Urban gardening ideas

Having a garden doesn't just mean having a bit of grass behind your house - it's a lot more than that. A garden is a great way to express yourself; it's an outdoor extension to your home.

You can use it to escape from the world and relax, or simply as a way to exercise and keep healthy. You can even feed yourself with the food that you grow in your garden.

And if you thought gardens were only possible in big open green spaces, think again - there are some great ways in which you can use limited space to make the perfect urban garden too. Through a mixture of creativity and items of luxury from places like Achica Living you can have the garden you've always wanted.

Choosing your plot

A lot depends on the areas available to you when choosing a plot for your urban garden, but there are lots of places that can be used - even a balcony or a windowsill. If you have limited space then getting creative is key. For example, even if you don't have any space inside your apartment, maybe you could get some of your neighbours involved with a community effort on the rooftop?

Using space wisely

Urban living is on the rise - and its growing popularity means that prices are on the rise too. Our already cramped living spaces, on the other hand, are shrinking. That's why urban gardening is all about saving space. So, if you are going to create your own urban garden, no corner can go to waste.

One great space-saving idea is to use old tyres as a container for growing your plants. It may sound a bit strange but actually tyres are the perfect material for enclosed spaces. You can squash a tyre into just about any shape to suit your needs. Once you fit a plastic liner to the bottom of the tyre, it's ready to use as a recycled planter!

Another cheap and effective way to save space is to use old shopping bags as soil containers for your plants to grow in. All you have to do is fill the bag with soil, seal it up and put holes in to sow the seeds.

One really clever way to save space is to forget about the ground altogether and use hanging baskets. By definition, hanging baskets hang, so they don't take up any floor space. If possible, you can place them over other plant containers so that when you water them, they drain onto the pot below and save you a job.

Using space to your advantage

Limited space isn't always your enemy; in fact, there are lots of ways that you can turn it to your advantage. When you're using such a small space to garden in, it is easy to build up a picture of how you want it to look, and almost as quick to put your ideas into practice.

Urban gardens tend to be quite cut off from the elements; this gives you a lot more options when it comes to picking the plants you want to grow in it. Working in a small garden also reduces the amount of time you have to spend weeding too.

You can even use the industrial-looking surroundings of an urban garden to your advantage. By using bright plants and colourful accessories like pots, baskets and ornaments you can create some really interesting contrasts - and, because it's such a small space, it doesn't take much to make a dramatic difference. If you're stuck for what to put in your garden space, check out Cuckooland for some great urban garden accessories to complete your garden - an outdoor room in which you can be creative, impress the neighbours, and above all have fun!

Photo credit: Brian van den Heuvel

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