Get Creative with Gardening Space
Use vegetables as ground covers. Sweet potato vines have lovely leaves that can be used to cover bare spots, or as a ground cover to prevent weeds in flower gardens or foundation plantings. Malabar spinach is an attractive edible vine.
Hang your vegetables. This is a very innovative way to grow some crops, such as tomatoes, mints, and herbs. Tomatoes can actually be planted upside down in the bottom of a hanging basket. Herbs such as catnip are best grown in a hanging basket to keep the neighborhood kitties away.
Plant herbs in pots on your front porch or on the top of a wall. What would be more lovely than to have some pretty trailing herbs draping down your wall? Mixed herb pots are a very attractive addition to any doorstep.
Use edibles as ornamentals. There are some lovely edibles, such as Hibiscus acetosella, which has lovely dark burgundy leaves, Chaya (spinach bush) has multi-lobed leaves to add texture to your garden, as well as clusters of dainty white flowers. flowers such as nasturtiums and sunflowers add edible beauty, while many elephant ear plants have edible leaves and roots.
Why Not Grow "Up" with Vertical Gardening?
Vertical gardening is a wonderful way to create space. By trellising plants upwards, you can increase your garden space by as much as 50%. This
works very well for apartment dwellers who grow on patios. You can literally create an arbor of vining vegetables on a city patio, and grow shade loving vegetables and herbs underneath.
Vertical plantings can also be done on fences, and by putting wire and string onto walls for climbing plants to wind or be tied on. Espaliered fruit trees are not only lovely and artistic, but actually bear quite well.
By creatively utilizing every square inch of sunny space you have efficiently, and planting in shade when you can, you will you find the space you need to plant your vegetables and herbs, while creating a beautiful, and interesting landscape.
Picture Credit
Urban Garden: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajturner/2467549605/
Herb Pots: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomaspix/2369416608/
Hanging Tomato Planter: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theresaashmore/3677292810/
Vertical Garden: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mlinksva/3364026611/
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!