Micro Food Gardening

Micro Food Gardening: Project plans and plants for growing fruits and veggies in tiny spaces

by Jennifer McGuinness
Genres: Nonfiction
Published on March 30, 2021
Pages: 176
Format: eARC

Tiny plants are poised to take over the gardening world. And no category of tiny plants is as welcome and wildly embraceable as tiny edibles. Not only are they cute as a button, but they’re tasty and nutritious too! In Micro Food Gardening, author and small-space gardening pro Jen McGuiness, introduces you to a world of miniature edible plants and dozens of DIY projects for growing them.
Not everyone has room to grow a full-sized tomato plant or a melon vine that takes up more room than your car, but everyone has space for a micro tomato that tops out at the height of a Barbie doll or a dwarf watermelon with vines that won’t grow any longer than your leg. From miniature herbs and salad greens to tiny strawberry plants, baby beets, and mini cabbages, you’ll quickly discover that micro gardening offers a surprisingly diverse and delicious array of edible opportunities. Plus, with step-by-step instructions for a plethora of DIY micro food gardening projects, you’ll be up and growing in no time at all.   Whether you micro garden on a high-rise balcony, an itty bitty patio, a front porch container, or even in a basket on the handlebars of your bicycle, there are mini food plants ready to start cranking out fresh produce just a few weeks after planting.
Creative projects include:A window box of mini potatoes for a porch, deck, or fire escape railingA mini lettuce table that serves to both grow food and hold your beverageA compact “cake tower” of strawberry plants A wine box spice gardenA mini food fountain with herbs, veggies, and edible flowersA small-space omelet garden for cooking up the perfect breakfastPlus, several indoor food-growing projects will have you enjoying homegrown micro veggies year-round, even in cold climates.
With advice on plant selection and care, project plans, full color photography, and growing tips, Micro Food Gardening is here to show you the joys of growing your own fresh, organic food, no matter where you call home.

Ever since I’ve moved to this house I’ve been fighting to have a garden. We barely get any yield from the garden here. We don’t have the sunniest yard and we have lots of squirrels and chipmunks. Even with that I’m not sure why nothing but herbs grow. I never had this problem elsewhere.

I’ve pretty much given up at this point and have been thinking about growing food indoors. I got some grow lights for Christmas so I was excited to see this book on Netgalley.

This book gives great information about how to start growing edible plants in containers. It covers how to grow plants completely indoors as well as how to start projects indoors and then move outside.

There are a bunch of very creative and cute projects detailed here. Most of the information is on how to build or adapt the containers to grow plants. Bicycle baskets, muffin tins, PVC pipes, and gutters are among the containers repurposed for growing food. I didn’t really need that information. I got the most use out of the sidebars in the book. This is where advice is given for different varieties of edible plants that grow well indoors and in small spaces.

The photographs are beautiful. The whole book is inspiring in a way that only gardening books can be in the dead of winter. I’m looking forward to finding some of the plant varieties mentioned and starting my indoor garden.