If your living quarters don’t allow for a backyard garden but still provide a little space, such as a balcony, then you have the room to grow your own food. In fact, in just ten or twenty square feet, it’s possible to provide fresh food for the table on a daily basis.
Part of the trick is picking the right plants. Strawberries and blueberries thrive in a compact setting and work really well in hanging baskets. Leaf lettuces do very well in containers and don’t require much space or soil to grow.
While balconies aren’t known for having incredible floor space for growing food, what’s often forgotten is that there is an entire ceiling being left bare. Instead, it can be used to grow grapes.
A grape vine just needs a bit of space on the floor, and it will happily grow upwards and produce fruit above everything else. Same for tomatoes. The vines can be trained up balcony railings, where the sun is more plentiful.
A balcony also provides plenty of space for fresh herbs, hot peppers, and nasturtiums – which will keep the aphids away from the tomatoes.
Listen to Cathy Isom’s report.