Urban gardening is gardening in a small space. My suggestions will show you that you don't need a garden to garden - a balcony or roof will do, too.
Not everyone lives in the country and therefore has a wide range of options for gardening as the mood takes them. But the green thumb does not necessarily have to rest. Urban gardening offers unimagined opportunities to achieve great things, even on a small area and in the middle of the city. You can read here exactly what this trend means and how tomatoes and onions will soon be growing in your city. Hobby gardeners learn to be creative themselves and simply use everyday objects as planters, this is how urban gardening begins - a trend that can start on your own balcony or even in the smallest kitchen.
Urban Gardening - what is it?
To put it simply, urban gardening is nothing more than gardening in the smallest of spaces. In the cities there is a lack of extensive usable areas, so special requirements are placed on the hobby gardener. In many places, for example, green spaces within residential areas are used as community gardens. They try to garden in harmony with nature. Beds can also be planted in backyards and front gardens, and ultimately anyone who plants an old bathtub, a disused wheelbarrow or an old wooden crate on the balcony is doing nothing other than urban gardening.
What is the appeal of urban gardening?
Growing regional fruit and vegetables in the cities is a concern for many hobby gardeners and those who think in an environmentally friendly and ecological way, which corresponds to urban gardening. Urban gardening does not just mean harvesting fresh fruit and vegetables and enjoying the splendor of the flowers, a very important aspect is to forget the anonymity of the big city a bit when gardening and to literally move closer together. The big city gardeners come from very different age groups, social classes and cultures. Last but not least, the increasing number of food scandals are an aspect of playing it safe and largely supplying oneself with fruit and vegetables.
A not so new oneTrend prevails
We've only been hearing more about urban gardening for a few years. However, urban horticulture is older than we thought. In the past, every city also had an area where fruit and vegetables were specifically grown. In past centuries, the transport routes would have been far too long and the food would have spoiled long ago by the time it reached its destination.
Johann Heinrich von Thünen could be understood as the father of the urban gardener. The scientist founded the Thünen rings in the 19th century. This land-use model envisaged that fruit and vegetables and other perishable foods were grown near the city and later sold at the city markets. This took place on a large scale. In Paris, for example, there were around 8,500 self-employed gardeners cultivating an area of 1,400 hectares. This means that fruit and vegetables were grown on a sixth of the city's area at the time, around 100,000 tons a year.
Cuba is considered the founder of modern urban gardening. In the early 1990s and in the course of the collapse of the Eastern bloc, there were increasing bottlenecks in supply. Food, fertilizer and petroleum had to be largely imported. When people began to starve, the government acted and made unused fallow land available for the population to grow fruit and vegetables. Fertilizer was not in stock, so ecological management was established at the same time. Even today, the residents of Havana produce about a third of the vegetables they need themselves, right in the middle of the metropolis.
What possibilities does urban gardening offer?
One for all - community gardens
These are municipal properties that are managed by several people. Most of these areas are open to the public. Public land can be made available or private individuals can make their property accessible to the general public. In addition to private individuals, community gardens can also be supported by church associations, schools or political groups.
The fallow land is usually not cultivated in the urban community garden, but a mobile garden is created. The plants are planted in transportable raised beds made from pallets, or in sacks, wooden boxes or rain barrels. It is therefore possible for the entire garden to be "moved" with little effort if the city reclaims the land and wants to build on it.
Urban gardening on the roof garden
Beds can also be created on a flat roof. It should be a solid and stable roof. Furthermore, the roof must be tight so that the irrigation water does not penetrate through the cracks. If the roof is adequately insulated, foil or bitumen sheets are laid out to keep moisture out. Then a layer of topsoil is applied, which can then be planted.
Tip: Only a comparatively thin layer of soil can be applied to the roofs, which excludes the cultivation of larger and deep-rooted plants. Alternatively, planted tubs or tubs can be placed on the roof.
Urban gardening in small gardens
The creation of allotment gardens serves to offer the urban population a bit of quality of life and at the same time to loosen up urban development and reduce noise and dust development. An allotment garden is a welcome balance to city life, especially for families. Children can be given the opportunity to grow up he althily and to observe the growth and ripening of fruit and vegetables. In the allotment garden, immigrants, the unemployed, the disabled or the elderly are also given the opportunity to practice urban gardening according to their means and possibilities.
Creative ideas for urban gardening on the balcony
As already mentioned, we speak of urban gardening when gardening is done in a small space. A prime example of this is your own balcony. Now you may say, I hardly have space to sit myself, how am I supposed to plant flowers and grow herbs or vegetables? There are a whole range of ways in which you can do urban gardening even in the smallest of spaces. For example, if there is no space on the floor, why not use the walls. Plant pots and bowls with herbs and attach them to the wall. An old wall shelf can also be attached there and accommodate various planters.
Tip: A practical shelf can be quickly created from old Euro pallets, which can be planted with herbs or even bush tomatoes.
You can also set up a kind of ladder and plant plants on several levels to save space. A particularly creative way of urban gardening for small balconies is with a flower pot that consists of two parts and is planted at the top and bottom. If you fill your plant pot with herbs at the top and tomatoes at the bottom, you will be in for a little surprise, because the tomatoes will taste the herbsaccept.
Do you like sewing and working with fabrics? Then it will not be difficult for you to make a plant bag. Plant bags are particularly decorative and can be placed on the smallest balcony. You can even plant strawberries or watercress in it.
Flower boxes don't take up any space on the balcony, because they can easily be hung over the parapet. Almost anything can be planted there, herbs can be sown and germinate within a few weeks. Tomato or strawberry plants are used and cultivated as in a bed.
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How to become an urban gardener
You are enthusiastic about urban gardening and would now like to start gardening yourself as soon as possible? Nothing stands in the way of that.
Follow these steps:
- Select Location
- Use the best available space
- Get planters
- choose suitable plants and get them
- Apply seeds directly
- Prefer plants
- Planting in pots
- Water plants regularly
First the location should be determined. Do you want to join a community garden, have a roof garden in mind, want to add plants to the backyard or turn your balcony into a green oasis? Once you have decided on a location, the space requirement has usually already been determined. In the community garden you might be able to plant a mobile raised bed. On the balcony, a few smaller planters should fill the space perfectly. So get some appropriate planters:
- Raised beds
- Balcony Boxes
- Baskets
- hanging lights
- Planters
- Planting Bags
- Potato Sacks
- Baths
Urban Gardening - what can be grown?
Herbs are a classic for gardening in a small space - these can be used inbe planted in every flower pot.
Tip: If you don't have a balcony, you can set up herb pots in your own kitchen or create a traffic light with different herbs.
Popular herbs for urban gardening:
- Chives
- parsley
- Basil
- Mint
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Lavender
- Cress
Which vegetables thrive in a small space?
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Salad
- Chili
- Zucchini
- celery
- Carrots
- Radish