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Loading...5 Ways To Kick-Start Your Own Urban Vegetable Garden
When I woke up this morning, it was a scant 12 degrees outside. And my city was one of the warmest in the state! If you’re feeling the wintertime blues, planning a garden can be a great way to remind yourself that warmer weather really is on the way.
But what if you don’t have a huge yard that can be turned over for planting, or what if you’re a renter and your landlord prefers grass to edible greens? Don’t fret, your dreams to be an urban gardener don’t depend on acres of land or decades of farming knowledge.
All you need (as any farmer would tell you) are the right tools and a little bit of patience. Ok, you need a little bit of space too, but not nearly as much as you think.
For this post, we’ve gathered up five of the most useful products to help kick-start your urban gardening efforts. These products are versatile and can be used indoors, on a porch or balcony, or to start seedlings while you wait for the ground to thaw. They range from simple and affordable, to more complex and pricey, but all are made by awesome companies that want to see you eating healthy food you’ve grown yourself.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, so as always, please share your recommendations for other grow-your-own products in the comments!
1. Grow Pillow
The Grow Pillow is a new alternative to container gardening. Its flexible design creates a portable urban garden in the smallest outdoor space, or a productive vegetable and herb garden on any sunny surface. Grow Pillow replaces the expense of plastic and ceramic containers and the bulky rigid frame structure of raised beds with a natural burlap pillow. It allows you to create an organic garden for the family without digging or lugging heavy bags of soil! Watch a video of the Grow Pillow in action, here.
Update: Several Care2 members expressed concern that Grow Pillow includes a plastic bag in the activation kit. I forwarded those concerns to Bill Servick of GrowPillow, and wanted to share his response:
“The disposable mixing bag is included in the kit. Asking customers to find and use an existing/reusable container to expand the coir, mix the ingredients and fill the bag takes the “everything included” aspect away from the product. The mixing bag does not stay in the Pillow, so the activated Pillow is 100% organic – and the bag uses considerably less plastic than a traditional plastic garden pot. I wish we had less plastic involved, but it’s a compromise we had to make in order to bring the product to market. We did deliver our primary goal of offering a 100% organic growing environment! Seems there is always some trade-off.”
>>Up Next: Window Farms
Read more: gardening, grow your own, growing kits, mushrooms, organic, slideshow, urban farming, vegetables
Image Credit: Flickr - EvelynGiggles
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
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So much for being men of God. Well done Judith, you saved one of God's beautiful creatures.
buddhism would not have endorsed this, i join in the applaud you deserved.
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+ add your ownGood article, thank you.
YES, great piece!
I'd like to try the Woolly Pockets. I like the facts that they are made in the USA from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles.
thanks!
Tomato smells a bit, It would be better off outside the window, not in. I would recommend Malabar Spinach for an indoor vine. It is prettier that you common Pothos, with it's purple tinged leaves and lavender blooms and can be eaten fresh off the vine.
This is a simplistic way to grow your own spices, i.e. Rosemary etc... It also, as the article stated, depends on the room one has if living in a confined area, such as an apartment or condo type situation. As I would not in my condo care to be overwrought and strangled by a mass of tomato vines. But a great idea for the making of you own spices and seasonings
Hi Belinda
I agree and disagree. There are a couple of links IN this article about DIY versions, and some posts below for them as well. Did you know that SNAP can also be used for seed buying? http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailers/eligible.htm
Great ideas for yuppies. Not so great for poorer urban people who may have little access to fresh veggies.
Hi Deanna
Dunno if it would work for you, but I once saw a house that got around that by building tall plant stands under the windows. They came off looking like window boxes. I don't remember if they just painted the legs like the house or covered them with lattice and let vines grow up, but they are options
Nice poll results
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