If you have a balcony or no outdoor space at all, you might think growing your own vegetables is out of the question.
Andrea Bellamy, owner of Sugar Snaps and Strawberries, insists that’s not the case.
"You can even do it on a fire escape or a tiny balcony. You can grow something," she insists. "I tell beginners to just jump in. Don’t try to go overboard, but start with something."
"It was the kind of email that bloggers only dream of," Bellamy tells CityLine.ca. "(Writing a book) had been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I was like, ‘Yeah, for sure!’, except that I was 41 weeks pregnant at the time!"
A couple of months after her baby girl was born, Bellamy began work on the book, which focuses on growing edibles in small spaces. Although a south-facing balcony or fire escape is ideal, Bellamy admits she’s never had one.
"I’ve had west, east, even north (exposure), and you can make it work," she says. "Even if you have as little as three or four hours a day of sunshine, you can grow something."
Lettuces and herbs are a good place to start, she advises, as they’re pretty forgiving. And what’s more satisfying than finishing a pasta dish with basil or parsley snipped from your own pots?
"Herbs add so much flavour to meals, you can use them in a whole variety of dishes, and they’re for the most part very easy to grow," she says. "And because they’re so fragrant they repel most pest insects. It’s built-in self defence."
Bellamy’s mom was her gardening tutor, the main difference being her mom was more into ornamental flowers, while Bellamy wanted to grow something she could eat.
"When I moved out on my own, I was renting a place with a big backyard and it was basically all grass. I wanted to garden but I didn’t want to invest a lot of money in perennials and that kind of thing," she explains. "I thought I’d try vegetables because I could buy it all from seed rather cheaply, so I did an edible landscape and it turned out fabulously. I found it so satisfying that I never looked back."
So for the uninitiated, what are the most important things to know about small space gardening of edibles, according to Bellamy?
2. If you’re growing on a windowsill, try sprouting seeds such as alfalfa, and microgreens for salads. Cut them when they’re a week old.
3. Greens are forgiving: think arugula, lettuces, radishes and herbs.
4. Make sure you purchase potting soil if you’re container gardening, and look for something that’s organic and peat-free. Add nutrient-rich compost to get the soil going.
5. Mix flowering herbs and different flowers in with your veggies. "You don’t want to have it all vegetables because it tends to invite pests," Bellamy says. "I put in sweet elysium, dill, cilantro to attract ladybugs and the beneficial insects. Also it adds beauty."
For more on Andrea Bellamy and her book, Sugar Snaps and Strawberries, check out her blog, Heavy Petal.