apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Again a topic that really shouldn't be on a site for apartment dwellers. The only spot I could even consider plants of any kind are on my balcony that barely holds a bistro set table with two chairs and small (as in less than 2' by 1'. I'd be lucky to have one tomato plant - LOL.

I have my first serious yard and have been spending all my free time there. It's slow, but when I saw the first bit of red peeking out of the soil from my radishes I almost hopped up and down. I wish I could plant some bigger plants (flower wise) in there, but I just can afford it. So I'm just putting in tons of little things and getting excited to watch it all unfold over the years.

ChrisGal, I've been reading AT for 6 months now and it seems that they open their posts for owners of apartments as well. But really, I think AT should branch out into a gardening/landscaping blog called, "In the Garden". I think that would be the perfect home for this post.

I chose full plants, but I also like seeds, particularly those varieties that I can't find as a plant. I also love to see what's reseeded from plants that I had - that's a thrill.

I thought this site was for anyone living in a small dwelling, be it house or apartment, who wanted to live in a clean, decluttered, creatively decorated home.

The site is for people who live in al types of dwellings, not just apartments.


I do a mix so I have the best of both world; instant gratification and the fun of growing plants and flowers from seed.

I agree with "ChrisGal"!I too live in an apartment and have a J shape balcony, but that havent stop me from planting flowers and tomatoes from seed in containers and seeing the results after is speachless...

I agree "nkr707"....

"Seaside" then why is it called Apartment Therapy??

There's quite a community of apartment gardeners, in fact -- the two can and do go together.

I'm another one for planting seeds and being patient, as well as buying the occasional young plant, which I always keep. For instance I've had the same four cyclamens for almost five years now -- cyclamens go dormant in summer and autumn (many people think they're dead, but in fact they are dormant) and come back in winter. They're more beautiful every year, and it's always such a pleasure to see them blossom when most other plants are grey!

In DC, there are plenty of apartments in rowhouses. I live on the first floor of a 3 unit rowhouse, so I have the small space that comes with apartment living, but I also have outdoor space to consider (lucky me!).
So while we're on the topic of (presumably) urban gardens, has anyone had a problem with rats in their garden? If so, what did you do to keep them from eating your vegetables?
I've got a container garden on the back patio and my landlord mentioned seeing a huge rat back there. It's coming from the neighboring rowhouse (trash in the yard, not well-maintained, owned by a slumlord), and I've heard that there was a problem with rats next door before we moved in. I want to keep them out of my yard & away from my tomatoes. Any suggestions?

ChrisGal, I completely disagree, I live in an apartment with a very small balcony and I (as well as a number of neighbors) have managed to have a number of rose buses and other plants. I've even seen NYCers with a few plants on their fire escapes.

I am lucky to be living in a wee house (less than 900 sq ft) and a pretty good sized yard, but a garden branch would be great.

Anyway, this is not an either or thing--I use seeds when I need to (mucho bang for the buck; for special varieties; things that don't transplant well), and when a space needs something larger and fast or I just really love the plant, then I buy full-size. For a hole in the landscaping in my front yard, I bought an azalea. I bought a small hydrangea because I just had to. I like buying large vines (native honeysuckle, carolina jessamine) because they also put on a lot of show for relatively little cost. For my vegetable garden, I am doing a combination of seeds and transplants. For more flowers and because I can't afford to splash out on numerous perennials just yet, I am going to plant sunflowers and cosmos to get a quick show.

I like starting from seed, buying very small plants, (2 inch pots versus gallon pots) dividing plants I already have, or trading with friends. I feel great satisfaction from having a beautiful garden on little money. Anybody can throw money at a problem, but it takes patience and ingenuity to do it on the cheap.

I vote for "in the garden"!

I am an apartment dweller with a backyard and I can't get enough of posts like these.

i haven't read all of the comments, but garden apartments are pretty common in brooklyn. every brownstone, or brick townhouse has one. im struggling with my own instant gratification problem with these plants. i have discovered the most important plant (which come up every year)the perennial. But i don't know why everytime i go to the garden shop, i have to buy something. its a sickness. i started about 50 seeds, and i have had about 20 % success with that.

When I lived in warmer climates I was more than happy to wait and see, but now that I'm in NYC I want to enjoy it before the snow dismisses it.

For those who complained at me (not really in the mood to type each name), this site is called apartmenttherapy - not housetherapy, rowhousetherapy, etc. Maybe you should remember that more than once per year.

I do have a small balcony, yes - but I like to use it also to sit. But at like 5 feet by 3 feet, where am I going to place a garden when I also like to have seating out there too. And you also have to remember a LOT of people don't even have the luck of having balconies - so they have no where to garden.

I have a duplex apartment with a garden. Some seeds are easier to grow than others-- morning glories and nasturtiums, for instance. Sunflowers are also easy. I would like to know if the foxgloves were cultivated in seed pots before being planted in the garden? I find that more delicate seeds are difficult to establish and die pretty easily, even if using seed pots. I would love to hear others' suggestions for easy to grow seedlings.

I agree! AT needs a gardening sister-site.

I've been in my house for a little over a year, and I'm taking a combination approach. Fortunately for me, the previous owners did a lot of landscaping, and we have several mature trees and bushes. I'm adding flowers and vegetables. I would like instant gratification, but I can't afford it. Here and there I have small plants that I bought on clearance at a garden center, like hydrangeas, Mexican honeysuckle, bougainvilleas, and other random assorted flowers. I also spread several varieties of flower seeds this spring. Some sprouted, some didn't. Unfortunately I forgot what I planted in one spot, and I have two rather large leafy plants that I can't identify until they flower. I also started a container vegetable garden on a cement slab that the previous owner had a hot tub on. I drilled holes in large, clear plastic storage containers, filled them with dirt, and planted tomatoes, squash, okra, asparagus, eggplant, cucumbers, etc. I like the clear containers because I can see the roots of the plants. I now know that next summer I need to use a larger size for the tomatoes, because, though they're producing tomatoes prolifically, they already look at bit root-bound. I also planted a few herbs right next to my patio, and I walk out there nearly every night to cut some fresh herbs for dinner.

Chris Gal,

Yes in brooklyn, apartments are in the rowhouses, and the houses, each floor has an apartment. Some of these rowhouses have 4 and or 5 apartments. so they are apartments.

Plenty of apartments have a little space for plants-the question IS still relevant. My current home is a ground-floor apartment with a 9x9ft yard (I have a container garden, and two raised beds with lilies in), the place I'm moving to soon has no garden, but the previous renters had a window box outside of every window. There are also balconies, front spaces, shared spaces in apartment buildings..

I love the gardening articles on AT

Again, not everyone who visits this site has the luxury of anywhere to garden - I'd be willing to bet half don't. This topic either shouldn't be on here or on a sister-site like mentioned above.

Perhaps then you should visit grumpytherapy.com which will have plenty of topics that will interest you.

Seaside, now you are the one being childish. I was simply pointing out this is not the place for a gardening site since it's about APARTMENTS.

Up to now I've gone down the plant buying route as my tiny garden initially consisted of some dirty paving and a rubble filled flower bed. But now its cleaned up and planted I intend to sit back and let it be for a while.

PS. I'd love a sister site on gardening.

When I lived in my apartment, I had a balcony (4' x 6') and I always had container plants. I even found a full size palm tree plant in a dumpster and put that in. I lived on the second story. The ground floor apartments always had little gardens in the front. There were small plots of land that had flowers and perennials. My neighbor every year did a little garden. So....this post has relevance for apartment living. A lot of people like to plant something, however big or small of a scale. Then again, not everyone has an interest in gardening. That's ok. AT seems to feature everything related to living and decorating in all respects to reach out to everyone. Not everything on this site has an interest for me...so I skip over it and move on to the next topic. I'm and instant gratification girl with plants. :)

I live in an apartment, but lucked out and my patio is nearly half the size of my shoebox apartment. I do a ton of container gardening.

I love this site and I haven' t lived in an apartment for years, I have a 2800 sqft house nor do I live in any of the cities that are featured (Arkansas!). The advice and ideas that this site promotes can serve anyone anywhere, so lets stick to what this site does well, design inspiration and not split hairs. This post is appropriate because it is Outdoor Month not because it has anything to do with apartment vs. rowhouse vs. condo vs. any other small abode.

I'm with bmfree. MOST of the posts here are apartment specific but some might give you ideas for the day when you no longer are limited. So roll with it, you can always skip the things you aren't interested in. (Houses have small space design issues, too -- the name of the blog shouldn't be that restrictive.)

Meanwhile, there should be a middle ground answer to the survey. I usually get small starter plants, with developed root systems, in pots -- they aren't really instant gratification because they often take years to reach maturity and full size, but they aren't seeds, either. (I do plant seeds sometimes, but I don't have amazing success with them, probably because I no longer bother to do the proper fussing and babying... another good reason for established plants!)