DIY Small Home Gardens

Sometimes, when living in a big city, the urge to have a garden hits. But looking around your tiny city apartment, you think gardening is impossible.

But unless you have a certified black thumb (my sister) anybody with a little patience can have a little garden oasis in their home.

Having an actual garden will not just add to the look of your home (we are not talking of adding one banana leaf in a glass vase), having access to fresh air and produce in your space can be very beneficial to mind and body.

Here is a quick 3 step guide on how to start getting a green thumb going in your little home:

Step one:

Decide what kind of garden you want to end up with, do you want to show off your pea harvest and have an amazing veggie patch or do you want some sort of tropical rain forest or air purification corner in your home?

Do you want minimum effort plants, that you water when you remember or do you want insta likes or your mad plant skills?

Try these plants out for air purification:

• Peace Lily
• Mother-in-Laws tongue
• Bamboo or Reed Palm
• Try these plants for beginner veggie patch:
• Lettuce (yes seems boring but so easy and you can grow from lettuce heads bought from shops or seeds)
• Herbs – like mint, sage etc
• Runner beans

Once you have made some decisions, locate the perfect area in your space for plant growing, but keep in mind things like access to sunlight and airflow.

Step two:

Start small – ok ok you have a small home so small is obvious, but I mean start with simple, hardy plants that you can easily nurture.

Do not immediately spend all your pokies online NZ winnings on every pretty plant at your local nursery.

Grow you garden (ha ha) slowly, with a couple of plants at a time. If you are feeling super brave, and patient start with seeds, if you’re less than patient start with seedlings.

Now that you have a couple of plants, remember them…even if you have to set a reminder on your mobile. Do not forget them, they will take revenge and die.

Step three:

Wow you got plants growing! They are even feeding you now (one cucumber in 6 months counts as a crop).

Okay now you know you can keep your plants alive (or you are set on being a serial killer of daffodils) so you can move on to harder plants. Plants that are more dependent on you, plants that could make you cry.

Now that you are determined to succeed as farmer brown, start researching your plants more. Find out about when it’s best to plant, how much sunlight/water/compost/love/Shakespeare sonnets are required to keep your plants happy.

The end result

So now you have a mini garden, it looks good, you feel accomplished, the plants pictures get five likes each on insta.

So keep it up, keep growing, plant more, then grow some more.

And though your garden will not fill the hole in the ozone layer, nor end hunger in Africa (or even feed your family) the actual sense of accomplishment is well worth the effort put into gardening.