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Being a prepper living in a city apartment isn’t always easy; you have less space to prepare and you have to get your landlord’s permission to do a lot of the things you’d like to in order to prepare for when the SHTF. In this situation, a bug out bag can only get you so far. Thankfully, you can at least do some at-home gardening to build your own food storage. You can garden in almost any place in your apartment with a fairly low investment.
Advantages of Apartment Gardens
Let’s get the most painfully obvious advantage out of the way first: You grow your own vegetables without having to be outdoors. This will give you some additional food and will also provide a nice segway into a second advantage: Saving Money. You can cut your produce-purchasing budget at the grocery store by a potentially wide margin, depending on your initial budget and how many vegetables you grow.
Growing your own garden in your apartment also carries the advantage of avoiding chemicals in your food. Obviously, you know what you’re growing your food with, so you know it’s organic (on a side note, you can avoid these in meat as well by purchasing your meat from a local butcher rather than a large grocery store). And let’s not forget the well known mental and psychological benefits of gardening. As we covered before, staying mentally stable and prepared even in the most dire situations is a great part of any prepper lifestyle.
Disadvantages of Apartment Gardening
There aren’t really any disadvantages to apartment gardening, per se. You’ll be investing quite a bit of time and some money into the project, but as covered in the advantages section, you end up saving money versus buying produce from the grocery store. But you’ll need to invest in items like garden seeds, pots, soil (or sand, depending on what you want to grow), or other items. The items you’ll need to invest in depend on what you’re planning on growing.
Where Can You Grow Your Apartment Garden?
You really don’t need a whole lot of space to garden, and if you utilize your space wisely, you’ll need even less. Balconies or patios are likely the most commonly used option for apartment gardening and this option will provide you with plenty of space to guarden while still maintaining the patio’s livability. You might also try window sills or any indoor spaces where your plants will get plenty of light. You can install some, sure, but just keep in mind your budget; additional lights will mean paying extra money on your power bill each month.
To save space, try using hanging baskets where possible; these will allow you to grow a wide assortment of herbs and a few types of vegetables without taking up additional floor space.
Before Planning Your Garden
In all cases, be sure to get the go-ahead from your landlord, and make sure your plants have plenty of room to grow. For this reason, it’s important to start small and gradually expand, only growing what you will use. You’ll also want to make sure you don’t have a pet that will get into your garden. Also keep in mind that you will have limitations to indoor gardening that you wouldn’t otherwise have in outdoor gardening. Mentally prepare yourself by keeping your hopes realistic and don’t expect your garden to immediately erupt in green. Stay within budget and don’t try to invest in equipment you cannot afford.
Crops You Can Grow in Pots
The vegetables on the following list can all be grown in your apartment in simple plant pots:
- Beans
- Cucumbers
- Tomatoes
- Beets
- Eggplant
- Garlic
- Herbs
- Leaf Lettuce
- Peas
- Peppers
- Radishes
- Spinach
- Squash
We’ll be covering how to grow many of these plants in future posts here on Well Prepared. Follow us via the social networks at the top of this page to stay informed on the latest survival and prepper topics!
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