Urban life often means less space for a garden, but don’t let that stop you from growing your own crop of delicious herbs and vegetables. Even a small patio, apartment balcony, or sunny indoor space can host a surprising variety of nutritious edibles, and we’d love to show you how.
Start with a Container Garden
No big sunny space in the yard for an in-ground garden? No problem. Many of our favorite herbs and vegetables adapt well to living in pots instead. In fact, with the superior drainage that a professional potting mix offers, a container is a great environment for your herbs or vegetables. Just be sure the container is large enough to accommodate the plant’s root system, that it has good drain holes, and that you choose a quality professional potting mix to fill it.
You’ll also want to look for varieties that’ll fit in a container as mature plants – for instance, a balcony planter might not be the best choice for a towering crop of sweet corn, but a determinate tomato will do great. So, when choosing a vegetable to plant in a container, look for words like “bush,” “compact,” or “great for containers” on the plant tag.
Go Vertical
When there’s no room to spread out, the next option is to go up. If you have your heart set on squash but lack the square feet to let a vine wander, a sturdy trellis or obelisk set into a container or small garden plot will guide vining plants up instead of out. A lattice set against a wall is another way to let sprawlers and climbers like beans, cucumbers, gourds, and some tomatoes reach their full potential without taking a mile to do it.
Speaking of walls, that’s a valuable space we don’t often think about when we plant. Wall-mounted containers are a great way to expand your options and free up limited floor and garden space too. We like Wallygro hanging planters for this – they make great homes for herbs and smaller edibles like basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, dwarf peas, strawberries, and salad greens. Hang a Wallygro container on a patio wall, along a railing, from a lattice, or on a fence – anywhere the sun is. You can even hang one in a sunny spot indoors for a convenient kitchen herb garden. Wallygro’s planters are made of 100% recycled plastic, easy to water, and come in a variety of colors too.
Encourage High-Yields
If you do have a little ground space for a traditional garden, there are ways to maximize your harvest, even from the tiniest of plots. The trick is to create an ideal environment for growth that allows your herbs and veggies to thrive even if they’re a little more closely spaced than they might normally like to be.
For that, a raised garden bed is a perfect choice. Like in a container, a soil mix for raised beds is light, airy, and drains well. And because you won’t be walking in a raised bed, you avoid ruining this wonderful soil structure by treading on it too. Consequently, you can implement intensive, high-efficiency garden practices like succession planting, intercropping, and rotation planting to get maximum yield out of a minimal space. Choosing varieties that produce the most food per plant – like tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, and zucchini – helps too.
Every Inch Can Be a Garden
Big harvests can come from small spaces, so no matter how limited the real estate you have to devote to growing your own fresh food, there’s a way to make it happen. And we’re always here to help. Take a few photos, jot down your wish list, then head to the Greenhouse and talk to our team. We’d love to help you bring your garden to life.
