Until recently, living in a city apartment meant you could pretty much kiss dreams of growing your own herbs and vegetables goodbye. To the delight of green-thumbed apartment dwellers, this is no longer the case.
If you’re interested in gardening and want to make the most of a small-space garden in your apartment, here are some innovative gardening accessories and techniques to consider.
Mason Jars
Mason jars have become a de rigueur home good, but this is because they are truly useful and versatile. They can be used as planters for herbs, flowers, bean sprouts, and much more. As far as containers without drainage are concerned, mason jars are advantageous in that it’s relatively easy to gauge when to stop watering the plants they hold. If you are concerned about overwatering, pour a layer of sand or gravel at the bottom of the jar to absorb excess water.
Available in a range of sizes, mason jars can be placed on almost any windowsill. They can also be fitted with rope and hung from ceiling- or wall-mounted fixtures if sill space is limited. A further testament to the versatility of mason jars is the fact that they won’t look out of place in any room of your apartment.
Steckling Cubes
Steckling cubes are one of the most effective ways to ensure your garden’s seedlings get the sunlight they need to thrive. They’re also space-efficient, taking up no floor space and relatively little room on the balcony. If want to grow sun-hungry flowers or produce in your garden, these rail-mounted planters are a must.
Hanging Planters
Upside-down gardening has grown popular enough that finding planters designed to hang from above is easy. With hanging planters, you don’t have to worry about your garden taking up precious floor or counter space. When placed strategically on your balcony or near windows, hanging planters can receive optimal sunlight. Choose from metal, ceramic, and plastic or get in touch with your creative side and make your own like our My AMLI DIY contest grand prize winner who made a planter out of a pallet.
Caster Rollers
Make your garden mobile with the help of swivel casters. Affix the rollers to the bottom of planters fashioned from buckets, trash cans, wine crates, pallets, and other large planting containers to make your garden “portable.” Caster rollers make rotating plants a breeze, helping you help your plants get the sunlight they need. Casters also make it easy to move large, bulky planters out of the way when grilling or entertaining.
Kiddie Pool Garden
If you’re itching to tend to a garden of herbs, fruits, and veggies that share the same soil, a wading pool garden can help you scratch that itch. Provided there is enough space for the pool on your balcony, you can have a condensed version of a full yard garden. While still technically a container, a kiddie pool gives you enough space to grow several plants in a single plot of soil. That being said, a kiddie pool garden is a serious investment in space. If your balcony is spacious and you’re truly passionate about gardening, however, this garden hack may very well be the best use for that space.
Tool Wall
Gardening from a balcony requires fewer tools than gardening from a yard. Just because you don’t need a rake or hoe, however, doesn’t mean you don’t need space to store your gardening tools. Mount an organizing shelf on your balcony wall and hang your pruning shears, garden fork, hand trowel, and watering can vertically to save space. Alternately, you may consider an organizing bag that holds everything you need and folds up for easy storage.
Spring is well behind us, but gardening is an ongoing process. Plenty of herbs and veggies are best planted in the summertime. Follow this advice when selecting planters and gardening equipment, and watch the basil, cucumbers, parsley and kale thrive. Where small-space gardens are concerned, the cliche that big things come in small packages can certainly ring true. So start flexing that green thumb of yours.
Do you have small-space garden hacks you’d like to add to this list? Share in the comments.
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View All Posts by Jason Ernst