Gardening Without a Yard

Gardening Home

032511_pallet-completed-430x300

You need zero square feet to grow food.

I frequently nag friends, family, and strangers to start gardening. “I’d love to have a garden, but I don’t have a yard” is by far the most common excuse I hear. No more! Here are some of my favorite DIY designs for growing food that require not even an inch of lawn. With a bit of ingenuity and elbow grease, you can even move them between apartments.

Self-Irrigating Planters

With a water chamber below the plants, sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) allow gardeners to fill their water reservoir once every week, rather than having to water their plants every day. One of the most popular commercial versions is the Earthbox, and their instruction manual (PDF) contains useful planting advice. At a fifth of the cost, you can utilize a 5-gallon bucket to get the same results with Dearthbox:

Image
lindsaytorte/Instructables

As you scale up your SIPs, Earthtainer provides in-depth instructions (PDF) for creating a larger-scale setup that’s particularly tomato-friendly:

Image
Earthtainer

In addition to looking great, this system provides for a larger reservoir that can be shared among multiple SIPs:

Image
Vertical Veg

Vertical Pockets

A pocket made out of semi-porous material is a good home for a plant: water and air can reach the roots. Add some waterproof fabric as a shell and you’ve got an indoor-friendly, wall-mounted home for a variety of smaller edibles. This can be as simple as a repurposed shoe organizer:

Image
pippa5/Instructables

For a more industrial aesthetic, pallets are plentiful and free:

Image
Life On The Balcony

Love the look of Wo0lly Buddy garden pockets, but uncomfortable with the price? These DIY pockets look at least as good:

Image
Refinery29

Sprouts

In a hotel or some other extremely temporary situation? Seeds become delicious, nutritious sprouts in as little as two days. Mung bean seeds, water, and a container with holes are all you need for a basic system:

Image
TimAnderson/Instructables

Here’s a cheatsheet to sprouting a variety of edibles (PDF).

Get Growing!

Producing even a salad’s worth of your own food is an incredibly rewarding experience. Once you get started, you may quickly find yourself contemplating milling your own grains and capturing rainwater. It’s a slippery slope to sustainable urban farming, and baby steps are easy to take. Why not get started today?

0 thoughts on “Gardening Without a Yard

  1. Gardening Without a Yard Caleb Kraft says:

    I’ve got one of those old shoe hangars sitting around, I should totally try this

  2. jbernste03 says:

    I built a flat pallet garden for my rooftop last year. Worked great

  3. terrilynnmerritts says:

    We live in a city townhouse and will definitely use some of these ideas.

  4. Keith_in_Nashville says:

    Where can I get inexpensive garden soil for raised beds in Nashville?

    1. Matt Adlard says:

      Look for skips and building sites.

      1. Keith_in_Nashville says:

        Thanks, Matthew. By “skip” do you mean dumpster?

        1. Matt Adlard says:

          Yes sorry, forgot the language difference. Housing developments are a good idea, and a key suggestion to make on building sites, is that, you will help recycle material, and lower cost of building companies taking away organic material. Mix with shop bough compost, as it makes a good growing medium.

          1. Keith_in_Nashville says:

            Good help. Thank you.

  5. Matt Adlard says:

    This guy has a good concept. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2wWTadsBDA

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged
Luke Iseman

Luke Iseman makes stuff, some of which works. He invites you to drive a bike for a living (dirtnailpedicab.com), stop killing your garden (growerbot.com), and live in an off-grid shipping container (boxouse.com).

View more articles by Luke Iseman

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK