Tulips on your windowsill? Peppers on your rooftop? Green thumbs aren’t limited
to country gardens. Even something as simple as gravel in a ceramic tray, raked
into a pattern, can be called a garden (and its owner a Zen master).
Despite its challenge of limited space, apartment gardening is all about
flaunting the rules. Plant what you like in your garden; just don’t stray too
far from your own roots. Here are a few ideas for transforming your loft,
studio, stoop, or rooftop into an urban Eden.
Rooftops and Balconies
If you have the luxury of rooftop access at your residence, you can easily
transform this space into a thriving green space, with a little imagination and
nurture from Mother Nature. Most rooftops are notoriously windy, so you’ll need
to plan ahead to shelter your plants from the elements. A glass shield provides
a permanent wind shelter that doesn’t reduce light and doubles as a lovely
coffee-break area. In contrast, installing a netting material allows you to
integrate additional vines—from beans and peas to ivies—into your hideaway,
while still sheltering your main plants from the breeze.
When considering a rooftop or balcony garden, it’s also important to map out
which areas are sunniest and which are shadiest. Plan your plant layout based
on the plants’ shade and sunlight needs: This will help them stay vibrant—and
alive.
Window Boxes
Window boxes are one of the easiest and most versatile growing tools
available to the urban gardener. They can be used for salad vegetables such as
leaf lettuces and radishes, herbs such as chives, thyme, parsley, sage and
marjoram, or flowers such as nasturtiums, daisies, impatiens and marigolds.
Best of all, they can grow flowers and vegetables at the same time—and look
beautiful.
When designing a window box, select plants with a variety of growth habits:
those that grow upright, those with bushy tendencies, and those that vine or
trail. If you’re making a flower bed, choose plants that bloom in complimentary
hues; however, also consider the shapes and colors of the foliage for the full
effect. Place the tallest plants in the back of the box, a few on the sides,
and let your favorite trailing plants dangle their feet over the front of the
box. Be sure to thin out your stragglers (by one-third) in mid-summer so
healthy plants keep blooming in full force.
Hanging Baskets
Hanging baskets are among the easiest plants to care for—a perfect choice
for the fly-by-night type of urban gardener. Two of the easiest hanging plants
to grow are pothos vines and philodendrons, which come in a number of
varieties. Best of all, both of pothos and philodendrons can thrive in
relatively dark living spaces.
Some other hanging plants for trend-savvy indoor gardeners include prayer
plants, whose leaves close at night, passion flowers, which produce a stunning
purple and green bloom, and chenille plants, which have fuzzy red
feather-duster-like flowers.
Plant Maintenance
Keep in mind, the most important thing for a beginning gardener—no matter
how trend-savvy—is to water the plants regularly. When you forget to water,
bugs will attack.
However, over watering can be just as harmful to a plant as under watering. So
how can the "green" green thumb tell if his or her new plant is
drinking enough?
Stick a finger in the dirt.
If it’s moist, you’re in the clear. If it’s wet, it needs to dry out. It
it’s dry, the plant needs a drink.