Container Gardens
Tips for Gardening When You Don’t Have a Garden
Monday, February 6th, 2012
Gardening is a fun and rewarding hobby for people of all ages. Each year, more and more families and individuals decide to develop green thumbs, leading to gardening blooming in the United States and elsewhere.
A therapeutic activity for many, folks are also turning to gardening for economic and health reasons. Growing your own fruits and vegetables can save you and your family a lot of money. Additionally, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is better for you, and produce grown locally is better for the environment as well.
While gardening is great, some people who would love a garden just aren’t doing it. For the most part, these people are hesitant to start gardening because they don’t have a garden. That shouldn’t be an impediment, however, as many new and seasoned gardeners don’t have a patch to plant either!
If you don’t have a yard, don’t worry. You can still get into gardening. These tips for gardening when you don’t have your own garden can help. Follow these tips, and get growing in no time!
1.) Focus on what you do have.
Where could you plant things? An open patch of dirt outside may give you more possibilities, but you probably have options you haven’t even considered yet. You could hang up window boxes, put pots on a patio or balcony, and you could hang a plant by your front door. You could even set up terrariums and other indoor equipment to grow a small scale garden indoors.
2.) Get a garden home away from home.
If you live in a city, you probably have one or more public gardens where residents can plant. These are nothing new, but as gardening grows, more of these spaces keep sprouting up on otherwise unused public lands.
Reserving a small plot in one of these gardens may be just the ticket if you want to have fresh, healthy produce for you and your family on a slightly larger scale. You will have to reserve one of these plots ahead of time, and you probably will need to pay a small monthly rental fee. Your city or county municipal offices or the local university extension service should be able to provide you with more information.
3.) Get your gear ready.
Gardening requires certain tools, and it will be frustrating and difficult to cultivate your crops if you don’t have them. Even if you are only growing lemons on your balcony, proper tools will make your life much easier.
You might be wondering what to do with this equipment when it is not in use or out of season. If you don’t have the storage space at your home, you may want to consider renting a small storage locker to stash away these mainly seasonal supplies. This space will also be a warm space in winter months for plants that don’t fare well in cold weather.
4.) Plan your planting carefully.
If you are planting on a public plot or in a pot on your front stoop, you will want to put a lot of thought into your planting. You only have so much space, so you want to get the greatest benefit out of the crops you choose.
Select plants that are known to thrive in your region. Take into account the amount of direct sunlight the area where you will be planting gets, and pick plants that are known to do well in these conditions.
Additionally, select crops you will use. Tomatoes, peppers, onions and other versatile crops are probably an excellent choice. If you decide to use your tiny bit of balcony for a lime tree, the benefits you will receive will be a bit limited.
Conclusion
You can have a garden! It doesn’t matter if you live in the tiniest studio apartment in New York City; if you want to start exercising your green thumb, you can do it!
These tips are intended to help you figure out how to get your garden growing, but the rest is up to you. A little bit of persistence and patience with your plants can lead to some great rewards: a feeling of accomplishment, a significantly lower grocery bill and a refrigerator full of healthy, nutritious food!
Kenneth McCall is director of IT for storage.com. In this role he builds the systems that help customers find the best self storage units for their needs. Through Kenneth’s and his team’s work, customers can find self storage Los Angeles and other cities. In his spare time, Kenneth likes to bike and participate in outdoor activities.
