City Gardening

Window Boxes

Whether you live in a house/apartment/condo or dorm you can grow a small window box of herbs and spices or some nice scented flowers displaying a bit of nature indoors. Window boxes, when in full bloom, can block up to 1/4 of the solar light coming in through the window, significantly cooling down the room especially when doubled with solar reflecting blinds.

Window boxes usually attach to the outside of the window but can be used on an inside window sill and come in a wide range of materials sizes and colours. Check out your local garden supply center to see whats available for your situation

Container Gardening

If you do not have a space where you can put in a vegetable garden, then container gardening may be an option. Tomato plants can be grown in containers as little as 12" h x 12" w. beans, chives and other veggies can be grown in smaller pots. And there are many dwarf varieties of vegetables that will thrive in container conditions. Almost anything can be grown in a container, and almost anything can be turned into a container for gardening: old milk cartons, juice jugs, egg cartons, the possibility are endless. Use your imagination for the size of container you need for the growing stage of the plant. Be sure not to use anything that may contain chemical residue.

Kitchen Herbs and Spices

Herbs and spices can be grown in very small spaces in or near your kitchen for easy access when cooking or preparing foods. strawberry jars, window sill boxes, railing boxes, or even a large planter work well to hold a great variety of herbs and spices for cooking. Basil, dill, marjoram, lettuce, chives are all really easy to grow, and require no more than a little watering when doing your dishes in the kitchen. they taste wonderful in soups sauces salads and when spicing up some meat for a delicious meal. Kitchen herbs can be grown in old coffee cups that you do not want crowding you cupboard anymore and you can find small plastic holed gardening pots that fit nicely inside creating the ability for some drainage to occur when watering your spices.

Mature House Plants

Growing mature house plants can be a fun and in expensive hobby. Growing "Standards" which is just a name for plants that are trained up a stake and shaped, can add a beautiful addition to your home and summer landscaping. Some easy common plants for growing into standards are fuchia, and geraniums. Fuchia standerds will easily grow to 4-6 feet tall when trained using a stake. Geraniums may grow a little shorter that the fuchia but can easily reach a height of 2-3 feet within a year. Citrus trees can be started from a lemon or orange seed, Citrus Plants grown in this fashion may not be able to bear fruit when matured into full trees, but are instead grown for their fragrance, bright foiliage and uniqueness as an indoor plant.

Planning Your City Garden

Some questions to think about when planning your urban city garden.
how much space is available?
how much light that space receives?
which way balcony/windows are facing? (south is preferred by a majority of plants)
Is it easy to water?
How many and what type of plants you will need.

Source of Cheap and Healthy Food

All of these ideas are great to supplement a cheap and healthy supply of food for you, your friends, and family. So get out and give your hand a try at gardening and save yourself some money on your grocery bill not to mention some delicious pesticide-free food.