Is gardening in an apartment without a balcony possible? The answer is a definite yes. I have been doing it for years so stick around to learn about more apartment gardening with no balcony.
I like to grow exotic plants and here a just a few. There’s a Coffee plant, an Aloe, and some Euphorbias
Gardening In An Apartment Without A Balcony Overview
As I write this the Omicron variant is spreading and after nearly 2 years of dealing with this pandemic, many people are working from home or just staying home more.
With extra time on their hands, they are looking for a hobby to occupy it. Apartment gardening is a very rewarding hobby and the side benefit is you can grow your own vegetables and herbs.
How can I grow an apartment without a balcony?
Believe it or not, you really have quite a few options. Container gardening for apartment dwellers can be a great way to go if you have the space for it. If room is more limited I would really recommend going with hydroponic systems.
Apartment gardening does present some challenges but it can be done without a balcony. Generally growing indoors is a double edged sword. On the one hand, you have control over the weather.
The biggest problem growing vegetables indoors has is light. On a balcony, you can take advantage of natural sunlight but indoors you will need to provide supplemental lighting.
Most common houseplants require low light and it is easy to keep them by a window. But if you want to grow tomatoes or peppers these plants have a high light requirement and putting them by a window will simply not provide enough light.
Gardening In An Apartment Without A Balcony Is Easy With An AeroGarden
But don’t worry it has become easier than ever before to provide enough light for growing veggies even if you don’t have a balcony or patio. In fact, you can grow veggies and herbs on a shelf! A unit like the AeroGarden Bounty pictured below sells for less than $100 and is very easy to use.
The AeroGarden comes with its own high quality LED light and it was designed so even people without a green thumb can be successful with it. There are different size units available and it is quick and easy to set up just about anywhere there is an outlet.
The downside is you cant grow standard tomatoes or peppers in it. It was designed to grow lettuce, herbs, and dwarf patio tomatoes but it is a great way to start apartment gardening even if you don’t have a balcony or a lot of floor space. Here is a link to my AeroGarden unboxing video:
AeroGarden Harvest Unboxing It Was Surprising !
Is it possible to have a garden in an apartment?
Yes of course it is! You may be asking what vegetables can I grow inside apartment? The answer is the sky is the limit. It really depends on how much space you have and your lighting. The AeroGarden is great for small spaces and smaller plants but if you want to grow large plants indoors you will need to look at container gardening.
The EarthBox is a popular container system that will allow you to grow just about any vegetable you can think of from potatoes to tomatoes. I say this with one caveat: You are going to need supplemental lighting.
Here is a tomato plant grown outside in an EarthBox, but with proper lighting, you can grow a plant like this indoors.
Consider The GroBucket For Container Gardening
The GroBucket is an inexpensive container gardening system that works great for growing tomatoes, peppers, or just about any vegetable you can think of.
It works very similar to the EarthBox in that it is a sub irrigated planter or SIP which feeds from the bottom. They are also called self watering planters because they have a built in reservoir.
This makes watering easy and foolproof. Easy to use, inexpensive, and easy to move around. You just need to put it in a plant tray to use it for apartment growing.
Adding Supplemental Lighting
OK so here is where I really shine. (No pun intended) Cannabis is a high light plant like tomatoes in fact it even likes more. I am a legally licensed medical marijuana patient and grower. My plants are grown in a closet with high performance LED lights from Horticulture Lighting Group or HLG.
You can’t go wrong with their lights. They are made in USA and come with a 5 year limited warranty. Customer service is a cut above. I have used their lights for years and they do honor their warranty. If your light is not working right(really rare) they will ship you a new one.
You can buy cheaper lights. Their design has been knocked off by many but you will never get the same quality of service from a made in China knock off.
So lighting is your greatest limitation to gardening in an apartment without a balcony. But it does not have to be with LED lighting. White spectrum LED lights are the closest you can get to sunlight indoors.
The only problem is these lights are very bright and may light up your whole apartment. You will need to hang them over your growing area with adjustable light hangers and you will want to put them on a timer and run them for 12 hours daily.
You will get peak coverage over a 5×5 area with a 600 watt HLG light. You can cover an even larger area if you grow lettuce or other greens that require less light than tomatoes.
You can get great results with a smaller light than this and HLG makes many different sized LEDs. In general, I would want about 30 – 35 watts per square foot for high light plants like tomatoes.
If the light in your space bothers you it can be hung in a grow tent and placed anywhere in your apartment.
What vegetables can I grow inside apartment?
With proper lighting, you can grow anything in your apartment that is grown in an outdoor garden. While the AeroGarden is great for small spaces and smaller plants you are going to need something larger for most vegetables.
Can you grow enough food in an apartment?
You can get the same or even better yields in your apartment garden as you would outdoors. But you are going to have to make some sacrifices to esthetics in most cases.
Container gardening works great but adding supplemental lighting may make it less attractive. Likewise, if you use a grow tent it is not that pretty to look at but it does allow you to grow your vegetables anywhere in your apartment and keeps your garden out of sight.
There are larger hydroponic grow systems that were made for apartment growing. Some are vertical growing units designed to save floor space. Others are more like hydroponic versions of the EarthBox or other container systems.
Gardening In An Apartment Without A Balcony Final Thoughts
Apartment gardening offers many choices from small herb gardens to growing tomatoes in an apartment. Gardening in an apartment without a balcony is definitely possible.
In fact, you have greater control of lighting and climate and they can actually do better than an outside garden. There are many ways to go about it too. I have suggested a few but there are many more.
A lot really depends on what you want to grow and how much you want to grow. Container gardening for apartment dwellers is probably best if you want to produce a larger amount of food. There are units that are hydroponic and also those that use more conventional potting soil.
On the other hand, a small hydroponic system like an AeroGarden is nice to have in the kitchen when you want some fresh herbs for your omelet.
Dont be discouraged by naysayers who say it can’t be done or it isn’t worth the trouble. Growing fruits and vegetables in your apartment is an awesome, rewarding, and fulfilling hobby so start today.
Apartment Kitchen Garden – Growing A Hydroponic Garden In An Apartment (indoorvegetablegrower.com)
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