Caleb built me this 4x8ft raised bed garden last fall. I know it sounds like a lot, but it honestly isn’t that much real estate. But, we make the most of it! Right now, in our beautiful vegetable garden, we have a variety of vegetables: we have spinach, chives, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and broccoli growing. We also have a bunch of random containers around our yard with vegetables and flowers growing in them.

Caleb and I are fortunate to live on a 1/3 acre in the city. But, if we didn’t have this much land, we STILL would be trying our best to grow the best vegetable garden possible! I love making sure we are making the best use of the space we have!

I bring this up because not enough people know that you don’t need a large area to have a vegetable garden! Yep! Even city-dwellers can have their own vegetable garden!

 What you do need:

• Good soil
• Plenty of sunshine
• Water
• A place to plant- ether a bed, a pot, or right in the ground.

So, if you have even a small sunny spot in your yard or on a patio or balcony, you can grow vegetables.

In fact, many people find that they actually enjoy their time spent gardening when they have limited outdoor space because of how much easier it makes things like watering plants and harvesting vegetables. So any time spent outside in a garden, big or small, is time worth spending!

If you live in the city or are short on space, don’t worry! You can still have a vegetable garden. In this blog post, I am going to show you how to plant a small urban garden.

Inspect The Space You Have to Grow In

A pot can be placed just about anywhere, a window still, beside the front door on the porch, on the balcony. The only limits are the needs of the particular plant and your imagination.

Full sun plants will require enough sunlight to grow. Choosing the right area for the amount of light needed is essential. Peppers plants, for example, will take as much sun as they can get and will not grow well in too much shade. On the other hand, Peas can work on less sunlight, though they do like what they can get, and during the hotter months of the summer, peas will do better where they are shaded from the midday sun.

Wherever you choose to garden, look for an area with at least 6 hours of direct sunlight, good air circulation, and adequate space for your pots or garden. Naturally, your garden should be somewhere accessible, so maintenance is easy and so you never have to work hard to be by its beauty.

Choose Your Plants Carefully

Certain plants will not work depending on the limits of your space and access to things like water and sunlight. Checking the daily sunlight requirements, care requirements, and watering needs will help you figure out the plant you want is a good fit. Then, for the best results, choose plants that will thrive in small containers and the plants you can choose for your small space garden.

Generally, anything requiring a lot of space once it’s mature or has an extensive root structure will struggle in pots and may need to be planted directly in the ground. However, for many city dwellers, plants like that are not an option.

Choose the Correct Small Space Pots and Planters

Choosing pots and planters with proper drainage is the most important factor for your small-space garden.

Soil Requirements for Small Space Gardens

Plants That Do Well in The City:

This is not an exhaustive list of what you might be able to grow in your small city garden, and some of what is possible will depend on your grow zone and the location you have chosen. For those living in a grow zone with a long growing season, the options are practically endless! Feel free to research anything you might be interested in planting to see if your circumstances will allow you to grow it.

Flowers:

No shortage of flower varieties are happy and at home in a pot by the windowsill or out on the balcony. Look first to the flowers you like, but consider flowers like Petunias, Morning Glories, Pansy, or Marigolds. Not only will the flowers add vibrancy to your home and neighborhood, but you may also be able to help feed the bees.

You use flower beds that rest on the balcony railings to give them all the sun they need and save space while creating something beautiful to look at.

Vegetables:

What is a garden without vegetables? There are actually quite a few vegetables that can be grown in pots or small beds. Salad greens, tomatoes, peppers, and smaller varieties of squash plants will do perfectly fine in the right-sized container. You can definitely grow delicious vegetables in a small garden!

Herbs:

Even if you only have a few square feet to spare, building a robust herb garden is still possible. This advantageous type of gardening will allow you to spice up your food with the freshest homegrown herbs.

Herbs like dill, fennel, cilantro, basil, and mint are hugely versatile and require little work to grow successfully. Herbs like thyme, rosemary, and lavender like warmer temperatures and more sun. They take more care initially, but once established; they can provide you will all you will need for cooking. It is possible to grow many herbs in a small space, as most of them take up little on their own.