Yes, gardens! When you hear the word “gardening,” you will most likely think about rose bushes in the front yard or a plot of land that is entirely green, filled with trees and squirrels and cute little gnomes surrounding a tall standing tomato plant; but a garden can come in many shapes and forms. It’s wonderful to see a rising trend of urban gardening, especially in a bustling city like New York.
Amidst the towering skyscrapers and concrete jungles of New York City, a quiet, verdant revolution is taking root. Apartment dwellers across the city are defying the odds—and limited square footage—by cultivating mini gardens in their urban homes. Using planters, creative shelving, and a bit of ingenuity, they’re transforming small spaces into flourishing green sanctuaries.
From fresh basil and mint to cherry tomatoes and radishes, these urban gardens are more than just aesthetic upgrades; they’re a source of health, sustainability, and joy. Some have converted their windowsills into herb havens, while others are experimenting with vertical gardening on balcony walls. Even those without much sunlight are finding ways to grow leafy greens like lettuce under LED grow lights.
The Benefits Go Beyond Fresh Produce
For many, it’s a therapeutic escape from the city’s hustle and bustle, a chance to reconnect with nature and enjoy the simple pleasure of nurturing life. It’s also a nod to sustainability, reducing reliance on store-bought produce and contributing to greener urban spaces.
New York’s urban gardening movement showcases that even in the smallest spaces, creativity can blossom—and perhaps a little greenery is exactly what the city needs.
Of course, taking care of a plant is nothing to shrug at. It may seem that all you have to do is water it once a day and place it by a window for some sunlight. Well, you’re not half wrong—but one of the most important parts of plant parenting is knowing what each of your plants needs to not only survive but thrive.
Twenty minutes of your day is all that’s needed to do a quick internet search on the basics of gardening: Are you, your housemates, or your pets allergic to the plant? How much sunlight does the plant need? What about watering dilemmas, pests and diseases, soil and fertilizers, temperature control, or how big the plant will get?
Why Home Gardening Is the Best Thing You Can Do
It’s a bit overwhelming at first, but I promise it is completely worth it to just try and dip your toes into the world of home gardening. The tomatoes you pick up at the supermarket will never compare to the taste, the juiciness, and the delicious red color of a fresh tomato that you grew in the corner of your apartment.
Over time, your home garden will pay for itself. Spending $15 on basil plants and $5 for thyme and rosemary seeds will save you money on groceries. You’ll avoid spending $6 on herbs of unknown origin or safety.
As the price of… well… everything is on the rise these days, we try to cut costs and be self-sustaining wherever we can. So instead of worrying about whether you can afford to buy rosemary and tomatoes and carrots for this week’s stew, you can instead think:
“Hey! It’s time to harvest my mini garden.”
For us here at Culinary Argan, we like to try and make not only sustainable but healthy changes to our lives. For instance, with harvesting some tomatoes and thyme and rosemary from your little home gardens—and of course our argan oil thrown on top—you can make a fresh and healthy Mediterranean or Moroccan salad!
Or if you’re in the mood to spice things up a bit, try picking some chili peppers from your mini garden and make some of them stuffed with avocado, pomegranate, and argan oil vinaigrette.
All of these recipes can be found on our website, of course. But if these don’t sound appealing to you, then you can always scroll on our page for your next at-home, sustainable, healthy meal topped with some of our argan oil for that extra kick of vitamins A, E, and polyphenols (something that we go into deeper in our other blog post—make sure to check it out!).
The Joys of Gardening
These plants can improve your quality of life by providing homegrown herbs and vegetables. They will also contribute to cleaner air in your home compared to city air, and offer a sense of fulfillment from growing your own food and making an impact.
For me, I started gardening in elementary school. In the backyard of my apartment building, it was completely abandoned and desolate. There was trash everywhere and even an abandoned bike.
Now, I was a pretty indoor-type kid. Spending all day on my iPad, watching PBS Kids and YouTube, with a vitamin D deficiency creeping up on me. Seeing this, my cousin decided to take it upon herself to ask the landlord if we could use the space. Then she dragged me into the backyard to clean it up, lay down bricks to have a layout of the garden, pour fresh soil, and take me on a trip to Home Depot to buy some tomatoes, squash, blueberries, lemongrass, and strawberries.
I thought it was pointless and too laborious for the results that we were going to get. I mean, some strawberries and tomatoes? What was the big deal? I can just go to the supermarket and ask my mom to buy me the same thing with 0% of the work.
But then I took a bite of a strawberry from the first harvest of the season, and it all clicked. That sweet, juicy first bite made me realize what it was all about.
The work that you put in—the effort that was made—helped me reconnect with nature and the world around me. I found the beauty in the colors of the plants and found humor in how the little bees would buzz around the flowers before they ripened into fresh tomatoes. Or how sad it was that the little stray kitties in my neighborhood would come by to steal some of the harvest because it was all the food they could find.
New Yorkers should become self-sustaining instead of relying on stores and companies. In this concrete jungle, we can not only survive but thrive by creating cute green spaces in our apartments.
How to Find Seeds and Plants Online?
You can go to a nursery, Lowe’s, Home Depot, or even go to your local supermarket to find some seeds online (make sure to check the expiration date to ensure you’re buying seeds that will actually germinate!).
If you really want a green thumb’s advice on what is best to plant indoors, feel free to search up #gardening on social media or even try to go to a local flower shop and ask for some advice!
Watching From Meghan with Love on Netflix and seeing her harvest juicy tomatoes, vibrant vegetables, and aromatic herbs from her garden brings immense joy—reminding us that, though we may not have such large gardens, we can still cultivate our own mini oasis in planters right in our apartments.