Tips for Organic Gardening in an Urban Setting

You do not need a farm or large garden beds to have an organic garden, organic gardening can take place anywhere you decide to grow your plants. Urban gardeners face several obstacles when it comes to gardening, but it can be done successfully and easily. It is even possible to grow organically in an urban garden, and here are a few tips and tricks I picked up living in the city with only a patio to garden on.

Use Your Space Wisely
One of the complications of urban gardening is the lack of space, but this can actually be an advantage if you can learn how to use every inch of space wisely and practice complementary gardening. Complementary garden is a practice that is used among organic gardeners because it helps eliminate the need for fertilizer and herbicides.

Group plants together in pots and containers that you might not have otherwise thought about. Add vines and low growing vegetable to pots with other plants and allow them to grow over the sides of the pots. Keep groups of pots together as well to prevent individual pots and containers from drying out as they create a moisture zone.

Use Organic Soil
With a smaller garden, it is easier to keep track of where your soil is from and what is going into it. If you are setting up your urban garden in containers or a small garden bed where you need to provide all the soil, look for organic soil at your local nursery or garden center. Many times these bags of soil will already come with compost mixed into the soil, providing you with the healthiest soil to grow in. In addition to purchasing soil from garden stores, look locally for gardeners that might be giving away compost or clean, organic dirt. While living in the city I was able to obtain free organic soil and compost from a local gardening co-op that had extra to share with neighbors.

Feeding the Garden
When you are in an urban setting, often times there is no opportunity to compost because of the limited amount of space. Even if you are using organic soil, your plants are going to need a constant source of nutrients while they are growing. Instead of composting when I was in the city, I took advantage of the compost piles that others in the area had set up. Find out if any of your neighbors have an established compost heap that you could contribute to in exchange for some of the compost when it is ready.

Another quick fix that I used on a regular basis, especially for tomato plants, was to add used coffee grounds to the water that I will be using for watering. When I water potted plants or any other plant in a container I would make sure to loosen up the soil every week to help the nutrients reach the roots quicker then they would naturally.

These are just some of the very basic things I did to grow a successful urban garden organically. Keeping these three things in mind will help you do the same year after year.