Inspiration for Urban Gardeners
If you ever find yourself staring out the window longing for something green to look at. Have you taken notice of your neighbor’s relaxing terrace covered in vines and become green with envy?
it’s time you were let in on a little secret. You’ve been living the urban gardening “high life” and never even knew it!
Urban gardening can be easy to control. Less hassle with unwanted weeds, and less tilling, fertilizing and… well, working. Are you toying with the idea to grow your horticultural skills from a high-rise terrace? Do you have a desire to start a fun, social, rooftop community garden? You’ve landed on the right page for discovering some helpful and inspirational ideas for urban gardening!
Urban Gardening Location
The reason many folks choose apartment or condo living is… LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Well, plants, too, prefer certain comforts in order to thrive.
The most important piece of the puzzle is considering your sunlight and space. Because of the direction your home-sweet-home faces and the amount of window or patio space can be limited, it’s crucial to understand what you’re working with if you want your labors to bear fruit!
Live life on the “shady side”? Don’t count yourself out! There is a plethora of plants, both edible and ornamental, that love the cooler side of the block. Don’t have much terrace space? Vertical gardening is ideal for creating some shade and creating natural privacy between neighbors.
I could go on and on about how excited I get about the creativity involved in maximizing urban gardening space, but let’s just dive right in, shall we?!
Containers
Let’s start by discussing the goal of your endeavors and the options for different types of containment. This can be a fun challenge because pots are SO fun and come in all shapes, colors, and sizes!
A few things to consider on the practical side, when picking out your containers are what you want to grow, where it will grow best, and will it fit!?
If you are wanting to try your hand at urban farming and want to grow vegetables, it’s good to know what your little seedling will grow into and plant accordingly. In general, the following container sizes are best for these examples and the like:
- 1 gallon container = greens, radishes, herbs, carrots, and onions
- 2-gallon container = beans, peas and turnips
- 5-gallon container = tomatoes, peppers, squash and potatoes (with trellises and cages for support)
Window Boxes
Window boxes are fantastic for herbs and flowers because they are light weight plants with shallow root systems. Herbs, however, will grow fairly happily no matter what you put them in. They can be mounted to a wall beneath a window, hang over a mounting or a railing for easy moving.
They hang beautifully over stair railings, too, to bring a little sunshine to any stoop without taking up any floor space.
Planters can even be hung with intricately woven wool designs to hold a basket of a shelf to put a sweet little succulent or refreshing spider plant.
Long, rectangular planting boxes stack easily in the off season but are a thoughtful way to create privacy around your terrace.
Trellising squash plants, tomatoes, or even flowering vines like clematis, vinca, and climbing hydrangea (all three of which are shade lovers, by the way), provide some vertical privacy between neighbors on either side. Flowering vines, like the ones previously mentioned, are also perennials so will come back year after year with proper care.
Urban Gardening Raised Beds
If you are one of the lucky few who have a collective, social group of interested gardeners in your building, a rooftop community garden could be just as productive as a small plot on an acre of land! Not to mention the on-going party taking everyone from chores during the day and relaxing and enjoying at night! (I can see the little garden lights all strung up, squash flowers and potato vines lining the walking paths… and a home-grown veggie tray to share, Oh, My!!)
Raised beds can be easily ordered and assembled straight from amazon or from any gardening site. One of my favorites when looking for urban garden ideas is www.gardenersedge.com.
They aren’t isolated to rooftops, though. Remember when I mentioned privacy? Leaving your plant beds in place allows you to keep privacy at the fence year-round… as well as the option for fall and winter planting, if your area has favorable enough conditions.
Dimensions need to be measured and written down prior to ordering or even building your own!
Creating custom beds isn’t as hard as it sounds, although you may not have the space to do it. While the price of wood has also skyrocketed, treated aluminum beds and other materials are options worth exploring. No matter what you use, be sure that it is weather treated with substances that will not pollute the quality of your soil.
City Problems…
Just because you have a handle on weed control and figured out the sunshine down to the hour doesn’t mean your project will be woe free! Besides sun and space, issues of water availability and a busy schedule can get in the way of the dedication it takes to keep plants happy and healthy.
Sometimes, you may need to move them around to either provide more sun or less during specific times in the day. Watering in the morning or evening hours is also important, as watering during the heat of the day can scorch your plants.
Water access may present a real problem, too. While watering cans are helpful and can carry quite a bit of water, the potential for soppy floors and dripping balconies becomes a reality when you find yourself making trip after trip from sink to door.
Urban Gardening Watering Solved!
Luckily, urban farmers have the luxury of easily tarping plants and drip irrigation. I bet you thought you needed a water hose to provide drip irrigation, didn’t you? Thoughtfully made with urban horticulture hurdles in mind, watering rocks are a beautiful and functional addition to your little green getaway!
Whether your work schedule or vacation keeps you from watering regularly, or you are tired of the hassle of hauling small amounts of water (that seem like gallons when you spill them), watering rocks drip irrigation system has your back. Each rock holds up to five gallons of water providing up to about one weeks-worth of water for your plants. Instead of daily watering, all that is required is once a week.
Plants looking a little sad? Add a little fertilizer directly to the watering rock for even, controlled dispersing of nutrients that will perk plants right up! For more information, visit www.watering-rocks.com.