Visit Patti's Web Site

Patti Moreno, also known as the "Garden Girl", was born and raised in Spanish Harlem. She started gardening 10 years ago to eat healthier and lose the weight she gained during her pregnancy. After much trial and error, Moreno transformed her Boston home's backyard into an urban garden that produces just about all the food her family eats. Her methodology can be used to grow food on fire-escapes, roof-tops or even indoors. Moreno lives in Boston on her urban farmette with her family and two dogs, two cats, two goats, 27 rabbits, 14 squirrels, 20 chickens, 100,000 worms, and several hundred fish.

Q&A with Patti:

Question: What do you enjoy most about your urban garden (which is about 12 minutes from downtown Boston)?

Answer: "I really like building community and reaching out to folks who have an interest in growing their own food, but never thought they could do it."

Question: What do you grow?

Answer: "Heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, pumpkin and watermelon, green peppers, basil, lots of herbs, cotton. We like to try new crops every year. Last year, we tried organic cotton…. A critical piece (of our success) is the livestock. It produces great fertilizer."

Question: What do you do with all the food you grow?

Answer: "We eat some, sell some and give away a lot. Last year, I grew a 1.67 pound tomato. It was almost the size of my head."

Question: What do you do with all the chickens?

Answer: "We produce several dozen eggs daily! We sell many to area neighbors, who say they are the best eggs they ever tasted."

Question: What makes your "Urban Appropriate Model" unique and effective?

Answer: "My Urban Appropriate Model can be used in any size backyard, or you can use it to grow food on a fire-escape, rooftop, or even indoors. This is a great urban and suburban model."

Question: Did you ever think you would be an urban gardener when you were a child?

Answer: "No, when I was growing up, it was about getting a job, having a career and starting a family. It wasn't about starting a demonstration garden in the middle of a city, and growing your own food."

Question: What are you looking forward to most as the new host of Farmers' Almanac TV?

Answer: "I am most excited about meeting new people and other sustainable living pioneers from around the country, and bringing that information and inspiration to the public television audience."

Question: How do you feel working as the host of Farmers' Almanac TV will change your life and/or garden?

Answer: "I don't know how my life will change, I try never to predict the future, but I think I'm ready for whatever may come!"