Container Garden Planning for a Small Space

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These are my plans for a small space container garden. I am adding the links to the products that I am referencing. However, to be clear, I am not recommending any product or service at this time. I am simply sharing what my plans are. I will give an honest review of each product or service that I use. I am not being compensated for my reviews.

Our little “garden”

Since we live in an apartment, we have very little space to utilize for growing a garden. We have a nice size screened in porch area but much of the direct sun is blocked by the short surrounding walls. Last summer, I grew two tomato plants on the walkway in front of our door. Sorry, I don’t have pictures. We only got 4 small tomatoes off of the two plants. I don’t see it as a failure though. It was a good learning experience. It also was a great motivator to want to try more.

This year we will be going vertical! We are buying a stackable planting system that will allow us to grow more in that same small space. I will be starting mostly everything inside in my office under a light a couple months before they will be put outside in this growing tower.

  In addition to our own growing setup, I have agreed to help my friend Beth build out and plant a few raised garden beds in her backyard. She is thinking that she would like to do at least 3 garden beds. She is also thinking that she will purchase some type of kit to build the beds. I will be sure to write about whatever we end up doing for her.

What we are growing

I have a pretty ambitious list of plants that I would like to try to grow.

• Easter Basket Mix Radish
• Early Wonder Beet
• Minibel Tomato
• Nero Di Toscana Cabbage (Dinosaur or Lacinato Kale)
• Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach

Beth and I will share these seeds but there were a few that she picked out to grow in her garden beds as well. The seeds I ordered specifically to grow in Beth’s garden are:

• Chinese Multicolor Spinach
• Thousandhead Kale
• Vulcan Swiss Chard

I ordered seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Baker Creek will actually send you a free seed catalog in the mail! The catalog is beautiful and full of color. I love that they offer varieties that you don’t see in the supermarket or even at the farmer’s market.

The ordering process was easy. I went through the catalog, chose the vegetables that I wanted then used the code to find them on the website. I ordered the seeds on a Saturday. I got notification that they shipped that following Monday and they were delivered to our mailbox on Thursday. They even threw in a couple of free seed packs! There was Calendula and Nero Di Toscana Kale. I have seeds left over from last year that were bought at a local store. I am not sure which I will be using out of those however. I may just grow the herb seeds that I have from that collection. I am excited for the spring. I am excited to plant seeds and see how much I can grow. Helping Beth with her backyard garden beds will be a great learning experience in preparation for when we need to do it on our homestead! 😁 Next up in the plans: seed starting!