|
Home > Guides > Urban Gardening > Apartment Gardening > Organic Patio Gardening Guide |
|
Organic Patio Gardening Guide |
Apartment  Window Windowsill Patio |
At first, the terms 'apartment' & 'gardening' seem to be something of a contradiction in terms. Gardens have traditionally been grown outdoors, in expansive spaces with long hours of afternoon sunlight. In comparison, apartments are considerably limited by sunlight and available space for seed sowing. Despite these challenges, there are some significant advantages to patio or indoor growing. Principally, such environments offer stability, with only minor fluctuations in heat and energy throughout the daily and yearly cycles. This offers potential for year-round gardening, and with persistence, a steady of supply of fresh, healthy, homegrown produce such as Lettuce and Herbs grown right on your patio, in your Window or Windowsill.
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
 Apartment Gardening
GROWING NOTES
Crops well-suited for apartment gardening are those with low to moderate light needs, minimal required soil-medium depth, and short time to harvest. Generally speaking, leafy greens or crops cultivated at a developmental stage prior to full maturity will make the best choices. Other types of edibles, including those cultivated for their root, fruit, or seed require significantly more energy and time, and are not ideal for limited space gardening. Popular leafy greens such as lettuce, arugula, kale and others have the added benefit of a shorter time to harvest, typically less than 2 months from seed to dinner plate.
 In addition to growing leafy greens indoors, baby greens, microgreens and sprouts can all be cultivated indoors with little space and energy. Unlike vegetables grown to maturity, these types of edibles do not develop mature root systems and are more limited in their abilities to take up nutrients
from the soil. These types of growing techniques require less time than standard ones, with sprouts generally needing less than one week from seed to harvest, microgreens less than two weeks and baby greens less than one month. There
are drawbacks to these conveniences though, notably the greater quantities of
seed required for sizable yields, especially microgreens and sprouts.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Growing Vegetables Organically
 We recommend using only safe, organic practices in the cultivation of your patio garden. The use of pesticides, fungicides, and other chemicals should be especially avoided in the growing of edible crops. Such chemicals can quickly make their way into those crops, and over time into the ground water supplies that are used for drinking, cleaning and other uses. Sound organic practices offer solutions that are sustainable, and do not exert hidden costs that are only apparent months or even years later. To the contrary, organic growing practices are centered around enhancing and augmenting available resources for future seasons, and producing crops that are truly clean and safe.
It's All in the Soil
 Assuming adequate water and sunlight, the most significant contributor to vibrant, enduring organic patio crops is soil. While you may have only limited control over how much sunlight your plants receive, crops grown on a patio in containers all develop and mature in the growing medium of your choosing. Therefore it is ideal to choose such a medium that is rich in organic matter and nutrient content, fairly lightweight and well-drained. While consistent fertilizing may be helpful, much better results can be secured by amending the soil and mixing thoroughly prior to sowing.
|
|
