The birds are chirping, the sun is shining (occasionally), and you’ve suddenly got this weird urge to nurture something that photosynthesizes.
The Concrete Jungle Gardener’s Guide
Look, we get it. Your “outdoor space” is basically a fire escape that your landlord technically doesn’t want you using as a garden. But who’s stopping you? (Besides building codes and possibly your roommate.)
Plants for Your Window Sill
Herbs are your best friends. They’ll happily live on your window sill, judging your lifestyle choices while providing garnish for your sad weeknight pasta. All they need is a little sunlight, water draining pots and a reminder in your calendar to water them.
Greens for Your Balcony
Got a balcony? Look at you, practically being a farmer! Tomatoes and peppers thrive in containers and do well with the warmer microclimate of a city balcony. Salad greens and herbs are the golden retrievers of the plant world – enthusiastic, productive, and forgiving of your occasional neglect.
Indoor Plant Maintenance
You think the seasons don’t make a difference to a plant that lives indoors 24/7? WROOOONG. Spring is the perfect time for plant maintenance and your houseplants are no exception.
- Propagate new plant cuttlings from existing plants
- Plant in any of your existing cuttlings
- Remove all yellow/ brown leaves left from the Winter months
- Repot plants that have outgrown their containers
- Start fertilizing again in regular rhythms
- Increase watering gradually as the days get longer, your plants grow and the temperatures increase
Products We’re Loving Right Now
A Pair of Denim Dungarees for Your Garden Work
Who said garden work can’t be fashionable?
A Guide for Keeping Your Garden Up
Although not even those can guarantee that your plants will survive.
A Fun Plant Pot
Your plants will feel so comfortable that they might start paying rent.
Top Tier Gardening Tips
Enthusiasm is great, but maybe don’t try to grow 17 different vegetables in your first season. If it’s your first time, pick a few selective projects and hone your inner cottagecore-self until next year you are the pro you already think you are.
1. Plant Your Herbs at Different Stages
Hardy herbs like mint, thyme, rosemary, and sage can already go in the ground in early spring and are nearly impossible to kill (believe us, we’ve tried). Hold off on tender herbs like basil until after the Ice Saints or cover them up overnight. The Ice Saints is a farmer’s weather proverb, describing the few cold days occurring in mid-May. This is usually the time of the last possible frost; after that, temperatures should be more stable, and your remaining, finer herbs can be planted outside as well.
Pro Tip: Give your mint its own pot, otherwise, it will go rampant.
2. The First Veggies of the Season
Get these vegetables in the ground in March/ April for an early harvest. These veggies do well with cooler temperatures, shorter days, and grow rather quickly. While these plants actually prefer cooler spring temperatures and will likely bolt during summer heat, they are also the perfect autumn plants.
🥕 Carrots
🍈 Kohlrabi & Radishes
🥬 Salad greens, lettuce & spinach
🧅 Onions and scallions
3. Prepare Your Garden for Summer
While these crops aren’t ready for Spring harvest, that doesn’t mean you can’t start preparing for summer already. Start these warm-season crops indoors now to get a jump on the growing season:
🎃 Zucchini & summer squash
🍆 Eggplant
🍅 Tomatoes (start 6-8 weeks before the last frost date)
🌽 Sweet corn
🌶️ Paprika & chilis
🥒 Cucumbers
🥦 Broccoli
4. Finger-Test Your Watering Schedule
Most new gardeners either drown their plants or subject them to desert conditions. The finger test never fails – stick your finger about an inch into the soil. If it’s dry, water. If not, leave those plants alone! They’re fine without your helicopter plant-parenting.
5. Start With Easy Plants to Upkeep 
Most people are super motivated when they start off with their gardening endeavors. What they forget to consider is that a garden needs constant maintenance (unless you plan to kill your plants). Pick 3-5 things you actually eat regularly. Some of the most rewarding plants are:
- Mint: Nearly impossible to kill, very forgiving and great for your summer lemonade. Make sure to keep it in a separate pot as this plant quickly goes rampant and will overgrow the other plants.
- Rosemary: Native to the Mediterranean, it’s already used to dry conditions. As for most herbs, using them is beneficial for the plant itself, as they regrow even bushier. Cut back your rosemary in Autumn and store it inside, and it has a high chance of returning next year.
- Salad Greens: It’s one of the first things to grow in Spring, and it’s very rewarding. Why? Because it has short growth cycles, you can harvest individual leaves as it grows it can be planted from early Spring up until late Autumn.
- Tomatoes: They seem a bit more intimidating, but they are actually great for city balconies. They can deal with high temperatures and direct sunlight. Plus, it feels very rewarding to see little tomatoes grow red under your watch. Like nature’s blushing.
Wildflowers for the Bee-Lovers 🐝
Wildflowers are the superheroes no one talks about. Bees and other insects love them as they provide them with food throughout the year. 🌷
Help your neighbourhood bees feel as homely as possible and plant your own flower meadow. Look specifically for bee meadow seed mixes designed to attract pollinators. You can also just plant flowers with varying bloom times to support pollinators throughout the season.
Gardening is part science, part art, and part shrugging your shoulders while muttering, “we’ll see what happens.” Some things will die spectacularly. Others will thrive despite your best efforts to accidentally kill them. That’s just how it goes.
So grab some dirt and get growing.
Until next thyme (sorry, not sorry),
Lea from the Faircado team
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