Gardening is a relaxing, fun hobby that many people enjoy all over the world. The interesting fact is that only some of those people have access to large pieces of land they can dedicate to a garden. In fact, owning land or even having a large backyard attached to your home isn’t as common as you might think.
Because of that, many have started looking for ways of crafting a garden in small, often indoor spaces. We’ve put together a few tips that will help you do the same if you’re low on usable real estate!
Dealing With a Lack of Space
For some, space is a given but for others, it’s a commodity. Those who own plenty of land or large yards can make any kind of garden they want. But what if you don’t have access to that type of real estate? What if all you have is a small piece of land that can barely fit a shed? Even worse, what if all you have to work with is a balcony? First and foremost, you’re not alone. There are many gardening enthusiasts out there who have managed to pull off impressive gardens using nothing but tiny backyards or even less than that. The key to being a successful gardener with limited space is to think outside the box.
Forget the Traditional Garden Layout
Before you can start building your own unconventional garden, you need to become free of the shackles that are the idea of a traditional garden layout. The whole “tidy, uniform rows of plants” thing has to go. What you’ll be doing is very likely going to be anything but uniform. But that’s okay! At the end of the day, it’s all about making that garden you’ve always wanted and keeping your plants happy. To do that, we need to think of space in a completely unconventional way.
Going Vertical
If you’re dealing with a small backyard, a balcony, or generally a piece of space that doesn’t allow you to use traditional means of growing plants, there’s a chance you could benefit from going vertical. A vertical garden can mean a lot of things. Gardening enthusiasts from https://greeneryguide.com/ explain that there are many ways of exploring the vertical dimension in gardening. Going vertical can mean stacking your plants vertically, or it can mean taking advantage of plants that like to hug walls.
All that being said, here are a few ways you can go vertical:
- Raised beds – Raised beds are one of the hottest concepts in the world of gardening. Traditional raised beds require plenty of space, but there is a way you can make this gardening method work for you. Namely, you can create smaller gardening beds and stack them up vertically using a ladder setup. That way you can build yourself a garden that equals several square yards of arable soil, all while using a fraction of that space.
- Pots and Planters – Pots and planters are arguably the most popular choice for exploring the vertical dimension if you’re building a garden on your balcony. Using pots allows you to hang your plants high and even suspend them on the ceiling of your balcony if that’s what you want to do. Naturally, not all plants are viable for use with pots and planters, but many of them are.
- Hydroponics – If you look at your average plant, you’ll notice that soil it needs to thrive is usually what takes up the most space. What if you were to get rid of soil altogether? Hydroponics is a method of gardening that suspends plants in water so that only their roots are submerged. The idea is to feed the plants all the nutrients they need through water, thus completely removing any need for actual soil. The best thing about a hydroponic rig is that it works well in the vertical plane. You can “plant” a large number of plants in a tiny space and have them thrive without a single issue.
Planning is Everything
Now that we know we can actually create a successful garden in tiny spaces, let’s discuss what is arguably the most important part of this entire process — planning. As cliché as it may sound, planning really is everything in gardening. Mind you, this also applies to regular gardening as well. However, as your available space shrinks, the need for a complex planning phase increases.
Why is the Planning Phase so Important?
Plants are all different in the sense that each plant has its own needs and requirements. When you’re planting a garden on a large patch of land, you don’t really have to worry too much about these needs and requirements since every species has all the room and nutrition it needs. Once you remove the variable of abundant space from that equation and squeeze plants together, you’ll run into issues. By planning your garden, you’ll be able to recognize the following key information:
- Which plants are compatible – Some plants, especially vegetables and flower plants, are not only compatible but work to keep each other healthy. Knowing which plants work together is key if you want to create a diverse garden.
- How much space each plant requires – Different plants require different amounts of space. We’re not necessarily talking about the space they take up in the ground, but rather space they take up above the ground.
Making a Functional Garden
Last but not least, sometimes you’ll need to make your garden functional. Functionality in this particular context means making your garden work with furniture and other elements that are found in the space you’ve designated for growing crops. Fortunately, this isn’t too hard if you utilize any of the above methods.
Arm Yourself with Patience
Once you plan out your garden, there is a small chance things won’t go your way right off the bat. Gardening, like any other skill, takes practice. If at first, you don’t succeed, try again. Plants are living beings, and they don’t always behave the way we want them to behave. Be patient with your plants, and they will treat you with colorful flowers and plentiful crops when the time comes.
