Different species thrive in different environments. As such, if you’re planning an urban food garden, you’ll need to take various aspects into account to ensure that your plants will thrive.
Plants in an urban food garden need to be somewhat compact and they must tolerate pollution. Then, you must also consider the light and USDA Growing Zone.
Below are 18 plants that have proven to be remarkably hardy and resilient when grown in an urban environment.
Best Urban Food Species
Although these are some of the most tried-and-true plants for urban food garden designs, this doesn’t mean that you’re limited to only growing them.
Choose plants that thrive in your Growing Zone, as well as those you absolutely love to eat. Combine your favorites with the reliable staples mentioned here, and you’ll be far more likely to have a healthy, bountiful harvest.
Vegetables and Fruits
The main purpose of edible gardens is to feed people, right? As such, aim to make veggies and fruits your priorities. The ones you choose will depend on both your climate and how much light you have to work with, but those listed below are some of your best options.
1. Hot Peppers
When choosing plants for your urban food garden, it’s a good idea to include those that aren’t likely to be devoured by interlopers. Animals are generally put off by hot, spicy flavors, which means you’ll be able to harvest a large crop of them.
Hot peppers do need a fair bit of sun, so you’ll need to grow yours in the brightest space you have available. There are many different varieties to choose from, so you have no shortage of options there!
Finally, you can also grow peppers upside-down, like tomatoes, or in hanging baskets to save on growing space.
2. Lettuce
If your urban food garden doesn’t get as much sunlight as you’d like—either because it’s shaded out by tall trees or is in a space between tall buildings—then lettuce is one of the best plants that you can grow.
It doesn’t require a lot of light in order to thrive, and can be grown beneath climbing plants to save space. Lettuce can also be cultivated in hanging planters if ground space is at a premium.
3. Kale
Like lettuce, kale doesn’t require a great deal of light and actually thrives better away from direct sunshine. Too much light or heat can cause it to bolt, rather than grow into large, leafy bunches of deliciousness.
If the space you’re transforming into an urban food garden is quite small or narrow, consider a cultivar such as ‘Walking Stick’ kale. It grows quite tall, and does well in alleyways or grown up against walls or fencing.
4. Good King Henry
I’m a huge fan of perennial plants for urban food garden design, as they’re low maintenance and will keep coming back for years. Good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus syn. Blitum bonus-henricus) is a delicious perennial vegetable in the goosefoot family.
It tastes quite a bit like spinach, and the shoots can be used like asparagus. It was likely spread across Europe by the Romans, and was a staple food throughout the continent during the Medieval and Tudor eras.
Read our article here about more delicious Medieval vegetables that you can grow in your own garden.
5. Radishes
If you’re fond of radishes’ spicy bite, and your space gets limited sunshine, then these little dual-purpose vegetables are ideal for your city garden.
They don’t need much light to thrive, and since they mature in as little as 25 days (depending on the cultivar), you can harvest several crops of them over your growing season.
Aim for small varieties such as ‘Cherry Belle‘ or ‘White Hailstone‘ for fast, delicious, spicy roots and flavorful, luscious greens.
6. Tomatoes
If you have a spot that gets at least eight hours of direct sunlight daily, then you really can’t go wrong with tomatoes. They’re incredibly versatile, and you can choose from a wide range of different cultivars.
Depending on how much space you have available for your urban food garden, you can choose climbing cherry varieties to train against fences and walls, dwarf patio tomatoes to grow in pots, or sprawling, determinate, full-size behemoths for maximum crop yields.
Additionally, if you’re low on growing space, you can also cultivate tomatoes in upside-down planters. If you’ve never grown tomatoes upside down before, check out our article on how to do so!
7. Pole Beans
These are some of my favorite plants to grow in any urban food garden. Since most downtown growing spaces are quite small, you can take full advantage of vertical gardening by planting varieties that climb high and offer large yields.
Additionally, since pole beans can either be eaten young as haricots verts or mature into soup beans, you can get two crops out of a single planting.
Train your beans up and over trellises, on string lattices or mesh along balconies and patios, around tipi-type supports, or even up old ladders.
Read our article on runner beans for a full growing guide, plus tips on the best cultivars for your needs.
8. Climbing Peas
Peas are also ideal for an urban food garden for the same reasons as the pole beans above. Just ensure that you buy climbing varieties rather than field peas!
Otherwise, you’ll be stuck growing short plants with limited yields rather than tall vines that produce oodles of tasty pods and peas.
9. Strawberries
I love strawberries for urban food gardens because they can be grown in hanging baskets from just about everywhere. I’ve hung them from eavestroughs, dangled them over balcony railings, and even grown them in hanging rain gutter planters.
They’re delicious, easy to grow, popular with just about everyone who isn’t allergic to them, and can be hung in a way that they’re inaccessible to squirrels and other rodents.
White strawberries are seen as “unripe” by birds, so they’re less likely to be devoured.
10. Blueberries
Blueberries are wonderful fruits for any urban food garden! They can be cultivated in pots or in-ground, and are remarkably versatile as far as soil tolerance goes. Plus, who doesn’t love blueberries?
Depending on how many birds you have in the area, you may need to cover the ripening berries with netting or mesh. Otherwise, the starlings, sparrows, robins, and pigeons that thrive in city environments may obliterate your crop before you can get to it.
I prefer a fine mesh net because it’s less likely to trap the birds by tangling up their wings or legs.
Note that although many blueberry bushes are self-fertile, they’ll produce larger, healthier crops if there’s another bush to cross-pollinate with. Aim to plant two different varieties within ten to 15 feet of each other for optimal yields.
Our complete guide to growing blueberries can give you all the info you need to cultivate a healthy, productive crop.
Culinary Herbs
Your urban food garden wouldn’t be complete without an assortment of tasty herbs to cook with. Those listed here are some of the best options for a city environment.
11. Chives
Urban animals like squirrels, raccoons, mice, and rats can often wreak havoc on urban gardens. As such, be sure to plant plenty of alliums (like chives) around the area to fend them off.
They can’t stand the scent of them, so if you plant chives as perimeter plants around your other grow beds, these animals will be less likely to obliterate your crops.
12. Thyme
Thyme is incredibly hardy and can tolerate heat, cold, and being stepped on. Furthermore, it’s a staple in many different world cuisines and is also an excellent companion plant to your fruits and vegetables, as the thymol can help to fight off soil-borne pathogens, while its flowers attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies.
13. Mint
If you’re looking for a culinary and medicinal herb that’s sure to thrive in even the most challenging urban environment, then mint may be one of your best options.
It’s an incredibly hardy plant that’s almost impossible to kill, unless you either drown it or dry it out completely. Just be sure to grow your mint in containers unless you want it to take over the entire garden.
14. Parsley
Parsley is another herb that’s ridiculously easy to cultivate. It can do well in full or partial sun, in just about any soil, planted in-ground or in containers. You can also companion plant it with everything except for carrots, lettuce, or onions.
15. Oregano
Oregano is another ideal urban food garden plant because it’s both incredibly resilient and multi-purpose.
I’ve grown this in urban gardens in three different countries, and it has always been tied with parsley as the first plants to leap into action as soon as the snow melts. In fact, it often starts to grow underneath the snow, so it’s a welcome sight in early spring!
Additional Plants for Your Urban Food Garden
These plants are excellent additions to your urban garden, as they increase food yields and improve your plants’ health overall.
16. Yarrow
Cultivate yarrow in and around your food plants to attract bees, butterflies, and braconid wasps. The latter will help to keep aphids and caterpillars from annihilating your food plants, while the former will help to pollinate all of your tasty fruits and vegetables.
17. Nasturtiums
Nasturtiums are ideal for an urban food garden because they’re triple-duty plants.
First of all, they attract beneficial pollinators to your other plants. Secondly, they’re entirely edible, so you can add their leaves and flowers to your salads, soups, and other dishes. Finally, you can pickle nasturtium buds and use them as capers later in the year.
18. Amaranth
Amaranth has been a staple in every urban food garden I’ve ever planted. It grows well in most soils provided they’re well-drained and offers edible leaves when young, with nutritious grains upon full maturity.
Aim for a tall, high-yield variety like ‘Golden Giant’ for optimal harvest.
