Gardening is a fantastic way to add some life and color to your home. While many people will shy away from gardening due to lack of space, that doesn’t have to be the case. In this article, we’ll look at some space saving tips that you can use to grow a thriving garden even with very limited indoor space. By the end, you’ll have all the knowledge you need to grow a thriving garden, even if that means only a few plants in a kitchen window.
Choose The Right Plants
Our first space saving tip is to start with the right plants. There is a huge variety of plants available to us, and they come in all sorts of different sizes. By focusing on plants that take up minimal space we can make more of the room we have.
I always recommend herbs for those with small growing spaces. Herbs are great because they serve a real purpose, cooking, but don’t need a ton of space to thrive. A small kitchen windowsill is more than enough room for a small pot of chives for example. Most other herbs can also be grown successfully in relatively small spaces.
That’s not to say you have to grow herbs, there are tons of other plants that can thrive with minimal space. Decorative plants like flowers, cacti, and succulents are other popular choices, and many of these don’t need a lot of room to grow.
If you have a limited space budget, then choose plants which have a small profile to maximize your growing space.
Go Vertical
Instead of going out, try growing your garden up instead. By utilizing vertical space you reduce the overall footprint of your garden, while at the same time still giving you extra space to grow.
There are a lot of options for vertical gardening, but the easiest is to simply set up some shelving. A tired shelf in a sunny spot can hold multiple plants while only taking up the floor space of one or two.
Outside of that, there are many pre-built vertical gardening options available, here’s an example of a whole system. These systems range in complexity, and can not only save space, but also make gardening easier.
In either case, these types of setups greatly reduce the floor space needed to grow your garden. By going up, you conserve space, and can also be less wasteful by, for example, reusing excess water as it drips down to lower plants.
If you’re interested in learning more about vertical gardening, we have an article that covers it more in depth. Check it out to learn more.
Utilize Wall Space
In a similar vein, you can also use your walls to home your garden. Wall mounted shelves or planters are great ways to get extra gardening space while also adding some greenery to your home.
An important thing to keep in mind when going this route is sunlight and maintenance. You want to make sure that your wall shelving gets enough sunlight to keep your plants healthy. It may be a wise idea to go with lower-light plants if your shelving isn’t very close to a window.
You should also keep regular maintenance like watering in mind. Putting shelves up too high can make it difficult to care for your plants. Also, make sure to use a drip tray to prevent water from dripping down into your home and potentially ruining your floor.
Use Hanging Baskets
Similar to wall mounting, using hanging baskets is another great way to utilize vertical space in your home. You’ll have a lot of the same considerations as above, so make sure you hang your baskets in a location that gets enough light and is easy to access.
You should also look to grow plants that do best in hanging baskets. Plants like ivy that tend to “crawl” look great in hanging baskets. Look for similar plants that will gently drape over the edges for a dramatic look. These types of plants not only look the best in hanging baskets, but tend to grow better in them too.
Plant on Windowsills and Other Small Spaces
Don’t neglect your small spaces, they can often be the perfect home for a small potted plant. As noted above, herbs and small flowering plants are easy to grow and don’t need a ton of space to thrive.
This is also a good place to get creative as many small spaces are perfect homes for plants. For example, I grow a small snake plant on my bathroom counter. It’s a non-traditional place to grow, but works perfect for this lower-light plant.
As always, you want to fit your growing location to the plant’s needs. Luckily, there are plants for nearly any location; even a spot with little natural light can be turned into a small garden with proper planning and care.
Move Plants Outdoors
For a short term, summer solution, try moving some of your excess plants outdoors. Most indoor plants do well with some outdoor time in the warmer months, and this can actually be quite good for them. The increased sunlight intensity is often good for your plants, and exposure to natural elements like insects and wind can help with pollination and strength.
One important thing to do when moving your indoor plants outdoors is to properly acclimate them. You should look to gradually introduce your plants to outdoor conditions, and avoid moving them directly into brightly lit spots right away. This helps to prevent burning out your plants that might not be able to handle the increased sunlight intensity.
Also, make sure to avoid moving your plants outdoors too soon in the spring. You don’t want to expose them to frost as this will quickly kill most plants. The reverse is also true, make sure to bring them back inside before your area’s first frost date.
Fill Empty Or Underused Rooms
Lastly, look to make use of underutilized rooms in your home. A spare bedroom, or even an unused basement both make great garden locations. Underutilized spaces in your home are great locations to start your garden, and with a little work can be turned into the perfect environment for indoor growing.
As noted above, always match your plants with the environment of your grow location. If, for example, your spare bedroom doesn’t get a lot of sun look to grow lower light plants in it. You can also utilize tools like grow lights to help turn a poor location into a much more friendly one for your plants.
Space Saving Gardens
Hopefully the above tips have given you some ideas on expanding your garden even if you don’t have a lot of space. Indoor gardens are a fantastic way to brighten up your home, and as you’ve seen above don’t need to be difficult or space-consuming to start. With these space saving tips in mind anyone can grow a garden, even if they only have a small windowsill to do so.
