Apartment & Small Space Gardening

Itching to get your hands dirty? Wanting to start your own garden but thinking it’s impossible due to limited space?

If you are living in an apartment building without any outdoor space to call your own, you can still grow some of your own food. And now more than ever, it is the perfect time to jump in!

From balcony gardens to windowsill gardens, to even a small pot underneath one of your brightest indoor lights, I’m here to tell you that you can do it. Here I will go over a few of the methods as well as a quick walk-through of how you can start each one.

Realistically, you will not be able to grow everything you could ever want in limited indoor space. Like, don’t expect to grow a giant 500 pound pumpkin. But! You can still grow some pretty cool things!

Regrowing Food Scraps

One of the most popular ways to garden indoors is to regrow your vegetable scraps. Some easy ones to get you started are lettuce and green onion bottoms. Save the bottoms of each of them and place them in a shallow dish or cup of water, just enough so that the bottom root area is submerged. Any deeper and you risk a rotting dish of mush.

I had been saving the bottoms of my green onions prior to establishing my own patch for years. They’re so quick to re-root, and start shooting up new green growth in no time. Same with lettuce! I’ve tried it with romaine types and find it fun to have a handful of lettuce greens every now and then from what would otherwise be considered food waste.

I know people who have had success regrowing other vegetables such as celery and regular bulb onions as well. Same premise: You only need to save the bottom and slightly submerge it in water. In no time at all, they were harvesting new celery leaf growth and the other was cutting green onion top growth. Erin with the celery has even been able to plant it out in her garden! So fun!

Mini Vegetable Plants

Because science is cool and plant breeders are amazing, there are quite a few varieties of miniature plants available that are suitable for small-space and container gardening. A prime example of one such plant is this Micro Tom Tomato (aptly named) from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

This plant and the pictures belong to my friend Cheryl from @mybrentwoodgarden on Instagram. She kindly sent me a few photos to share with you!

Side note: If you don’t already follow Cheryl on Instagram, what are you doing with your life? She is a luffa sponge growing master and is just a complete joy to know. Do yourself a favor and go check out her account!

I think one of the coolest things about this is that Cheryl is growing this little guy in her windowsill. That’s right, no fancy grow lights or anything! Isn’t it beautiful? Check out those cute little tomatoes forming!

Herbs

Even though I have over 7,000 square feet of outdoor space, I still find myself with herbs in my windowsills. They’re just so easy to please!

Many herbs can be propagated from the mother plant by simply taking cuttings and rooting them in water. Rosemary and basil are two of my favorites to do by this method. They’ll be really quite content staying in water for weeks and weeks. Just keep the water fresh to prevent any mold or algae growth.

They’re also really forgiving if you want to actually plant them in soil, too. Just pick a sunny windowsill if you have one, a small pot with a drainage hole and some nice organic potting soil. Think of them like a houseplant that actually feeds you back. Win win.

Vertical Gardening

I wish I had discovered vertical gardening years ago. It’s such a smart way to make the most of your growing space!

There are many plants that like to climb, including pole beans and most gourds. If I planted these out in the middle of my garden and let them grow to their own accord, I would not have room for much else! They would go wild in my garden.

But, given a trellis of some type to grow up and climb on, you only need to dedicate a square foot or two to the root systems. Then the rest goes up from there!

You don’t have to have an outdoor space to utilize vertical gardening. You can find hangers and wall attachments for you to hang up pots indoors. Have a wall that gets a lot of sunlight in your apartment? Attach some pots to the wall and grow some herbs!

Or, you can use macrame plant hangers to grow food as well. You could grow a vining edible and it would be every bit as beautiful as an indoor houseplant. A great example of an edible vining plant is a sweet potato vine. The leaves are great in stir fry. And it’s super easy to grow a bunch of them inside from a single potato. More on that soon.

Growing Under Lights

Sometimes, you just miss out on getting the apartment with the sunny windows. Sometimes, you live in a basement where there may be no windows. Don’t let that discourage you from attempting to grow some food.

While you may be out of luck in regards to harvesting the free power of the sun, there are still some great light options out there for you. I myself use two types of grow lights for my needs: One for starting leafy-type plants and one that helps promote flower and fruit budding.

Balcony & Patio Gardening

Are you one of those lucky apartment dwelling folks that has access to your own balcony? You can grow SO much in that space!

Many plants will do just fine in 5 gallon pots or grow bags, some can survive in even smaller ones. One important thing you’ll want to keep track of while growing food on your balcony is the pattern of the sun and how many hours of direct sunlight your patio gets.

How much direct sunlight you get will dictate what kinds of food will produce best for you. For instance, “fruit producing” plants generally require at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day.

Meanwhile, plants that you grow for their leaves like lettuce and spinach can get away with far less direct sunlight.

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I’m so so excited for you to start growing your own food! Please drop any questions below about your situation so others can benefit from the discussion as well.

As always, happy growing!

Becca

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