Many people have limited garden space or want their garden as near to the house as possible. The perfect solution is to create a garden porch.
photo credit: hortulus

Your produce will be within walking distance, watering will be easy and you will have the added benefit of creating a garden oasis on your porch that will be enjoyed by family and friends.

The first step to a successful porch garden is to check the sunlight that your plants will receive. For a vegetable garden you will need 6 to 8 hours or sunlight. Flowers and herbs can live with less light but really prefer sunlight.

If sunlight is a problem and you really want the garden you can add fluorescent lighting to help your plants out.

Next it’s time to select containers. A mix of hanging baskets, window boxes, and larger containers for the floor will add a layering of plants which creates a full lush feeling in your garden area. You can choose plastic wood or ceramic containers. For retaining moisture, ceramic and terra cotta are the best.

My porch garden has two upside down hanging tomato plants, two hanging strawberry plants, two window boxes that have been placed on the porch railing, and 4 floor containers for the porch corner that will add height in planting to the garden.

It’s best to keep your plant containers about 16 inches or more in diameter so that the plants will not dry out as fast. It’s also beneficial to have mulch on the soil to keep the soil cool so it will not need as much water.
photo credit: Hotash

A trellis will work well for vining flowers and vegetables. Mixing a flowering vine with a vegetable will add color and interest to your porch garden.

It’s amazing what you can grow in a small space garden area. With proper planning you can grow enough produce on your porch to save $500 to $1000 on your grocery bill.

And by adding herbs and flowers you will also be able to grow you own spices for the kitchen and flower bouquets for the house and garden oasis area.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Small Space Garden. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.