Like the rest of the world, you’re probably spending a lot more time at home than before. Maybe you have so much free time that you’re starting a new hobby every week. Or perhaps spending a big chunk of your days indoors is making you really miss nature.
If you fit into any of these categories or all of them, then you’re missing a garden. Maybe you’ve been wanting one for a long time but figured it’s not an option for your tiny apartment or small balcony.
Well, when there’s a will, there’s a way. And the Walmart Garden Center is the place to go.
In this article, you’ll learn different hacks and tips to start your own little garden using products you can find at your local Walmart Garden Center. So roll up your sleeves and let’s get started!
Space-Saving Tips: 10 Ways To Create Your Home Garden
Indoor plants not only make a home come alive, but they also have a host of benefits. They improve the quality of the air, moderate room temperatures, and increase the relative humidity indoors.
Studies have also shown that houseplants can improve concentration and productivity, reduce stress levels, and give your mood a boost. They’re the perfect companions if you’re working from home.
Below, you’ll find a list of useful and creative tips to build your dream garden, using cool and sustainable products you can find at your local Walmart Garden Center.
1. Use a Plant Stand With Different Platforms
The Walmart Garden Center has plenty of plant stands that are fantastic for adding flair to your home decor, plus they’re easy to move.
They also come with little different platforms at varying heights, which means you can have a large variety of plants, even when you don’t have a lot of space.
If you want to start a small herb garden on your balcony or tiny terrace instead of indoors, plant stands are still a great option. If you choose a shelf made with natural and lightweight materials, like bamboo and wood, you can quickly move it indoors when the weather starts to get colder. Just make sure the plant hangers are sturdy enough to support the weight of your plants properly.
A few tips to get you started with this piece of magic furniture:
- Plants that require more light should go on top, while others that prefer shade can be placed on the lower decks.
- Choose a plant stand that can accommodate multiple plants of different sizes as it will give you more flexibility to pick different herbs and flowers.
- If you’re planning to grow cherry tomatoes, place them on a stand that can hold their weight. Cherry tomatoes grow on vines, so make sure they have space.
- Heavier pots should go on the lower levels to give more stability to the plant stand.
2. Grow Your Herb Garden Inside Cans
If you have any old coffee cans or even glass jars lying around your kitchen and don’t know what to do with them, use them as plant pots. This is the ultimate budget-conscious, environmentally-friendly hack to start your garden at home.
All you need is some soil and high-quality organic seeds, and you’re good to go. You can place your baby plants on a windowsill to start. Once they begin sprouting, you can either keep them there or move them to your fabulous new plant stand.
If you’re a busy mom with kids, check out Back to the Roots Kitchen Herb Garden In a Can. This nifty all-in-one kit has everything you need to grow your garden, including organic mint, basil, and coriander seeds. Inside you’ll also find a coloring book and some great recipes and gardening tips so that the kids can start learning about their food from a young age.
3. Use a Mini Garden Bed To Grow Your Veggies
If you’ve always wanted to grow your own veggies and you have a small terrace or a medium-size balcony, then you can definitely get things going with a small garden bed.
At the Walmart Garden Center, there are so many affordable and cool choices that you’ll have a hard time picking one. There are raised garden beds, ground beds, and — secret tip — beds with wheels that let you move your little garden wherever it suits you best.
Here are a few tips to get your veggie patch started:
- If you start from seed, it’s best to begin indoors. You can use a cardboard egg carton. Simply open it, add some organic potting mix, add your seeds, and you’re done. Then once they germinate, transfer them to your garden bed, and voilà!
- Pick veggies that grow well together — e.g., carrots with tomatoes, eggplants with peppers. For more great combos, check out the Farmer’s Almanac.
- Read your seed packet labels and choose plants with similar watering needs, so you avoid underwatering some and drowning others.
4. Hang Your Plants
If you live in a really tiny space, plant hangers are your new best friends. This is also true if you have a dog or a cat around the house, as you don’t want them nibbling your lovely garden.
Granted, you won’t be able to grow carrots or pumpkins if you don’t have a large yard, but you’ll be happy to know that herbs are perfect for growing in plant hangers.
Some of the best herbs to grow in this ultimate space-saving hack are:
- Basil
- Chives
- Dill
- Mint
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Thyme
Walmart’s Garden Center has tons of gorgeous plant hanger options made with eco-friendly materials such as terra cotta, ceramic, and glass. Here are a few things to keep in mind when shopping:
- Plants in plant hangers tend to dry out faster than other containers, so they require frequent watering.
- Hanging plants aren’t so easy to move around, so make sure you pick the perfect spot with the ideal conditions to support your herb’s growth. Secret hack: if it’s a relatively small plant hanger, you can hang it on your curtain rod.
5. Use Trellises To Create a Vertical Garden
For us plant lovers, there’s nothing more breathtaking than a healthy vertical garden. If you have a boring balcony, creating a green wall is a total game-changer.
You’ll need a classic waffle-shaped trellis structure and some individual planters or pots. You can also get the best of both worlds and buy a trellis planter — which you can get at your local Walmart Garden Center.
There are three ways you can create your vertical garden:
- By hanging your pots using a flower pot stand — this is a better option if you want to grow smaller plants, like herbs or small flowers.
- Placing a pot or planter at the bottom and using the trellis wall as a support structure for your vines. By vines, we mean things like tomatoes, berries, beans, cucumbers, and some types of smaller squash.
- If you just want a beautiful and vibrant green wall with fantastic fragrance, add a planter at the bottom with a jasmine plant or night-blooming jasmine. They both have exquisite aromas, but the first blooms during the day and the second blooms at night.
6. Get a Water Garden
We know what you’re thinking, and no, you’re not putting your plants inside the bathtub.
If your kids want a pet fish and you want a little garden that doesn’t take a lot of work, then a water garden is for you.
A water garden is a fish tank with a growing tray for plants on top. The whole concept is based on an ancient and sustainable farming method called aquaponics. It works like a mini-ecosystem: the plants keep the water clean while the fish feed the plants.
Confused?
Let us explain. In ordinary fish tanks, you need to change the water weekly to eliminate your fish’s waste. However, a water garden tank is built to pump up this waste to a grow tray where it works as a fertilizer for your plants, which is placed on top of the fish tank.
The water then cycles back down to your fish, nice and filtered. In other words, a water garden is a self-cleaning fish tank that grows food!
The Back to the Roots Water Garden kit brings everything you need to get started: the tank (obviously!), the water pump, organic seeds, gravel for the tank, fish food, and a fish coupon.
7. Grow Chilli Peppers and Tomatoes on Your Windowsill
If you’re lucky enough to have a spacious and sunny windowsill, then you can easily grow some juicy cherry tomatoes and spicy peppers that will make your friends red in the face (pun intended).
And it doesn’t have to be a huge hassle. Simply pick a Back to the Roots Tomato and Chili Pepper Windowsill Planter Bundle, which includes two large glass jars, high-quality soil, and organic seeds. It doesn’t get easier than this.
All Back to the Roots products are 100% organic and non-GMO. Plus, since they come with large plant pots, you don’t need to transplant them to bigger planters. This kit is created for indoor use so that you can plant it anytime, and you’ll have fresh tomatoes and chilis all year round.
What’s more, all Back to the Roots indoor gardening kits are backed by a “100% Guaranteed to Grow” promise – if your kit doesn’t grow as described, you’ll get a replacement or full refund. And as a part of our #growonegiveone initiative, if you share a photo of your kit on social media, we’ll donate another kit to a classroom of your choice.
8. Pick Plants That Protect Other Plants
One of the most extraordinary things about starting your own eco-friendly garden is that you can have your plants work for you. But you may be surprised to find out that they can also work for each other.
Certain types of herbs and flowers are excellent natural bug repellents and protectors against pests. If you do have some extra space on your balcony or terrace, here are a few suggestions that will not only protect your plants but will also bring a dash of color to your garden.
- Lavender: Great for repelling gnats and mosquitoes
- Chrysanthemums: It’s so effective against all types of pests that most bug repellents use an extract of this plant in their composition
- Petunias: These flowers are fantastic against leafhoppers
- Marigolds: These florals are very effective against plant lice
9. Make Your Own Compost
When you think about composting, the first thing that might pop into your mind is those massive, plastic containers that people use for their extensive gardens and landscaping.
If you think that there’s no way you’ll be able to make your compost in a small space, think again. Making compost is easier than you may realize and you can do it no matter the size of your home.
Now, let’s get the basics down. Compost is literally organic matter that has decomposed in a process called composting. It’s the best natural soil fertilizer you can get. It’s usually made with a combination of leaves, grass clippings, and even animal manure.
Before you start to talk yourself out of the idea, great compost is also made with raw vegetable and fruit scraps, eggshells, coffee grinds, tea leaves, and even pet fur. Doesn’t seem that hard now, does it? All you have to do is give it a good mix every couple of days, and you should have excellent compost in two weeks.
The coolest thing is that nowadays there are plenty of small-sized composters created for people who don’t have space for a large one. They even make counter composters that go on top of your kitchen counter.
The Walmart Garden Center has small kitchen compost bins made from sustainable materials such as ceramic, stainless steel, and bamboo. Picking one with a lid might be a good idea to avoid a smelly kitchen.
10. Use Rain Barrels To Water Your Plants
If you’re committed to becoming a sustainability warrior, then collecting rainwater is the ultimate eco-friendly way to water your plants.
Note: Even though it’s not illegal to harvest rainwater, Colorado and Utah have heavy regulations to keep homeowners from collecting rainwater. So if you live in these states, keep that in mind and get more information on the issue before making any decisions.
Rainwater is the best thing you can use to water your garden. Unlike municipal water, which is treated with chemicals such as chlorine, rainwater is relatively pure and will do wonders for your plants.
Rain barrels are the preferred method to harvest water. They’re containers that capture water from your roof gutters and keep it for later use. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, rain barrels help save the average homeowner about 1,300 gallons of water per year.
The most common material used for these containers is plastic, although there are other more eco-friendly choices like terra cotta. Bear in mind that if you’re trying to avoid chemicals in your garden, a plastic rain barrel may leak toxins into the water, especially when exposed to hot temperatures.
If you don’t have space or gutters, a fantastic and more affordable alternative is using big glass Mason jars. Just make sure that once the rain stops, you close them before mosquitoes arrive and start breeding.
If you have too much rainwater and don’t know what to do with it, you can always use it to wash your car, windows, or even your dog.
Collecting rainwater is sustainable, saves you money, and ensures you have enough water for your garden during droughts and water restrictions.
Explore Your Walmart Garden Center and Grow the Garden of Your Dreams
Growing and nourishing a garden is undoubtedly one of the best and most gratifying things you can do. Whether you have a windowsill, terrace, or a huge backyard, gardening is possible for everyone. Luckily, with these 10 hacks, you’ll look at your living space with new eyes and see all the amazing possibilities it has to host your new urban jungle.
