If you dream of a garden but only have a windowsill or a small balcony, you can still achieve a surprisingly large harvest through microgardening. Despite the term's whimsical connotations, microgardening is a practical approach that maximises yield from minimal space.
Quick-Growing Plants for Succession Planting
To optimise your harvest, choose plants that mature rapidly, harvest them, and then replant. Microgreens—seedlings of edible plants that reach 2 to 3 inches—are ideal for this. They sprout indoors in as little as a week and are easy to cultivate. Simply scatter seeds over light, sterile potting mix in a shallow, domed pan, place it in a warm, sunny spot, and keep the soil slightly moist.
Arugula, broccoli, cabbage, kale, mustards, mizuna, and radish are among the fastest sprouters, typically germinating in 10-14 days. Beets, chards, and nasturtiums also work well. When the sprouts produce their second pair of leaves (true leaves), use sharp scissors to cut them at the soil line and enjoy them in smoothies, salads, sandwiches, or stir-fries. Then plant more seeds every few days for a continuous supply.
Compact Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs
Outdoors, apply the same small-space thinking to fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Basil, leaf lettuces, and mint thrive in containers and regrow for multiple harvests throughout the season. Dwarf apple, fig, and other fruit trees can be grown in 10- or 20-gallon planters or in the ground.
Utilise Vertical and Layered Spaces
Maximise your garden's square footage by looking up. Trellises, hanging baskets, and wall planters host flowers, herbs, berries, greens, and compact varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Multi-tiered stands hold several pots in a single footprint. Let flower pots double duty by planting strawberries and herbs around annuals, allowing them to spill over edges. When planting flowers, layer taller plants in the back, mid-height in the middle, and ground-huggers in front for depth.
Multi-Tasking Plants for Beauty and Food
Choose plants that offer both ornamental value and edibility. Crops like amaranth, chives, rainbow chard, red lettuces, and sweet potatoes add beauty to beds and containers before being harvested for your dinner plate.
