Many people like the idea of having fresh fruits, herbs and vegetables right at their fingertips. The idea of adding herbs to a dish being prepared,or having a strawberry or two for part of a snack, and maybe a nice, juicy tomato to put in a sandwich really sounds good. Unfortunately, for them the place they live in does not have adequate space where a garden can be grown, so it’s do without, or off to the marketplace.

Not having a garden due to your living arrangements doesn’t have to be an issue.

With the right planning, and some ingenuity you can plant, grow and harvest the aforementioned foods in the confines of your living space, whether you live in a town-house or a studio apartment.

Container Gardening is the answer. You can grow almost any of the foods found in a full-sized garden in separate areas around your home. Containers give a person the ability to move plants around to better growing locations, where in a suburban style garden you have to dig up the plant to move it elsewhere.

With container gardening, your garden’s boundaries are limited only by your imagination. You can select the containers to match the plant, or match the plant to a specific container. From old coffee pot to old jewelry box and from old boot to garden planter, almost anything ordinary or extraordinary can house a plant. Some other considerations are making sure the container is big enough to support plants when they are fully grown, can hold soil, have adequate drainage and never held a product that was toxic to plants or people.

Selecting plants that don’t take up much room are the best way to go. Carrots, lettuce and radishes are a good start along with some herbs. Peppers and tomatoes do well. Some of the smaller ‘dwarf’ plants can save space and produce fruit, but their larger counterparts will bear more fruit.

Sunlight plays a strategic role in determining the kinds of fruits that will grow best. Between 5 and 8 hours of direct sunlight are required for fruit bearing plants to flourish. The use of reflective materials such as aluminum foil can prolong the sunlight, along with marbled chips and white containers.

Growing plants in containers does take some work. You must insure the plants are getting enough water, and the right amount of fertilizers and nourishment. You need to check them daily. This is especially true if your plants are on the balcony and exposed to the elements.

Checking for insects and diseased plants daily will also save you some trouble in the long run.

There is no reason residing in small apartments and other living quarters should interfere with your desire for growing a garden. With proper planning, a suitable container and an imagination you can enjoy the freshest of foods on an everyday scale.