City-dweller? Think you don’t have room to garden? Think again!
If anyone knows about making the most of small spaces, it’s Indira Naidoo. The author of The Edible Balcony and The Edible City manages to grow around 70kg of produce a year on her 20 square-metre balcony… and that’s squished between a clothesline and a barbecue!
Got a balcony, or even just a windowsill to spare? Here’s how you can grow your very own urban oasis (with free herbs for all!).
Indira’s best tips for growing your own kitchen garden.
1. Start small. “Don’t go to the garden shop to buy ten packets of seeds. Just get some thyme, basil, oregano and rosemary. You don’t even need a good balcony for those.”
2. Grow gradually. “Once you get confident and you don’t kill them, move to the next level and try planting some greens. After that, try tomatoes and radishes, then move on to more difficult plants like lemons, which can take up to three years to ripen.”
3. Basic instinct. “Push your finger in the soil and when it gets a bit dry give the plants a water. Make sure they get lots of light. I’ve only got good soil, compost and a worm farm – it’s not complicated.”
4. Learn from mistakes. “Every gardener has gardening disasters! You will overwater things, and some plants are going to die. But that’s how you learn.”
5. Be present. “Most of us aren’t. We’re living in the future, checking our phones, wondering what’s coming up next. Or we’re wallowing in the past about something stupid we said to someone days ago. But plants really just want you to be present in the moment. Plants say ‘water me now, feed me now’. It forces you to slow down and experience life as it’s happening. That’s why I love gardening – it’s like natural, cheap therapy.”
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