20 Ways to Garden Without a Backyard

The Great Indoors

Many people would love to garden if they only had the space. City dwellers and apartment residents, take heart! You can garden, even if you don’t have a backyard. Check out these creative gardening ideas that require zero square feet of outdoor space.

Plant Pockets

It’s much easier than it looks to make these one-of-a-kind wall planters. All you need is air-dry clay, a rolling pin, and a custom pattern to use as a guide for cutting out the design. Once everything sets, you can sand down the clay and paint the interior (or the exterior) the color of your choice using craft paint. Fill the pockets with succulents or herbs, and display your colorful creation on any wall.

Natural Accents

If you’re ready for a bigger project—one that will produce a truly unique piece of decor—give this terrarium side table a try. Constructed of plexiglass and painted wood, it promises be a conversation piece at your next gathering. Have a black thumb? No worries. You can fill it with faux plantings for the ultimate in low-maintenance greenery.

Wonder Wall

Here’s an indoor gardening project that’s almost as simple as hanging a painting. Create your own living wall by mounting a planter (like the Wally One from Woolly Pocket, shown here) above your fireplace, or anywhere else in your home. Fill the planter with kitchen herbs or a range of wild succulents for pretty greenery you can enjoy year-round.

Plant Pods

instructables.com via chanchala.singh.58

Instead of potting your plants, try kokedama—a style of Japanese bonsai where you secure a plant’s roots in a ball of soil and moss held together by an intricate web of string. Once you have the balance right and the roots firmly in place, you can string these mossy balls from the ceiling for a touch of indoor greenery that’s perfect for a steamy bathroom with limited counter space.

Picture Perfect

If you have a handful of old, lightweight glass frames lying around the house that you don’t know what to do with, grab a hot-glue gun, white paint, and white duct tape to turn them into a homey terrarium. Paint the frames and let them dry, then use the tape and glue to secure the glass in place. Pop your plants inside, and position the terrarium in a sunny spot for the ultimate mini greenhouse.

Drawer Decor

Combine an old dresser drawer and a tray table to create a repurposed planter that’s ripe for display anywhere in the home. Attach the two pieces together with wood glue to hold the drawer sturdily in place. Finish with a fresh coat of paint and some attractive hardware, then arrange a few of your favorite potted plants in the drawer for a charming touch of green.

Darling Decanter

Brew up a little charm with this simple yet stunning terrarium idea. All you need for a basic display is an old coffee carafe, a few mini air plants, and white sand, but you can enhance the design with all-natural extras like moss and river rock. The combination of low-maintenance greenery and seasonal coziness makes this a lovely accent for any space.

Display Case

Turn your coffee table into a living, breathing work of art by repurposing an old glass cabinet door and using it as the framework for an eclectic terrarium. Once the structure is built, lay out your plants and root them in a mixture of soil and charcoal. You’ll have to water them regularly, but the glass top that anchors this design is easy to remove.

Wine Time

With a bit of ingenuity, empty wine bottles can easily be turned into small indoor planters. Using a homemade wooden jig and a kitchen torch, cut the glass bottle into two sections and then invert the neck into the bottle’s base, which will hold the water. Buff out any sharp edges with sandpaper before layering your planter with rocks and potting soil to give the homespun assemblage a rustic vibe.

Growing in Glass

A little bit of chalk paint and a few mason jars can turn a white windowsill into a wonderful home for indoor greenery. Plant roots need drainage, though, which mason jars don’t naturally have, so be sure to add some gravel to the bottom before seeding.

Rooted in Water

Some plants will grow happily in nothing more than a glass of water—and you should take advantage of that. Sweet potato vine, coleus, and spiderwort are all good candidates for the water treatment. Just snip a cutting, drop it into a glass of water, and add a couple of drops of plant food every month. Set the glass containers on a table or anywhere else a little plant life could bring some cheer.

Insta-Shelf

Make the most of every inch of window space for growing plants with these suction-cup window shelves. Set in a prime location, seedlings and full-grown plants can bask in the best sunlight your place has to offer. It’s an especially great setup for an easy-access kitchen herb garden.

A Living Mobile

You don’t need a backyard to garden—and with air plants, you don’t even need soil. Crafting a living mobile by hanging air plants from a hoop is one of the most creative ways to display these incredible plants—especially if you’re running short on counter space.

Shine a Little Light

A solar terrarium provides a comforting glow in the evenings, whether you put it on your back porch or on your dining room table. All it takes to make it is a solar light, an empty glass lantern, succulents, double-sided tape, and river rocks. The project is easy enough for a DIY beginner and requires no special tools.

Quirky Curlicues

Air plants, as the name implies, can live on air alone—with a little regular watering, that is. All you need to do is figure out how you want to display them. Here’s a crafty idea that uses copper wire and plain old river rocks. So simple, yet so elegant.

Teacup Garden

You can repurpose almost any container as a DIY planter—including teacups. Succulents, moss, and small creeping plants are great candidates for teacup greenery. These tiny plants don’t require much water, so adding drainage holes in the bottom of the cup may not even be necessary.

Power Lunch

You can grow your own sunflower or alfalfa sprouts in an upcycled salad container by adding soil and seeds and placing it in any sunny window. You could be garnishing your salads and sandwiches with delicious greens in as little as two weeks!

Related: The Best Herbs to Grow Indoors

Rain Room

Create the feeling of a spa-like
outdoor retreat by constructing a planter from a board, some chicken wire, and a roll of fiberglass screen, and suspending it from your bathroom ceiling. After feeding the roots through holes in the screen and adding a layer of soil, hang the finished product using gauge chain and metal hooks to inject a little jungle fever into your space.

Pretty Pots

Create your own DIY herb display by mounting a variety of hanging pots on the wall. Once everything is attached, all you’ll need is a watering can to keep the plants hydrated, and scissors to snip your fresh, fragrant goodies whenever a recipe calls for them.

Desk Zen

Bring a little life to your desk by dedicating one section of an acrylic desktop organizer as a mini terrarium. Just plant some small succulents in an inch or two of cactus potting mix, then add an array of colorful stones or decorative accents.