[MIDTOWN] Midtown resident harvests crops grown in his truck bed

On any sunny evening in Midtown, Eric Kehoe's truck is probably basking on the corner of Grand NE and Hawthorne NE. Arranged neatly in the bed are tomato plants, bell pepper plants, herbs, garlic and salad greens. Crops have been sprouting out of the 3-by-6 feet space since spring.

"When I got the idea, I just thought I should just go for it. I never use it that often, so I thought I'd just put it to better use," Eric said.

Eric has lived in Midtown for two years. His apartment has the perfect amount of shade for a backyard cookout but is too shady for growing vegetables. Eric searched online for similar projects but did not find much advice on how to plant. One day, he headed to the hardware store to pick up roughly 200 pounds of top soil and caked his truck bed in seven inches of soil. Including seeds, the cost came to around $60.

Since then, Eric guesses he has harvested about eight pounds of organic produce. He keeps careful track of his gas mileage and has not noticed any significant difference from the additional weight.

Eric is a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University. He works for Arbor Circle; coaches the Kellogsville High School boys' varsity soccer team; helps to organize Meatless Mondays, a community potluck; and plays for Valentiger, a local indie folk band. Everywhere he goes, he gets similar reactions and comments on how "green" his truck is.

"I just like to be able to know where my food came from," Eric will explain.

Despite parking his truck on public streets, theft has not been an issue.

"If people really want to take vegetables from there, that's OK. I feel like they might really need them if they're going to take them from a guy's truck."

There are limitations to what can be grown out of a truck bed. Eric wanted to maximize the return for his space but had to take other considerations into account.

"Right now, I'm trying to grow tomatoes, which is kind of hard because they grow so high. Stuff like carrots, I couldn't grow; it's not deep enough," Eric said. "The smaller vegetables work out. I need stuff that grows kind of wide and doesn't grow too high."

He has also learned that after a heavy rain, water can puddle up near the cab. He plans to address drainage next year by mixing in packing peanuts and gravel. As far as Eric knows, his harvests are comparable to other gardens his size.

"Since it's kind of so small, it's more like a meal-by-meal basis," he said.

He expects for the garden to pay for itself after this first year.

"I think everyone should try to garden at least a little bit," Eric said. "Once you get it going, it's really not that hard. A lot of it is trial-and-error. That's even what more advanced gardeners say."