The (Lazy) Way to Make A Vacant Lot a Garden

(this pic is of my great-grandparents in rural Nebraska)

Okay, before you get any ideas that there is actually an easy or lazy way to turn a vacant lot into a productive garden, let me clarify:
Last year we knew that once the weather started warming up, the phone would start ringing off the hook and our days of staring out the dining room window and dreaming would be over and we would again be busy with our "day jobs". The first obstacle we faced was the fact the owner of the lot had dumped many tons of rocky fill dirt on the lot. Also, the second you start disturbing the soil, dormant weed seeds were going to start germinating all over creation.. How to rectify these issues?
First, future hubby started taking "rock walks" in the lot, collecting 5 gallon buckets of pretty river stone that we turned into a dry river bed in the back yard. This served a duel purpose. First, to rid the lot of the rocks and second, to keep handy projectiles out of the hands of disgruntled, displaced crack dealers.

We decided that disturbing the soil very little was a good idea. It also fit in with our lack of funds to hire a backhoe and dig down and replace six inches of soil just to get the rocks out. So we built up with the previously mentioned amish mushroom compost, laying it in rows, and built paths with wood chips given to us by a local tree company.We put a least 6 inches of wood chips between the planting rows and for a cheap weed barrier on the planting rows, we rolled out contactor paper, punched holes in it and planted in those holes.This year we will alternate the rows since the wood chips have broken down.

Beats the hell out of dumping herbicide everywhere!

The mushroom compost was magic. Everything grew amazingly and we are addicted. This year we will get 15 more yards but this will be the last time. I believe that even in the city you can have a sustainable garden and shouldn't have to keep trucking amendments in. We already have a substantial compost pile and will start begging people for leaves and grass clippings since we have one tree and no grass.We'll also compost anything useable from the garden and hit up folks for their peelings....