With soaring food prices, it’s a good time to think about what you grow yourself to be a little more self-sustainable. You might have thought before that you’d like to grow some of your own produce, but got turned off by lack of space, or even the inability to make something permanent (for example, if your lease prohibits it). Fortunately, there are solutions—from a pot of herbs on your windowsill to a vertical patio garden, or balcony pots to hanging gardens— for every circumstance. Let’s take a closer look!

Windowsill Herb Garden

Not only can a windowsill herb garden look, frankly, cute as hell, they are so easy, practical and convenient. Herbs tend to be used fairly sparingly (depending on the quantities you’re producing), so you can adapt them to your space and needs.

Not all commercial kitchens will necessarily have a windowsill, but if you have a retail space and/or dine-in area, a planter filled with herbs can double as on-trend greenery to decorate the space—win-win!

Many herb plants grow well in containers and with minimal care indoors, but adequate sunlight is important, thus the popularity of the windowsill. Ideally, you want it to be a window that gets at least six hours of sun a day and is away from drafts.

Choose herbs that don’t grow too wide or tall such as chives, basil, lavender, parsley, mint, rosemary and thyme. These can be purchased from a garden centre as seedlings, or if you’re feeling more ambitious, you can start them from seed—this requires a bit more effort, however!

Plant them either in individual pots or long containers (but make sure they have enough room to grow) depending on the space you have, and be sure to use a high-quality potting mix. Ensure any pots or containers are well-draining, and empty saucers when they are full—herb plants don’t like to sit in wet soil.

Important: If your plant ‘dies’ or goes to seed, this isn’t because you have a brown thumb. Many herbs are actually annual plants that go to seed and decline during their first year. Just replace them with new plants.

Vertical Patio Planters

Do you have an alfresco dining area? Perfect! Vertical gardens are an excellent way to use this outdoor space to grow edible plants, as well as creating a beautiful backdrop for customers to enjoy.

As well as herbs, a vertical garden can be used to grow produce like lettuce, onions, tomatoes, peas, nasturtiums, strawberries and even potatoes. There are so many different ways to create a vertical garden too, from recycling old pallets, using trellis, growing herbs in hanging shoe organisers or using tiered ladder-style planters. You can even hang plants from guttering!

Because vertical gardens can be quite heavy, make sure you get the appropriate expert advice to ensure the structure you’re using can handle the weight, and pair heavy or more demanding plants with sturdier structures.

Check the lighting—tall plants or structures can cast shadows on the vertical garden that will affect the growing patterns of plants.

Plants grown in a vertical garden might also need more frequent watering and fertilising because they’re exposed to more light and wind.

Balcony Pots

For the city dwellers, a balcony or small courtyard might be the only space you have. As you can see, with a bit of creativity, these tiny spaces can produce big things! You can use long planters that attach or hang on the railing of a balcony, and also utilise shelving to hold pots of different sizes.

On a balcony, you can also revisit the vertical planting options—some trellis placed against a wall can provide structure for climbing plants like peas, beans and squash, or you can use stakes in pots to grow dwarf tomatoes.

Lettuce, Asian greens like pak choy and bok choy, dwarf varieties of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and broccolini are all good choices for the balcony.

Tip: If you’ve got heavy pots or planters, put them on wheels for easy moving!

Hanging Gardens

Hanging pots can be very effective places to grown herbs and veggies. As well as looking beautiful, they can be placed out of the way—think under a patio or carport.

Eggplants, strawberries, small peppers, cherry tomatoes and lettuce are all good candidates for hanging baskets, along with chives, mustard greens, cabbage and many herbs. You can also get special upside-down hanging pots that are designed to allow some plants like tomatoes, peppers and green beans to grow straight out of the bottom, preventing gravity from bending stems, which can affect the nutrients getting through to the fruit-producing stems.

Keep in mind the level of sunlight where you will be hanging your pots. Tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers need higher levels of heat and levels of sunlight, while lettuce and spinach do better in lower light.

Make sure your hanging baskets and the surface they’re hanging from are sturdy enough, have good drainage, high-quality soil, and are big enough for your chosen plants.

Rooftop Gardens

Hello city dweller! If you’re in a retail or office building, you may be able to utilise the rooftop to create a kitchen garden. Of course, as it’s a shared space, you might need to talk to some people to ensure it’s okay, but some plants aren’t exactly a highly-offensive installation. It can also be an excellent way to engage with your neighbours to create a little community garden project.

If you’re planning to start a rooftop garden, you’ll need to consider a few things. Firstly, you need to ensure you can legitimately build one in your neighbourhood—check if you need council approval and what relevant local ordinances there may be. If you’re in a rental property or part of a body corporate, familiarise yourself with any regulations they may have. Depending on what you want to do, you may also need a structural evaluation.

Official permissions aside, you’ll also need to look at the climate in your city, whether you have shade—and if not, how you can create shade, how windy it is, whether you’ll need netting to protect produce from birds, and whether you have easy access to water on the rooftop.