Micro Food Gardening

Project Plans and Plants for Growing Fruits and Veggies in Tiny Spaces

Jen McGuinness

• Publisher: Cool Springs Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780760369845
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Horticulture
• Index: Biological Sciences

Tiny plants are poised to take over the gardening world. And no category of tiny plants is as welcome and wildly embraceable as tiny edibles. Not only are they cute as a button, but they're tasty and nutritious too! In Micro Food Gardening, author and small-space gardening pro Jen McGuinness, introduces you to a world of miniature edible plants and dozens of DIY projects for growing them. Not everyone has room to grow a full-sized tomato plant or a melon vine that takes up more room than your car, but everyone has space for a micro tomato that tops out at the height of a Barbie doll or a dwarf watermelon with vines that won't grow any longer than your leg. From miniature herbs and salad greens to tiny strawberry plants, baby beets, and mini cabbages, you'll quickly discover that micro gardening offers a surprisingly diverse and delicious array of edible opportunities. Plus, with step-by-step instructions for a plethora of DIY micro food gardening projects, you'll be up and growing in no time at all. Whether you micro garden on a high-rise balcony, an itty bitty patio, a front porch container, or even in a basket on the handlebars of your bicycle, there are mini food plants ready to start cranking out fresh produce just a few weeks after planting. Creative projects include:

• A window boxof mini potatoes for a porch, deck, or fire escape railing
• A mini lettuce table that serves to both grow food and hold your beverage
• A compact "cake tower" of strawberry plants
• A wine box spice garden
• A mini food fountain with herbs, veggies, and edible flowers
• A small-spaceomelet garden for cooking up the perfect breakfast

Plus, several indoor food-growing projects will have you enjoying homegrown micro veggies year-round, even in cold climates. With advice on plant selection and care, project plans, full color photography, and growing tips, Micro Food Gardening is here to show you the joys of growing your own fresh, organic food, no matter where you call home.

SECTION 1

SETTING UP YOUR SPACE

When it comes to growing your own micro food, you don’t need a dedicated room in your home or apartment. Many of the projects in this book can be done outside on a porch, patio, or stoop; or on a table, kitchen counter, or windowsill indoors.

To keep your plants happy, you will need to give them the light they need, water for hydration, and nutritious soil to feed their roots. When thinking of your ideal growing space, consider the following for indoor and outdoor locations.

Micro food gardens can be grown in small spaces, such as this rooftop patio.

ASSESSING YOUR OUTDOOR SPACE

Take a look at the space you have available and make some notes. Look for an area on your porch, patio, or balcony that will be protected from intense rainfall (including runoff from rain gutters) and sheltered from heavy winds in storms. If you rent, will your landlord allow you to drill holes into the walls or siding for a trellis or allow you to hang a window box from your balcony? Make notes on how much sunlight your spot gets a day. (See here for more on lighting.) Taking into account the answers to your questions above, you can see which projects are possible in your space.

ASSESSING YOUR INDOOR SPACE

When finding a spot indoors to grow your micro food, choose a spot protected from pets. This is to keep them from sampling your plant or knocking the container—and plant—over. Are you planning to grow your edibles in a sunny window or will you need a grow light to brighten your space? Good houseplant etiquette also applies to growing micro food indoors. You’ll want to place plants away from window or air-conditioning drafts and protect plants from dry, intense radiator heat.

To choose an indoor spot for your micro food garden, look for a level location with plenty of light. Sunny south- or west-facing windows are best.

Whether you choose an outdoor or indoor location to grow your edibles, you should place your plants in a spot where you will see them every day. This can either be a route you walk to enter or leave your home or in a room you use frequently. If plants are out of sight, it’s easier to accidentally forget about them and miss their cues for needing water.

Once you have chosen your spot, you’ll have to decide how you will obtain your plants. Many dwarf and micro varieties can be found by buying the seeds and growing them yourself under grow lights. Many of the projects in this book start with sowing seeds directly into your container of choice, but there are projects where young plants can be transplanted into the container and grouped together.

While there are always exceptions, the reality is that many of the micro food varieties available as seeds are super easy to grow. Here are some basics to get you started.

Providing enough light and water, along with a soil mix that drains well, sets your micro plants up for growing success.

FROM HOUSEPLANTS TO EDIBLE PLANTS

If you already grow houseplants, now is the perfect time to dip your toe in the edible gardening realm by expanding your repertoire and growing your own food. You already know the ins and outs for caring for houseplants. Spoiler alert: Growing edibles is not that different!

In fact, you may already be growing houseplants that produce fruit—for example, do you grow citrus trees indoors? You will find growing micro edibles rewarding when you are able to harvest from your indoor space.

STARTING MICRO FOOD BY SEED

Welcome to the fun and addictive world of growing your edibles from seed!

Many of the plants that I used for projects in this book were grown from seed. When selecting what type of plants you want to grow from seed, remember that it is OK to not use all the seeds provided in your seed packet. If you are growing tomatoes, peppers, or melons from seed, you can sow a little more than you think you’ll need and save the rest. If you want to grow a specific pepper plant for one project, you might only sow four seeds, even if the packet contains thirty. The reason why you would not just sow one seed is because you want to ensure that you have a few backups. That way you can pick the best performing one for use with your project, and you’ll have extra seeds in case they do not all sprout (because despite our best efforts, we can’t rely on 100% germination, no matter how fresh the seed is). If all four seeds do successfully germinate and you find yourself with extra plants by the time you are ready to plant them up, you can always share them with a friend.

You can sow seeds for melons outdoors safely after the last frost and after the ground has warmed up.

On seed packets for warm weather plants, you will see recommendations for when to start growing plants from seed indoors. What type of seeds would you start this early indoors? Mainly it’s tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, but other edibles may enjoy a jump start, too. This practice ensures that plants will be large enough and further along in their growth when it is warm enough to plant them outside.

Here is how you can decode this language: Figure out when your area receives its last frost date. (For me, this is usually the last week of April.) Using this week as a guide, I count back however many number of weeks the packet tells me to. So if I was using April 28 as my first frost-free day, and a packet says start six weeks before last frost, I use the calendar to count back six weeks from April 28. This brings me to mid-March. So if I want my seedlings to be in good shape for the coming season, I should start the seeds in March.

For a seed packet that says I can sow directly outside after frost, I would again use this frost-free week as my guide. Examples of seeds where I would do this includes melons, cucumbers, and beans. I usually wait 2–3 weeks after the frost-free week to start warm weather seeds outside, to account for chilly nights. However, many of the micro food projects can easily be brought inside if a cold snap is forecasted.

The projects in this book will recommend how to start your plants. Many can be seeded directly in place (such as the Muffin Pan Basil). Other plants will need to be st...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction: Why Grow Micro Food?
• Section 1: Setting Up Your Space
• Section 2: Micro Food Growing Projects
• Conclusion
• Resourcess
• Meet Jen McGuinness
• Author Acknowledgments
• Index
• Copyright