Grow your own groceries in almost no space!
Just because you have a small yard, or no yard at all, doesn’t mean you can’t have a garden! From window boxes to containers to patio railings, you can turn almost any space into a patch of garden glory!
1 Get started! Survey your spot!
“Just take a walk around your space and look for any places a pot will fit,” advises Melinda Myers, author of Small Space Gardening. “For example, you might want to create a ‘welcome container’ on your stoop filled with dwarf varieties such as dahlias or fragrant heliotropes.” Even a window ledge that gets only three to four hours of direct sun can still host a pretty window box with cut-and-comeagain lettuces and salad greens, says Andrea Bellamy author of Small-space Vegetable Gardens. “Tuck in some alpine strawberries and maybe even an edible flower, such as pansy, and you’ll have a window as decorative as it is tasty!”
Let the sun be your guide!
The question every gardener must answer: How much sun does your space get? “Six or more hours a day is considered full sun, which means you can grow almost any vegetable or fruit and an overwhelming array of perennials and flowering annuals,” says Bellamy. “With four to six hours daily, you can grow many berries, peas and root crops like carrots.” Less than four hours daily? “Consider herbs, as well as shadeloving ornamentals, like hostas and ferns.”
2 Maximize your containers! Think thrill, spill and fill!
The easy rule of (green) thumb for containers? Start with a thriller—a tall plant placed in the middle or back of your container for a dramatic, vertical focal point, says Myers. “Great examples include ornamental grasses, dracaena spikes or a vine trained up a trellis. Next, plant a spiller that’ll cascade beautifully over the edge of your container, like vinca vines, golden moneywort or silver falls dichondra. Lastly, fill in any gaps with colorful pansies, geraniums or tricolor sage, which has gorgeous leaves of green, cream and pink!”
Plant “salad” companions!
“I’m a big fan of combining plants that benefit each other in small spaces to help make them more resilient,” says Bellamy. “For example, I often combine basil and tomatoes; basil is said to make tomatoes taste better, and it attracts beneficial insects like bees! Flowers soften the look of a vegetable garden and many attract beneficial insects; I tuck in favorites like nasturtium and salvia wherever there’s space.”
Enjoy an urban orchard!
Think you need acres of space to grow your own apples or lemons? Not so! “New dwarf fruit varieties like Columnar Apple Trees grow about five feet tall, don’t branch out and give you fruit all along a single ‘stick’ in a container,” reveals Charlie Nardozzi (Gardeningwithcharlie.com), author of Foodscaping. “And dwarf citrus trees can easily be grown outdoors in containers and moved to a protected space over the winter months,” says Bellamy. Ask about them at your local nursery or find Columnar Apple Trees at Raintreenursery.com and Meyer Improved Lemon Dwarf Trees at Whiteflowerfarm.com.
Attract butterflies with a one-stop pot!
Just plant the compact verbena that butterflies love, meteor shower verbena, advises Myers. “Pair it with dwarf bee balm or pentas, which is used in ‘butterfly houses’ where butterflies are raised!” And because every gorgeous butterfly was once a modest caterpillar, Myers suggests including curled parsley in your pot to feed the swallowtail caterpillars that turn into winged beauties!
3 Grow up! Cue a shoe organizer!
Indoors, try planting herbs in the pockets of an over-the-door shoe organizer, suggests Janel Hutton (Nellie Bellie.com). “When we moved from a house to an apartment, I missed herbs from my garden. We didn’t have outdoor space, but we did have a bathroom that got great light, so I planted herbs in the pockets of a shoe organizer draped over the door!” To do: Cover the back of the organizer with a few coats of outdoor Modgepodge to make it watertight. Then fill the pockets with soil, pebbles and sand for drainage, and a bit of activated charcoal. “I planted basil, chives and mint, but if you have bigger pockets, you can even plant lettuce!”
Invite “soil-saving” vines!
“My favorite vegetables to plant have to be peas and beans,” says Bellamy. “They create fabulous screens and improve the soil by ‘pumping’ nitrogen from the air into it via their roots. I tuck dwarf peas, such as sugar Ann, into all my containers, ornamental and edible.”
4 Easy-care secrets! Let plants water themselves!
Containers and hanging baskets dry out easily, so it’s smart to use selfwatering containers, says Nardozzi. “Self-watering containers and hanging baskets have a reservoir in a kind of ‘falsebottom’ that lets the plant drink gradually, so you can go away for, say, a long weekend and not have to worry!” Two options: Fiskars 10-Inch Ariana Self-watering Planter, $7.15, and Santino Self-Watering Hanging Basket, $14.99, both at Amazon com.
Feed ’em “smarter”!
Because containers and pots are smaller and have less soil in them, it’s especially important to fertilize them often, says Nardozzi. “Just sprinkle the container with about one tablespoon of slow-release fertilizer every three to six months.” One option: Osmocote Smart-Release Plant Food Plus: $9.87, Walmart. com.