Where Can I Plant?
Whether you have a large yard or just a balcony, you should be able to plant produce in some location within your living area. Non-traditional locations, such as front yards and side yards, should be included in your location selection process.
If you live in a house with a front yard that receives lots of sun, there should be ample space to grow veggies. There are 2 options for growing veggies in your yard — directly in the ground or in raised garden beds.
Directly in the Ground
Edge out the area where you would like to plant, remove as much grass as possible, turn the soil and rake to loosen. Apply a 1-inch layer of compost to build the organic matter content of the soil. Once you have planted your garden you can apply mulch to keep undesirable plant growth to a minimum and to help maintain moisture levels.
Raised Garden Beds
Start by ensuring your location is level. Then apply scrap cardboard or layers of newspaper before placing or building the frame on the ground. This layer prevents grass from growing up through your garden. Fill your raised bed with good quality soil and top with compost, if needed. This option requires less digging, but requires some additional tools and materials. This is also a good option if soil contamination (for example, from ice melting compounds) is a concern.
If you don’t have yard space, use containers to create your garden. Containers come in all shapes and sizes and ideally can be sourced from materials you already have lying around. Reusable grocery bags are an excellent and inexpensive way to plant vegetables on patios and balconies. These bags are easy to move and fit in awkward spaces and easy to store at the end of the growing season. You can also repurpose old food containers such as coffee tins, salad green containers, salsa jars or peanut butter jars to grow plants.
Get creative and follow these few tips to select the ideal home for your plants:
- Smaller containers (anything less than approximately 2 litres) should be used for herbs and salad greens. Plan to water smaller containers more often.
- Larger containers can be used for more productive and calorie-dense foods like potatoes, onions, carrots and beets.
- Avoid material that has been in contact with harmful chemicals.
- Bags, especially reusable grocery bags, are easy to move and store at the end of the growing season and make a somewhat ideal growing location for many plants.
- If you are handy and have access to a few tools (hammer, saw, screws and drill), old wood pallets can be disassembled and reassembled to make custom garden boxes to fit your location(s).
- Many of the materials already mentioned such as old wood pallets and vertical shoe racks, can make ideal vertical garden options. Vertical gardens can be ideal because they take up less space, beautify your living space and produce appealing fragrances, particularly when growing herbs.
- Pop bottles can also be used to create a vertical garden. A bottle hanging garden can have each bottle fit into the one below by cutting a hole. Excess water will flow out the bottom bottle into a bucket or other type of water collection receptacle.
