Growing food in your own city garden, also known as urban gardening, is becoming increasingly popular. More and more people are realising their desire to grow some of their food themselves. The trend is easy to try out for yourself, because complicated equipment is not necessary and gardening can take place on the balcony or terrace - wherever there is space. It starts with garden soil and plant pots or raised beds, which can be placed flexibly. Small shovels, watering cans, climbing aids and gardening gloves round off the equipment. Spring is the ideal time to start cultivation. Depending on the size of the planting areas and the number of plants, care and maintenance will take a few minutes to half an hour a day. Ideally, use organic fertiliser consisting of various household materials.
Urban gardening - Growing vegetables in your own city garden
Which varieties are suitable for urban gardening?
Herbs and fast-growing vegetables are ideal for getting started with urban gardening. Typical garden herbs like basil, parsley, marjoram, coriander, chives as well as peppermint, thyme and sage also grow in the flower box on the windowsill. Suitable vegetables include small tomato varieties, mini cucumbers, peppers and chilies. Chard and spinach are easy-to-grow leafy vegetables. If you have larger patches available, you can also grow carrots, potatoes, eggplants and zucchini. One type of fruit suitable for urban gardening is strawberry. When choosing the varieties, attention should also be paid to the direction the patch faces and how much sun it gets.
The garden as a new hobby
Even before the corona crisis there were indications that urban gardening was a growing trend. The climate debate can no longer be ignored; in many places climatic changes are already being felt. Thus urban gardening is also a productive side effect of increased environmental awareness and the desire to make one's own lifestyle as sustainable as possible. Urban gardening promotes the consumption of local products and reduces transport distances - it doesn’t get any shorter than from your own vegetable patch to the plate. In highly sealed urban areas, the gardens also improve the microclimate and even offer various species a living space or at least a place of retreat.
What does local food production entail?
Gardeners in urban areas mainly grow vegetables. The yield is relatively high in relation to the area and the harvest is fast - unlike with fruit trees, for example. Anyone who owns a city garden, house garden or allotment garden in a densely populated area has a considerable amount of land available for vegetable growing and thus partial self-sufficiency. But urban gardening can also be done on the balcony, the terrace or even the windowsill. But a lot more can be done than growing vegetables and herbs. Some hobby gardeners and city garden owners have even started keeping chickens in order to get as much out of their gardens as possible.
Impact on garden culture
The corona pandemic will probably not be without consequences in terms of the trend towards urban gardening, even once the crisis has been overcome. Gardening in the city joins the already existing trend towards local and regional consumption. The demand for areas in the city that can be used for horticultural purposes is likely to increase. Many cities have already recognised the urban gardening trend and its potential and will increasingly take this into account in urban planning. Thus, the time of corona could have a lasting impact on urban gardening, a development which is welcome in terms of climate protection, healthy eating and local consumption.
