How To Start Gardening in Your Apartment

Gardening in Your Apartment

Just because you live in apartment doesn’t mean you can’t get started on a new hobby like gardening. Even with a smaller amount of space, there are a few ways those with an itching green thumb can bring plant life into their loft home.  

Why Start a Small Indoor Garden?

Even a small indoor garden can be great for both people and planet; you might be amazed by how much difference even a very small garden can make. Benefits include:

·         Lowering your carbon footprint.

·         Lessening the amount of plastic packaging brought into your home.

·         Opportunities to reuse plastic, prolonging its usefulness.

·         Recycling food waste by composting back into your soil at home.

·         Don’t forget, producing some food in your own loft helps you save money by limiting expenses on basic food needs.

Choosing Where to Place Your Plants in Your Apartment

Once you decide where you want to garden, the next step is figuring out exactly where you are going to put everything in your space. At The Riverwalk Lofts, the massive 12ft windows keep your entire apartment lit throughout the later hours of the day, so the placement options for your plant-life are more than you would expect.

You will want to choose places that are accessible, have long exposure to sunlight, and have good ventilation. Naturally, you’ll want to choose somewhere close to your big windows in order for the plant to be in the best position to flourish, but there are a few options for how you would set it up.

Windowsill Gardening

Windowsills at the Lofts are perfect for small box gardens to take root. Take advantage of the bright windows and utilize some window boxes or other small containers to place right along the inside edge of the windowsill. Unfortunately for our tenants on the northern side of the building, south-facing windowsills will offer the best light levels and conditions for gardening, but you can still grow some plants on the Northern side as well! While north-facing windows will get less light, there are still a lot of shade-tolerant plants that you can grow like Kale or Radicchio, so don’t worry.

Hanging Gardens

Another option for gardening that would offer a different aesthetic is hanging gardens. Hanging gardens are perfect if you are looking to conserve a little more space on the surface of your apartment building. Lucky for you, with a little bit of grunt work, the 16-foot ceilings are the perfect area to create a little overhead gardening space in your apartment. One great idea is setting up your hanging plants to sit right below your loft’s indoor balcony so that it is easy to maintain. Hanging baskets may drip, so make sure to get leak-free containers when starting your garden.

Tabletop Gardening

Tabletop gardening is by far the easiest on this list and can be a great way to fill a spacious area in your apartment. Simply find an open table space you’d like to use, place some plant boxes down, and get to gardening. Make sure to keep the plants you select close to the window so they can absorb as much natural light as possible.

So, What Do I Grow?

With a little effort and time, most outdoor plants can be grown inside. From certain small fruit trees to little greens and other vegetables. Certain options will be easier than others if you are new to gardening – for example, the following can be grown in even the smallest of indoor gardens:

·       Loose-leaf lettuces

·       Pea shoots

·       Spinach and chard

·       Asian greens like bak choy, mizuna, and amaranth

·       Radishes

·       Spring onions

·       Strawberries

·       Herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, and thyme.

·       Once you get the hang of indoors gardening, you could progress to growing:

·       Tomatoes

·       Peppers (bell peppers and chilies)

·       Carrots, beetroots, and other root crops (in deeper window box containers)

·       Peas, beans, and other plants that require supports

After you’ve gotten confident in your gardening abilities, the potential for apartment-grown produce is endless.

Creating a small garden in your loft has its challenges – but overall, getting started is easier, cheaper, and less time-consuming than many people imagine. So if you’re looking for the perfect place to start your garden from the comfort of your apartment, look no further than Thorndike Exchange.