Most people who decide to pursue urban homesteading already have an established landscape. Finding the space to grow vegetables can create a challenge, but it's not one that can't be overcome with creative planning such as cottage gardening, or growing your plants vertically on an apartment patio.
Urban Gardening
How Much Space Will You Need?
The first thing most people who are just getting into urban gardening do is to plant vegetables and herbs. If you live on a small city lot or suburban
area you may think you don't have the space or ability to make your own garden or grow produce for you and your family. You should be happy to hear that you can successfully become more self sufficient and plant your own vegetables even when living in the city or in an apartment! There are many solutions, such as cottage gardening or growing your plants vertically to save on space. To have successful vegetable and herb gardens, you should have a space that gets at least 6 hours of direct sun each day. If possible, run your rows north to south to minimize shading.
A vegetable garden of 300 Square Feet (30' x 10') will feed a family of four. If you don't have a large enough space to plant your entire garden in one place, there are ways to get your square footage from places you would never expect. It isn't always necessary to plant vegetables in straight rows.
Finding the space for a vegetables and herbs in an already established landscape plan can be challenging. You can get more room by planting a true cottage garden, where vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers are all planted together, utilizing space that would otherwise be wasted on one crop. Companion planting works well in cottage gardens.
Crops You Can Grow in Shade
Plant herbs around the bases of small trees and shrubs, such as fruit trees or berry bushes. Many herbs can tolerate some shade, and some, like creeping thyme and oregano, make lovely ground covers to keep weeds away from the bases of trees. Mints, chives, garlic, and parsley are all shade tolerant herbs that can grow on 2-3 hours of direct sunlight a day.
If you have a semi-shady spot that gets at least 2-3 hours of sunlight a day, plant shade tolerant vegetables, such as beets, brocolli, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, radishes, rhubarb, spinach and turnips.
Some tropical vegetables like eddoe and malanga can be grown in deep shade under trees.
Urban Homesteading in Florida and Beyond
Want to be more self-sufficient? Urban homesteading is the act of taking any city space you have, be it an apartment balcony or a small city lot, and turning it green. Whether you grow a few vegetables or move completely off the grid, it's an adventure you won't regret!