Garden in a Patio: How to make one easily

Once again one of our Agrohuerters has given us the idea for a new post. This time we will see some keys to setting up a small garden in a patio, on a terrace, on a roof terrace… The most important thing, as always, is to have a good planning of how we are going to do things.

How to plan the garden space

You must take into account the space you have to buy or manufacture the most suitable containers. Make a small plan of your patio or terrace and think about what type of containers you want to put and what size you need them.

The size and number of containers will depend on the space you have but also on what you are going to grow. As we will see, you must take into account the space and depth that each plant needs to grow.

There are many options: for the more comfortable, the cultivation tables will be a good option because, being at a height, you do not have to bend down to cultivate or harvest. You can also put pots and make a flowerpot, like the one that Álvaro set up and that he told us about in the videos of “ How to make a flowerpot ” on the Agrohuerto TV channel. Other options are planters, recycled containers, textile containers … you can see all these ideas in the post “ Growing containers for the urban garden ”.

As the photo below shows, you can also combine various types of containers taking advantage of the free spaces in your patio.

To fill the culture containers, always look for the ideal substrate … It is not unique, there are a lot of materials that you can use and combine to create yours. You can also buy and directly use a universal substrate, as Álvaro told us in this video:

Irrigation of a garden with patio

It all depends on what your patio is like and what you are willing to modify to install the irrigation.

If your patio or terrace has a water connection or tap or you have the possibility to get one, I recommend that you install a drip irrigation system. It’s very simple (you just need to buy an irrigation controller and drip tubes as we saw in How to install a drip irrigation system in the garden), you will save a lot of water compared to other irrigation methods, and you will not have to worry or waste time watering.

In any case, there are many types of irrigation that you can choose from (see link). You can also water with a hand shower or, if you are going away for a few days, install a small irrigation system on vacation, such as an upside down bottle embedded in the ground or one of the methods that Sandra taught us in the post « Irrigation in holidays: three simple and cheap systems «.

Plants you can grow

Even if you think that if you don’t have a garden you can’t be an urban farmer, you are very wrong! In addition to being able to participate in a community garden in your city, you can have a garden in your own home or school! A garden in a patio, on a roof… There are a lot of vegetables that can be grown in containers or growing tables. What’s more… almost everything!

Take into account the depth and lateral space that each plant needs to choose the right containers and the sufficient number (in the posts that we talk about crops we usually talk about what each plant needs).

For example, if you want to grow onions taking advantage of a couple of clay pots that you have unused, you should know that due to the space that each onion needs, you can only put one in each pot… You can better leave those pots for aromatics or plants that can be put closer together and plant a row of onions in a long window box.

Speaking of which… aromatics are very interesting in a patio garden: useful in the kitchen, undemanding, easy to grow and take up little space! If you are a beginner you can also start with easy-to-grow plants such as garlic , chard, onion, chives, pumpkin, cabbage, escarole, spinach, beans, lettuce, turnip, radish, carrot…

Compost to fertilize a garden in a patio

It is not necessary to have a large garden or a lot of space to make this rich and effective organic and natural fertilizer: compost. Sandra recently gave us the keys to composting in small spaces. Take a look!