A beginner’s guide to gardening in small spaces
February 20, 2021You must have heard the famous saying- where there is a will, there is a way. If you are passionate about gardening, the amount of space hardly matters. All you need is some sunlight, and a little planning to create a beautiful garden.
Gardening in a small space is challenging, but it’s also extremely rewarding.
If you are a garden enthusiast, you can create magic even on your balcony. Do you want to know how? As you keep reading, you will get to know how to use whatever space you have to grow some vibrant flowers and fresh vegetables.
You don’t need a large space to create a garden; instead, you just require a little planning for vegetable gardening in small spaces. You can use small pots to grow several flowers and vegetables. The only things you need are some good quality soil, a source of water, 5-6 hours of sunshine, and fencing if you are doing it in an open space.
It’s absolutely worth the effort when you get some fresh lettuces, tomatoes, carrots, capsicum, or coriander at your dinner table from your own garden.
Here are few pointers to get you started with your small space gardening
Find a Space with Sunlight
Sunlight is essential for vegetable and flower plants. Most plants need 4-6 hours of decent sunlight to prepare their food, and without that, the flowers won't bloom properly, vegetables won't mature and fruits won't ripen. So, finding a place with proper sunlight is the first step towards creating your small garden.
What if your balcony or the garden space does not get much sunlight? Should you give up? Absolutely not, you can harvest the vegetables that can grow without bright sunlight. Vegetables like lettuce, spinach, beet, carrot, etc. grow well even if they get about three to four hours of sunlight.
Find the Right Plants and Seeds
Buy Vegetable Seeds | Flowering Plants
Finding the right plants to grow in small spaces is very important. You can’t grow every flower or vegetable plant on your balcony or terrace. However, there are a large number of plants that do not need large space.
Vegetables like tomatoes, capsicum, spinach, chillies and flowers like marigold, ixora, mogra, portulaca, cupea, pentas etc. don’t need more than 6-7 inches of soil to grow. So, you can easily grow these plants in small pots.
Make sure you follow perfect techniques and methods to get your germination rate right. Seeds of different varieties needs to be tackled differently while being sown. Here is a video explainer, explaining all that you need to know about the process of growing your own veggies from seeds.
If you are interested in cleaning your daily eating habits and looking for inspiration to grow your own microgreens and sprouts from seeds of different vegetables, here you will find all of it.
Preparing the soil is another crucial step towards creating your garden. If you stay in a metro city, it might be quite difficult to find rich soil around your place.
A well draining soil rich in organic substances is perfect for growing vegetables and flowers. You can use cocopeat, compost and perlite etc in your soil to make it perfect for your garden.
It may sound a little cumbersome, but the result will surprise you. Nothing is more pleasant than watching your garden flourishing before your eyes.
You can check out potting soil mix from our collection for your ease.
Watering
Just like sunlight, plants need water as well to grow. You need to water them regularly, rather than pump in a lot of water at one go. Many people don’t know how to water plants properly. They either sprinkle, or use a pipe, and flush more water than the requirement.
Do you know the best way to water your precious plants? You should water them regularly in small quality. A drip irrigation system is the best way to supply water. Following this process ensures water reaches the plant's root directly and also prevents wastage of water. You should change and plan watering schedule according to the changing seasons.
Vertical Gardening
What will you do if you live in an apartment with very little space? Should you not indulge in your dream of gardening? Of course, you should. You can opt for vertical gardening. It is a modern way of gardening if you have space constraints. You can use 3-4 tier shelves to create a mini garden inside the house. Following plants will work best for your garden :
How to protect your plants from pest attack?
Dealing with pests and plant diseases can be tricky. Specially when your plant babies are severely affected and spraying just neem oil, castor oil or soapy water won't help. In that case, you should try encouraging natural enemies of pests such as spiders, ground beetles and ladybirds in your garden.
Handpicking larger pests and doing companion planting can also be a solution if you find your plants infected.
Gardening is a passion, and once the idea germinates in your mind, it is difficult to resist. It will give you immense pleasure and satisfaction when you see your garden turning colourful with fresh vegetables and vibrant flowers. A small space should not be a hindrance to creating a beautiful garden, right? This article is a guide to help you grow your own garden, even if you have a very compact house.
We have discussed some small garden ideas on a budget. If you are passionate about gardening, nothing can stop you. We are sure you are a garden enthusiast, and that’s why you are here. So, start executing your ideas and see the garden of your dreams flourishing in a few weeks.