If you are anything like me, you want to begin your gardening/homesteading journey as soon as possible, but you might not have the space to start all of the large projects. I currently live in an apartment with a balcony so I try to use all the space I can get. Today, I’m going to give you 10 (and maybe a bonus) projects that you can start in your home if you don’t have the same space as a traditional home. Let’s get started!
1. Herbs and Plants in the Windowsill
There are plenty of herbs and even plants that can be easily grown on your windowsill in small 3-6 inch container. Just make sure you have adequate soil drainage and Here is a list of come things that can grow in a windowsill:
- Rosemary – A small yet hardy plant that is simple and easy to grow on the windowsill. Make sure you have well draining soil, full sun, and water when the soil is dry and you will have tons of rosemary for all your cooking/baking needs!
- Thyme – This is one of the more easy herbs you can grow! Throw it in a pot, water it when the well draining soil is dry, and leave it full sun and it can do fine all by itself! You might even consider companion planting it with rosemary as they have similar soil and care needs!
- Green Onions – If you cut the onion about 2 inches from the bottom stick those ends in a small pot of soil, making sure to keep it moist, those shoots will eventually grow back. Once they have reached your desired height, you can pull, rinse, chop and enjoy!
- Leafy greens – Produce like arugula and lettuce can easily be grown on a windowsill with the right type of soil with proper drainage, water, and full sun. Both arugula and lettuce have about a 7-12 day germination timeline, and lettuce can even do pretty well in cooler temperatures depending on where you live and what time of year it is!
2. Keeping Kitchen Scraps for Compost
Composting is a process that takes carbon and nitrogen materials along with water and air to create a planting medium that you can use with your potted plants and even your eventual garden. Check out my post here where I go into detail about the composting system that I have set up on my balcony! Keeping your kitchen scraps is a great way of reusing what you already have and putting them to use in other areas around your house!
3. Growing Aloe Vera for Small Cuts and Burns
If you are anything like me, I love to cook but I’m no where near a professional, meaning that I often make small mistakes when it comes to learning new recipes. Aloe Vera was my first plant that I successfully kept alive and I have been growing it ever since. It is such an easy plant to take of and requires little to no attention once you have it in a pot that it is meant for and in a soil that it is meant for. It has a ton of medicinal uses, including for itches, cuts, scrapes, burns, and even helps with anti-inflammatory.
4. Growing Small or Dwarf Citrus Trees
So I randomly purchased a lemon tree about 3 years ago not at all knowing what I was doing so just like everything else I plant, I just stuck it into a pot and it now has produced a lemon! To be very honest I really don’t know what I did to get it that way other than watering, and the occasional citrus fertilizer, but if that doesn’t tell you anything, it tells you that it really is just that easy. To me, you are a gardener if you can keep anything alive (or if you can’t because everything is a learning curve) or grow something even if it’s your first time.
5. Gardening Kits
Now I have been seeing these a lot recently in multiple chain store around my area, and I think they are a great way to get started in the basics of learning how to grow your own food. I have seen some with tomatoes and basil, some with a plethora of herbs for you to try, some with just flowers, and even some for kids! I think these are great starting places if you just want to get your feet wet in the gardening space without having to go out and buy different materials that you aren’t sure if you are going to like 6 months down the road. Most that I have seen range anywhere from $10-$20 depending on the size and the things that you want to grow.
6. Indoor plants for air quality
So this one is very easy to do because the plant in question usually don need a whole lot of a attention to help with he air quality of your home. I personally have a snake plant and aloe vera that are propagated into little small pots around my place to maximize their air purification. Here are some others that don’t require a ton of maintenance: Spider Plant, Peace Lily, Boston Fern, English Ivy, and Pothos.
7. Container gardening your staple foods
I have recently undertaken the task of trying this out, and in a couple months, together we are going to see how it goes. if you check out my post here I explain the starting of tomatoes and basil from seed. Now alongside of that, I will be using some 5 gallon grow bags that I got for Christmas to grow some potatoes, grow carrots, and even try my hand a lettuces when it gets a bit warmer after our last frost. Container gardening is a great way to not only try new foods for growing but also depending on the size, don’t take up as much space as a regular gardening bed would.
8. Rain water collection for watering your plants.
This a very niche thing you can do depending on your space situation. I personally like to simply put a bucket outside and whatever water falls in, I use that to water my plants for the week. You can also cut a pool noodle length wise and place it on your balcony railing and maneuver it to drain into a bucket for more water collection. Now of course, there are systems that you can not only build but buy to make rainwater collection ingenuitive, but I always think the more efficient and simple your system is, the more time you can spend on doing other things in your house or on your homestead.
9. At home propagation
I am a firm believer that if anything grows once it can (most of the time) be grown again. Most plants as the grow send of child or pups of that same plant to continue the life and overall growth of that plant. Often, you may find a small leaf with a root or a small plant in general that can be put into water for a couple of days until roots grow and then you can begin propagating to see in you can nurture the plant to full health or even thriving. Now, please make sure you do proper research before inviting just any plant into your house! I also recommend leaving the plant outside for an ample about of time to also make sure you aren’t bring any unwanted pests inside that can unintentionally do damage to not only your other plants but also your home.
10. Vermicomposting
This is something that I want to try on my balcony and from what I’ve researched, a very low maintenance solution to get great fertilizer/compost for your plants. There are plenty of small space options for vermicomposting bins online. If you have an excess of scraps for your compost, feeding these extras to your worms can be a great alternative. From my research you only purchase worms once and begin feeding them kitchen scraps within their bedding. Over time (and more food) you will be able to sift their castings from their bedding so that you can use them in addition to your other compost!
BONUS Overall Experimenting with different Seeds!
Have you ever had a piece of fruit so good you wanted it over an over again? Or saw a plant go to seed but you wanted to try growing it on your own? Same! I think the best and easiest thing that anyone can do is experiment and try their hand at growing their own produce. For me, it is fun doing the research to no only learn about what I am growing but also learn the best practices and cares to maintain and grow that produce! Use any extra space or even small pots to try growing your favorite things! You never know, you might just become an expert!
For now though, thank you for tuning in to some of the things that you can do to start your gardening journey if you may not have the “traditional” amount of space or are just limited in the space that you are in. Remember, it’s not about the space but what you do with it. If you try some of these, be sure to hit the contact button at the top and let me know!
Until next time, as always, Plant with a Purpose! – BTR
