardening method in my half of the bed (which is being shared with a neighbour). I’ve planted in blocks before, as is the square foot method, but never formally. This time, I laid out thin bamboo stakes to mark out my three square feet, and filled seven of the nine squares with cool-season edibles: two with ‘Tyee’ spinach, two with arugula, one with ‘Easter Egg II’ radish, one with ‘Sugar Loaf’ radicchio, and one with ‘Merveille de Quatre Saisons’ lettuce. I’ll plant the remaining squares with ‘Amish Deer Tongue’ and ‘Darkness’ lettuces in a couple of weeks.

So why all the salad? Mainly, it’s because this bed is in part shade. I’d estimate it gets a maximum of four hours of direct sun, even in summer, which rules out any kind of fruiting vegetable such as eggplant or zucchini. But leafy greens should do well, as should the radishes and the beets I’ll plant later.

I’m looking forward to having a dedicated space for greens. This new garden frees up a lot of room on my balcony farm for sun lovers like tomatoes. It’s also a lot closer than my plot in the actual community garden, making it a lot more convenient to whip up a last-minute salad. It also gets more sun than my herb garden on the front patio, and less than my back patio, which would scorch tender lettuces. If you’re keeping count, that makes this new raised bed my fifth garden space.

Some might say I’m just a tiny bit obsessed. But when you don’t have much space of your own, you’ve got to be creative in finding ways to garden. Co-opting part of your building’s common area makes good sense to me. Hopefully the other gardeners that join in will agree!

Tag this one Clever and Cute. Postcarden is a fun and simple pop-out postcard that transforms into a mini living garden.

It unfolds into a little diorama, in one of three designs: Allotment (pictured above), Botanical (shown below) or City. The front of each postcarden has a garden scene contributed by a UK artist. (Unfortunately, these cute little gifts/cards are only available for shipping within the EU. Available at Brooklyn5and10.com!)

As an aside, doesn’t it seem like seeds are the new hot thing in quirky gift giving? (See, for example, Matchstick gardens, Egglings, and lipstick with plantable packaging.)