Easy Urban Gardening; Why, Where & How
Living in town and growing your own vegetables can sound contra-intuitive or you immediately think allotment. Well both thoughts can be dumped as I am not an allotment gardener and I am gonna tell you that growing vegetables on a balcony or terrace is very possible.
The Easy Urban Gardening System is gardening on balcony or terrace, in just 5 minutes maintenance per day and with big yields.
So if you love vegetables, dream of growing your own, have no garden and maybe even no idea how to start, keep reading.
Why?
Why growing your own vegetables is not the hardest question to answer. It’s the only way you can be absolutely sure your veggies are 100% organic, 100% toxic and pesticides free, 100% fresh, 100% tasty and 100% healthy. And you lower your food waste, plastic waste and carbon footprint at the same time.
Still need more why? How about feeling happy, proud and satisfied plus living healthier in body and mind.
Where?
The where I have already given away a bit, as Easy Urban Gardening is the ideal system for vegetable gardening in small spaces on a balcony or terrace. But let’s dive a bit deeper into how small these spaces can be.
An Easy Urban Garden is set up in a grid of 30x30cm (1sq. foot) square patches. So it fits on the tiniest balcony or in any corner. And we make maximum use of the vertical space. This means you can build your garden vertically out of 30x30cm big boxes or bags, but also that we make big vegetables grow upwards instead of sidewards. In the picture you see an example of both options as I have them on my terrace. A horizontal garden (of course raised for convenience) with a trellis and a vertical garden of bags on a simple iron rack.
So every balcony, terrace or even garden that catches around 6-8 hours of sun during summer is a good location for an Easy Urban Garden.
How?
Easy Urban Garden is build on 7 basic principles.
Distinct squares layout An Easy Urban Garden (EUG) is build out of squares with a size of 30x30cm (1sq. foot) or any multiple of that. My garden in the picture is 120x60cm and there you see the second typical feature of an Easy Urban Garden, the grid. Without the it’s not a real EUG. If you want to garden tiny, you need a structure and the grid provides just that.
Best growing medium you make it yourself out of ⅓ organic compost, ⅓ organic peat replacement like coconut coir or a mulch mixture and ⅓ coarse vermiculite, instead of buying garden soil. And you won’t need any fertiliser.
Grow upwards and shallow. Make maximum use of the vertical space and your EUG only needs to be 20cm (6”) deep.
Plant densely and in squares. So you create an extremely efficient and productive garden that doesn’t need more than 5 minutes maintenance per day. It is also the best way to create maximum variety in your garden and eliminate many disease and pest problems.
Grow close to your door. No need to carry tools out to a distant location of your garden, no commute to an allotment. But most importantly a garden in sight is a garden loved, which means you will benefit most from the efficiency and productivity of your Easy Urban Garden.
Making maximum use of minimum resources. And do not waste anything. So be stingy with seeds, only sowing carefully to the final spacing in the exact location you want
Rotate crops and maximise your yield as this enables you to plant squares two or even three times per growing season.
I wish you happy gardening.
Green regards,
🌱 Émely
Europe’s Leading Urban Gardening Expert on how to grow vegetables on a balcony or terrace.
Horizontal or Vertical Easy Urban Garden?