Tabletop and Other Small Space Vegetable Gardens
If you live in the city, or simply can’t find enough “yard” to grow your own vegetables, take a second look. Salad greens, tomatoes and other vegetables grown in your own garden are simply tastier and more nutritious than those you pick up at the grocery store, plus you have the added advantage of knowing they weren’t sprayed with harmful chemicals. There really is no comparison to picking your own vegetables, and minutes later enjoying a salad or stir-fry. There are lots of innovative, space-saving ways you can grow vegetables in your own space no matter the size.
Start With Small Space Vegetables
If you have little space, you obviously won’t be growing rows of corn or squash with sprawling vines or melons. There are, however, plenty of tasty vegetables you can grow just fine, such as tomatoes, baby carrots, salad greens, baby cauliflower, peppers, bush beans, snow peas or cabbage. Shoot for plants that tend to grow vertically or upright and that have shorter growing seasons. Only plant the types of vegetables that you and your family really love, as you won’t want to spend the time on a crop nobody eats. Vegetables which are marketed as “baby,” “dwarf,” “bush,” or “compact,” are all good choices for your small space garden. If you have a nice, sunny windowsill, you can get a jump on spring by planting several varieties of seeds in your window. By the time spring does finally appear, you will already have plants ready to set outside in containers, on a balcony, or in hanging pots.
Container Gardening or Raised Beds
Even if you don’t have soil in your yard to grow vegetables, you can incorporate raised beds, or choose from a wide array of containers for container gardening. Raised beds let you increase the fertility in the soil, and to raise more vegetables in a smaller space. Mulching every fall with leaves will keep the soil healthy for growing. Raised beds can be built with 1″ x 8″ boards, cinder blocks or bricks. Don’t use treated wood for your raised beds as the chemical used to treat the wood can leach into your vegetables.
Container planters come in all shapes, sizes and prices. Terra cotta pots always look great, but tend to dry out quickly, so remember to water often. A new way of growing, although not as aesthetically pleasing as a well-built raised bed or pretty container, is to buy bags of garden soil or potting soil, lay them out where you want to grow, and simply cut holes in the top for individual plants. Grow bags can easily support cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce or French and bush beans. Window boxes both look nice and allow you to grow cherry tomatoes, lettuce, celery, peppers or herbs. The traditional strawberry pot can allow you to grow a crop of strawberries in a small space on your porch or deck. Remember that vegetables need lots of fertilizer when growing in containers, as well as consistent watering …