01 Aug Tiny House Garden Ideas
You might think having a garden is impossible if you live in a tiny house. I’m here to let you know you don’t have to give up your passion for gardening just because you’re living Tiny. Although, tiny house living and tiny house gardening both require creativity, flexibility, and planning. But, it’s good to know that many plants can grow in small spaces when creative and smart designs are used. Whether you want to grow vegetables or flowers, here are some ideas for tiny home gardening.
Start Small
Starting small is the most important piece of advice. Especially if you’re new at this. Unless you’re sharing a garden with others, you don’t really need to go huge. Start with a few flowers and vegetables and see how that goes.
Here are a couple of suggestions on how to start small:
- Create one or two raised beds and fill them with simple veggies like lettuce, green beans, cucumbers, and zucchini.
- Create a little flower garden with flowers and simple herbs in front of your house. Flowers that are easy to care for include marigolds, petunias, zinnias, and impatiens.
- You can also put a flower container on either side of your entrance door.
A Sunny Patio
If you are fortunate enough to have a patio with at least six to eight hours of sunshine per day, you can easily grow some veggies in containers. Almost any plant will grow in a container if the container is big enough. Even a shady patio can be used to grow vegetables such as beets, carrots, and lettuce. Actually, most vegetables grow well in containers. Ideal crops for containers include tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, scallions, zucchini, bush beans, carrots, beets, and herbs.
Plastic pots, cloth pots, and wine barrel planters all work well. You can also reuse any kind of plastic container from the store as long as you drill some drainage holes in the bottom.
Sprouting
Sprouting is a cheap and easy way to effectively grow food in a small space. It does not require much work or knowledge and you can easily find inspiration, tips and help online. Once you get the hang of it, it will come almost naturally to do it again and again. You can find special sprouting jars or even sprouting lids, but you can also use simple Mason jars you already have around the house. You will soon be enjoying a food rich in nutrients, that you can add to a bunch of dishes or you can eat your sprouts as a fresh snack. Check out Amazon if you want to purchase a Sprout Growing Kit or DIY by following this tutorial: How To Grow Sprouts in a Jar
Aquaponics Garden
If you trying to be more self-sufficient and you love fish, a tiny aquaponics garden is a cool idea to try inside your tiny home. It is a fish tank with a plant container on top. There are some really pretty systems online that are pleasing to the eye. This method is eco-friendly and looks great. Fish and plants comfortably coexist in the same ecosystem. As fish mature and produce waste, plants use that waste as their nutrients to grow, while also cleaning the tank’s water.
If you have enough space outside, you can definitely have an Aquaponics system outside and grow some larger foods. This would be great in a Tiny Home community that offers communal gardening.
Here are some veggies that do great in an aquaponics system:
- The humble tomato plant does exceptionally well in this water-based system. You will find it easier to control the temperature and even the amount of sun the plants get.
- Lettuce that is grown in aquaponics is one of the most productive leafy green in an aquaponics system. Leafy lettuce will thrive in water, which has a temperature of between 70 and 74. All you need to do is decide whether you are starting your seedlings directly in the aquaponics system or a seed germinating tray.
- Only if you LOVE Watercress -This tough vegetable is one of the best plants for aquaponics because it grows so quickly. You can plant one single small plant, and it will multiply at an astonishing rate.
- Cauliflower is another water-based plant that flourishes in an aquaponics system. These plants are very hardy and need very little maintenance. They are also generally resistance to bugs and diseases, making it one of the best plants for aquaponics if you’re a beginner.
Grow Up!
Vertical gardening with a tiny home is my favorite. Let’s face it, most vegetables and fruit bearing plants grow upwards, so it’s not that difficult. Just search the subject online and literally, tons and tons of ideas and pictures pop up! There are some very creative ideas out there. Upcycle tin cans to plant plants in, go on a pallet search around shopping centers and such. And, remember one person’s trash is another person’s vertical garden.
Make a Gutter Garden
Even if you’re on the move in your Tiny, you can still have a nice little garden by creating a gutter garden, on one of its walls. You only need some gutters attached to an external wall and you have your space-effective garden to grow leafy greens, flowers or whatever works for you. If you decide to give it a try, it’s a good idea to have the gutters installed at an angle to allow better water circulation for your crops. This would also be a great idea for a Tiny Home community.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are lots of ideas for tiny housers to grow their own food, herbs and flowers! Just takes a little creativity and thinking outside the box for your individual space. Once again, just because you live tiny doesn’t mean you can’t have things you love, like fresh flowers and food that you’ve grown yourself. Whether you use a variety of containers or have a lot of space to create a garden, tiny home dwellers can almost have a garden anywhere.
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