How to grow a vegetable garden in an apartment

Cooking with fresh food is a privilege that many think is only possible when you live at home, with enough space to grow a large vegetable garden. However, it is possible to have a vegetable garden in an apartment, with fresh spices that will make your preparations even tastier!

Want to know how? Read on and check out all the tips for keeping and harvesting fresh spices without leaving home and using your available space. 

Choose a place with light and ventilation

The choice of location is fundamental to the success of your vegetable garden. If your balcony gets sun, great, as some spices really like direct light and tend to grow a lot with just the right amount of light.

Ideally, the garden should receive between 4 and 6 hours of direct sunlight a day, leaving out some species that don't like the heat so much. For them, you can set aside a corner in the kitchen and put them on the balcony for just 1 hour a day.

Choose your spices

Some spices are part of the daily cuisine of Brazilians. Parsley, chives, basil and thyme are some of them. And coincidentally, they have similar needs when it comes to the sun. They all need an average of 4 hours of heat a day to grow well. 

When it comes to watering, parsley and chives do well with watering every 3 days, so they can be planted together. Thyme, on the other hand, can be watered every 4 or 5 days. Basil, on the other hand, grows well with watering every 2 days and should have its flowers pruned to maintain flavor and freshness.

Mint, on the other hand, is an example of a shade-loving spice. As it grows very quickly, the tip is to plant it on its own and leave it in the kitchen or on the edge of a window with indirect lighting and a few moments of sunlight. It needs to be watered every 2 days.

Types of vegetable garden in an apartment

No matter how much space you have in your apartment, you can always fit a vegetable garden in there. If you have floor space, for example, you can invest in crates or rectangular pots and take advantage of that higher base on the balcony to place your spices and leave them exposed to the sun.

If you don't have that much space, you could go for a vertical vegetable garden. There are several options for paneled pots that look very stylish on the apartment balcony and allow you to plant a variety of species without taking up any space!

But if you don't have a balcony, there's no problem: set aside a few small pots and plant your spices in the kitchen. To get some sun, you can leave them for a while by the window or in the laundry room.

Growing a vegetable garden in an apartment requires adaptation and some special care, but it's perfectly possible when you pay due attention to each species and look after them as they deserve. This way, your spices will always be fresh and your food tasty when you want it.

To complete your vegetable garden, how about using plants to decorate your apartment? See here how to do it!