Designing a Small Space or Apartment Garden

Published April 15, 2012 | By Jane

This small garden has a big look on a limited patio space -- all in containers.

With all the political and financial changes in the country and the world, sometimes it’s nice to snuggle into a safe, cozy garden space rather than go anywhere. As a result, more and more people are looking at their little (or large) piece of outdoor space as a safe haven in which to heal from the harshness of the world outside.

You can use your outdoor space for whatever you want — to decorate and offset your house, as a play area for children or pets, as a sports center, a hobby shop or an entertainment center, a grocery store, a retreat from the rest of the world, or anything else. What is important is that you remember the land or patio you have with your home – whether it’s a rambling estate, a house, an apartment or a condo – is your space that you pay for. Make sure you use it to suit your needs. Don’t waste it.

This article is devoted to those of you who don’t have a lot of space to do all those wonderful things people with big yards can do. Yet even with a limited space, you can create magic. Even if you have little or no yard space, you can build a garden with flower boxes or a few large pots.

Try stacking low rows of pots beside or atop each other and plant flowers or vegetables (the latter do need at least 6 hours of sun) to create a living wall that will provide color and/or edibles in even a small area. If you chose decorative containers, you can design your low wall to be any color or style you chose. Or consider filling in part of the wall with a trellis to grow a vine – flowering or edible – and use it as a divider wall.

Set trays below pots to keep water from dripping down on people below if you are planting on a balcony. You can fill the trays with ornamental stones to make a whole mini-landscape. Or decorate a small space by hanging pots filled with dangling plants in a row along a railing or suspended from the end of individual steps on a staircase to create a living curtain.

Design in a small garden of tomatoes, peppers or bush beans in pots for the apartment garden. If you plant vegetables in your small-space garden, add sparkle by inter-planting colorful annuals. Whether you grow edibles or ornamentals, design your garden to have a plant or two that will spill over the container and at least one that will grow tall for contrast.

You can buy a table-top fountain or a small floor-sized fountain and even add a small-growing water plant or two (or a handful of watercress from the grocery store) and enjoy water gardening on a small scale. Try hanging a colorful swinging canvas chair and balance it with a table or planter stand sporting pots of geraniums, bacopa or lobelia for color.

To simplify watering in a small area, potted garden, rig up a simple drip irrigation system on a timer. A little portable barbecue creates a gourmet cooking area, while a tinkling set of wind chimes transforms your small space into a meditation nook. A small area can be cordoned off for a pet or a small child to play safely while you watch. If you want privacy and do not need sun to grow edibles, one large bush in a pot can screen you from neighbors and keep your space cool. Use a heavy cement pot and a loop of rope to secure it to a post or rafter if you live in a windy location.

Even small spaces like apartments, balconies and patios can be transformed into places where nature can soothe our souls in the frantic pace of our lives today. It’s easy to get caught up in getting things done from moment to moment. Make sure to build in some place in your life where you can take some time to remember you are working to live, not just living to work. It’s all about appreciating being alive. That’s what gardening is all about, whether on a large or small scale! So, consider designing a small space or apartment garden if you don’t already have one.

Originally posted 2011-04-18 05:40:58. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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