10 Reasons to Grow Food in Small Spaces… Even if You Live in an Apartment

Figuring out how to grow your own food in small spaces can be tricky when you live in a tiny apartment in the city.

But living in a small space isn’t a reason to throw in the towel! There are so many ways to grow your own food, whether that means starting an herb garden on your windowsill, growing greens indoors with a grow light, or cultivating a miniature food garden on your balcony or patio.

I’ve grown all sorts of things indoors, on window sills, and on my own puny balcony over the years, and it always provides me with a lot of happiness and tasty things to eat.

You may be surprised by exactly how much edible goodness you can produce in even the smallest of spaces.

So if you’re sitting on the fence and need a reason to get started growing your own food this year, here are 10 reasons to grow food in small spaces… even if you live in a tiny apartment.

Related Post: How to Grow Tons of Veggies in Small Spaces

  1. Growing your own food is all the rage.

Let’s face it, all the cool kids are growing their own food these days. It’s “in” to be more environmentally friendly, and to be well informed about what you eat and where it comes from.

Plus, having your own garden space is good for your own mental well-being — growing something green will help you de-stress and feel more relaxed.

2.   Get food that tastes WAY better than the produce from the supermarket.

If you’ve never had a garden fresh tomato or freshly picked sugar snap peas, I unfortunately have to inform you that you’ve been missing out… on some of the BEST tasting fresh fruits and veggies out there!

Do you ever get tired of the limited choices you get in the produce section at the supermarket? I sure do.

I long for the days of summer when I get to munch on heirloom tomatoes and interesting varieties of spicy peppers that I can only get when I grow them myself.

Sick of eating those bland, tasteless grocery store tomatoes? Grow your own instead, and choose from hundreds of interesting and flavorful varieties!

Some ideas for you:

Grow yourself some super hot ghost peppers, purple carrots, yellow cauliflower, or zebra-striped cherry tomatoes. The choices are endless.

3.   Save the planet by supporting local growing to the MAX.

You can’t get more local than two steps from your balcony door.

Even with a small patio garden, you’ll have less need for the supermarket produce that’s traveled thousands of miles by truck, plane, train, and what have you.

Instead, you’ll be substituting those well-traveled vegetables for your own fresh veggies that have traveled twenty feet to your table instead.

Mother Nature will thank you.

Related Post: How to Start an Indoor Garden for Beginners

4.   For fun and EXCITEMENT!

When you grow food in small spaces, you do it not only for the convenient supply of fresh produce all season long, but often because digging in the soil can be loads of fun — even on a small scale.

I like to think of gardening as not just a hobby, but a lifestyle.

Gardening is a source of great joy to those of us who do it, either because we’re the kids who grew up playing in the dirt who just never stopped, or we’ve become fascinated by the process of watching things grow from a tiny seed to that beautiful tasty meal on your plate.

5.   Growing your own food is easy.

Water, nutrients, sunlight. That’s all a plant needs to survive and thrive. Once you learn how simple growing your own food can be, you will wonder why you didn’t start sooner!

Of course there IS a learning curve to gardening and you WILL kill your fair share of plants, but that’s something we all do. It’s a right of passage, really.

But it is also immensely satisfying when you finally get it right, and as a bonus you often get to eat your reward!

6.   Save money by reducing your grocery bill.

Though you may not be able to feed your whole family with the harvest from a small patio or balcony garden, you can certainly supplement your meals and spend less on your grocery bill. And that feels good. Period.

7.   Home grown food tastes better.

There’s something special about the home-grown flavors of fruits and veggies that have ripened under the sun as opposed to in a facility.

Here’s a simple test to show you just how big of a difference there can be:

Grow some tomatoes on your own, then go buy some from supermarket of a similar variety (if available). Compare them for taste. Done. You know which one the winner is.

8.   Teach your kids to connect with the Earth.

Your kids are always watching what you do, but better yet, get them involved!

Watching something sprout from a seed and then go on to provide you with fresh food is a miraculous thing to behold, and your kids will be just as fascinated as you are.

This is a great way to encourage interest in healthy food, and turn picky eaters into veggie munching monsters. You’ll have your kids eating ‘yucky’ Brussels sprouts in no time.

Note: this works for adults too:

I was never a fan of peas growing up, but one spring I decided to plants some sugar snap peas in my garden just for the heck of it.

I was bitten by the gardening bug bad, and I was planting everything I could possibly fit on my small 4’ x 10’ apartment balcony – whether it was something I liked to eat or not.

The time eventually came for me to harvest my peas, and rather than let them go to waste, I reluctantly cooked them up with my dinner.

When I tasted them I could not believe my taste buds — they were the most delicious vegetable I had ever tasted!

And the rest is history — fresh sugar snap peas are STILL my favorite thing to grow and eat from my garden (though fresh strawberries run a close second).

9.  Do good for the environment.

Though you may not be in control of the pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers that are applied to food bought at the supermarket, you can keep these things out of your home garden.

When you grow it yourself, you know exactly what is in it and what isn’t. You can literally grow organic everything, and get it for half the price tag you could get it at the supermarket for.

10.  It’s inexpensive and sustainable.

All you need to get going is some soil, containers, seeds, and water, all of which are cheap (as long as you look in the right places) and easy to come by.

Spend a few dollars on a couple packs of seeds and you’ll be busy all summer long.

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