All around the world people just like you are living in small suburban setting where you only have a small garden space or none at all. For those of you who live in areas where you never imagined you could grow yummy vegetables and fruits, guess what, you can.

            In many small backyards and on balconies across the globe people are growing fantastic food, living healthier and enjoying nature. Growing can be simple especially if you are doing so on a small scale. Things like tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries can all be grown on balconies and back porches, using hanging baskets or grow tubes.

            Other great ways to grow fruit includes having small barrel fruit trees, like oranges, apples, lemons, and apricots. Each of these can be grown to be no more then 2-3 feet tall and can be kept indoors during the winter and placed near a full sun window or outside during the warmer months. Tomatoes can also be grown the same way, in large pots you can literally have tomato plants growing inside and outside all year round.

If you have a small garden whether for vegetables or for flowers surrounding your home; consider planting raspberry or black berry bushed around the edges of your home or garden area. The kids and adults will love walking around the yard picking fresh berries. Remember that too many berries will bring lots of birds and other small creatures so don’t over due it, just a few will spread out nicely. Also including vegetables and herbs in your flower beds adds character and allows you to grow additional food in areas you thought were just for floral decoration.

             One of my favourite solutions for growing large gourds and pumpkins and a small areas is to grow them up along a sturdy fence. Most people know growing any kind of squash or pumpkin fruit requires a large space for the crawling vines, but because they are vines the will climb up. Once your vines begin to flower, encourage the plant to start to grow up, keeping it growing low until the fruits appear, unless your growing a smaller size squash, gourd or pumpkin you’ll want the weight spread as close to the bottom as possible.

In more recent years fruit socks have become very popular, You might know them better as a vertical growing bag. Basically it’s a Plastic tube that hangs from a porch or off a fence and you can plant many different flowers or better yet strawberries in the holes along the sides. The berries will grow out and hand down and flowers too will spread and fill out. Tomato’s can also be hung from tubes with holes in the bottoms; the plant will grow upside down. These two are great for growing on small porches and balconies. Also consider growing cucumbers in hanging baskets, the flowering vines will look nice and the hanging cucumbers will add a unique character to you home.

If you like fresh herbs you can plant them all year long indoors in small containers, pick fresh as needed. Just remember all fruits and vegetables need good soil a bit of plant food once in a while, I recommend home composting, but store bought can be fine ass well. Make sure plants have plenty of water and have sufficient drainage to prevent root rot and unwanted pests.

Things to grow in hanging pots or vertical hanging bags…

Strawberries

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Peas

Beans

Grow in Pots of all sizes…

Dwarf Fruit trees, apple, peach, orange, lemon, apricots, avocado, and pears

Corn 1-2 corn per barrel or pots, grow beans around after corn has sprouted allowing beans to climb as the corn grows up…Two for one

Herbs… all your favourites

Small bulb onions, garlic try one in a single deep pot

Peppers, all kinds

Growing along the fence…

Grapes

Pumpkins, squash

Also beans, peas, tomatoes will grow good along and up fences

Watermelon, cantaloupe

Most vegetables and herbs can be grown in and around your flowers, so consider planting a broccoli or some lettuce with in you front flower garden, or some purple sage as a hedge. There are many options If you have room for raised beds this is a great way to grow anything, you don’t always need a big garden to grow your favourites and have fun.