Are you aching to start a garden of your own, but you only have a small area to work with? That’s absolutely okay! You can grow a lot more in a tiny spot than you may realize.
Whether you crave the flavors of Italian cuisine or you usually whip up South Asian dishes, you can plant a garden that will keep you cooking if you plan carefully.
In this article, you’ll find nine themed container garden plans that can help you use your growing space to its greatest potential.
How to Grow a Lot in a Small Space
Having a small space to work with shouldn’t put a damper on your gardening dreams. Most people don’t realize just how much can be grown in even a tiny area like a balcony, porch, or postage stamp yard.
The key to growing a lot in a tiny area is to maximize space as much as possible. We do this by companion planting in containers and placing those in areas where they’ll thrive best.
With container garden plans like the ones listed below, you can take full advantage of your space while ensuring optimal health for your plants.
As you can imagine, the types of things you’ll be able to grow will be determined by how much sunlight the area over the course of a day.
Take photos of the space every hour from sunrise to sunset to watch where the light falls. This will determine which plants thrive there. Also, take into account that lightfall will be different in early spring than it will in late summer when nearby trees are full of foliage.
Once you have an idea of how much light the area gets, make a list of everything you’d really like to grow. For example, if you’re keen to grow as much food as possible in that space, write down all the vegetables and herbs you like best so you can focus on those.
In contrast, if you’d prefer to be surrounded by flowers that attract butterflies and birds to your space, write down the ones you love best.
Themed Container Garden Plans
As mentioned earlier, companion planting is key to growing as much as possible in a small space. Once you have a list of all the foods you’d like to grow, you’ll need to do some research to determine which have similar growing needs so you can group those together.
By doing this, you optimize their growing potential instead of having them compete with one another for nutrient resources or risk some getting waterlogged while others are parched.
Ensure that these plants have similar sun, water, soil pH, and fertilizer needs so you can take care of all them them equally. Personally, I love square-foot gardening grow bags for small spaces, as the soil can be adapted in each pocket to suit the plants you tuck into them.
Plus, invasive species like anything in the mint (Lamiaceae) family won’t be able to spread out and take over the entire garden.
Read our article on the best and worst companion plants for various vegetables to get a solid idea as to which species play well together.
Get yourself the largest container or grow bag that will sit comfortably in the sunniest spot you have available. Once you’ve filled it with high-quality potting soil and aged compost, you can plant your favorite vegetables, herbs, and/or flowers in it!
Below are nine plans for creating a garden to fill a small space, each based around a theme.
1. Italian Food Container Garden
If you love Italian cuisine and you have a spot that gets at least six hours of direct sunlight daily, consider planting a container garden that will fuel your love of pasta, pizza, bruschetta, and Caprese salad.
A garden like this does best butted up against a sunny wall, but you can use a trellis or cage support instead.
Consider including some of the following in your container garden plans:
- Indeterminate tomatoes at the back, to be supported by a trellis or cage
- Dwarf zucchini to one side of it, also to be supported
- Rapini, spinach, agretti, and onions in the center
- Genovese basil, oregano, and flat-leaf parsley around the front
Check out our article on zucchini cultivars for some ideas about the best dwarf options for the space you have available.
2. East/Southeast Asian Food Garden
Should you cook a great deal of East/Southeast Asian dishes, then you can ensure that your container garden plans contain all the species needed for your favorite meals. These may include (but are not limited to):
- Dwarf eggplant on a trellis at the back of the container
- Spring onions (scallions), mizuna, and Napa cabbage in the center
- Tien tsin or bird’s eye chili peppers near the front in a sunny spot
- Thai basil, cilantro, and a few radishes around the front
Depending on your location, you can include turmeric, ginger, or galangal in there, provided that they play well with the other plants you’ve chosen.
3. Middle Eastern Food Container Garden
Those of us who adore Middle Eastern food often grow the ingredients we love best, so we have them within easy reach. Consider a mixture of the following so you can whip up your favorite dishes as soon as they’re ripe:
- Any combination of cucumber, dwarf zucchini, dwarf eggplant, and indeterminate cherry tomato plants trained up lattices or in cages at the back. These can also be trained along balcony railings or grown upside-down to save space.
- Onions, and either spinach or Swiss chard (silverbeet) in the center.
- Parsley, mint, oregano, thyme, and purslane all around the front edges.
4. South Asian Food Garden
Although the ingredients in these dishes will differ greatly between regions, some staples are used commonly throughout this area.
- Eggplant and/or cucumber trained up a trellis or supported at the back
- Fenugreek and/or amaranth on either side
- Dill, spinach, and mustard greens in the middle
- Coriander/cilantro, parsley, basil, and mint around the front
Depending on your agricultural zone and how much light your space gets, you may even be able to get away with growing a dwarf ‘Kaffir’ lime tree in a pot. This can be taken indoors in the winter or during periods of inclement weather.
If you’ve never grown your own fenugreek before, read our article for a step-by-step guide on how to cultivate it successfully.
5. Latin American Cuisine Container
When I lived in Toronto, my neighbor Marisol would trade me hot peppers and tomatillos from her balcony garden for the cucumbers and herbs that I grew in mine. If your balcony or patio gets plenty of sun, then your container garden plans can include the following:
- Indeterminate tomatoes at the back, supported by trellises or cages
- Climbing beans on one side, trained up and around the area
- Sweet and hot peppers, spinach, epazote, and tomatillos in the middle
- Cilantro, oregano, parsley, and green onions around the front (plant the onions well away from the beans)
See our article on growing epazote if you’re interested in cultivating it at home.
6. Salad Lover Container
If you’re a salad lover, you can tailor your container garden plans to include your favorite veggies and herbs. Some of the most common ones may include:
- Indeterminate grape or currant tomatoes and dwarf cucumbers at the back, with supports
- Sweet bell peppers and dwarf snow peas on either side of those
- Cut-and-grow-again lettuce, kale, and arugula in the middle
- Chives, basil, nasturtiums, sorrel, and corn salad around the front.
7. Canner’s Container Garden
If you’re fond of preserving your own food, you may choose to focus on ingredients that you add to store-bought produce before you transform it into pickles, salsas, and more. As such, you can focus on herbs and other flavorings such as:
- Dill, tarragon, and fennel at the back
- Onions, hot peppers, garlic, and oregano in the middle
- Thyme, savory, basil, and parsley around the front
8. Herbal Tea Connoisseur
Herbs are more forgiving than vegetables when it comes to container garden plans. You can tuck them into just about any growing vessel, provided it has adequate drainage, and then place or hang it in a sunny spot.
If you’re super short on area space, use vertical gardening to its fullest potential by using hanging pots, window boxes, upside-down planters, and even hanging shoe organizers.
When it comes to growing herbs for tea, you’ll need to consider their height. For example, anise hyssop (Agastache) can grow over five feet tall, depending on the cultivar.
Do your research to determine the heights of the various herbs you’d like to grow, and once you’ve chosen your favorite tea herbs, plant them in descending height so the shortest species won’t get shaded out by the tall ones.
For an average herbal tea container garden, you can arrange your plants as follows:
- Anise hyssop, jasmine, and/or bee balm (Monarda) at the back
- Peppermint, lemon balm, chamomile, and/or catnip in the middle
- Thyme, lavender, and sage at the front
9. Flower Lovers
Whether you live in a warm climate with abundant plant life or a cooler climate with a limited growing season, you may prefer to surround yourself with sweet-smelling blossoms rather than vegetables and culinary herbs.
This is a beautiful idea and one that may bring you far more joy than a handful of scallions or cherry tomatoes would!
In a case like this, it’s a good idea to mix indigenous species with introduced ones. This will ensure that native pollinators recognize the cultivars they evolved to feed from. As a result, you’ll be certain to attract beautiful butterflies, bees, moths, and birds to your space.
Here are two floral container garden plans that you may wish to consider:
Option 1
- Jasmine (day or night blooming) planted at the back, with supports.
- Coneflowers (Echinacea) in your favorite hues, flanking the jasmine or honeysuckle trained up a lattice nearby.
- Gardenias and/or dwarf roses in the middle.
- Lavender, rosemary, and pansies in the front.
Option 2
- Climbing roses at the back, trained up a trellis so they spread out as much as possible.
- Morning glories trained up along twine or wire to frame your space.
- Bee balm (Monarda), pleurisy root, and ornamental sage (Salvia) in the middle.
- Marigolds (Tagetes spp.) and violets in the front.
These flower combinations will allow you to bask in glorious fragrance and color, while also drawing beneficial pollinators. Depending on where you live, you may end up seeing a wide variety of butterflies, as well as luna moths and/or hummingbirds.
A Note About Personal Preferences
When you’re making your container garden plans, please ensure that the species you choose bring you joy rather than those you feel you’ll be cultivating out of obligation.
Gardening should be an act of love rather than a chore that you’ll do grudgingly and resentfully.
In addition to the container gardens listed above, take full advantage of all the different spaces you have available. For example, in addition to a large container on your balcony, you can hang upside-down soda bottle planters on either end and window boxes all along the edge of the banister.
Remember that even the smallest space can support a garden, even if it’s just a few potted daisies or chives in tin cans. Make your world as beautiful as you like, on your own terms, with whatever you have available to you.
