Discovering my love for urban vegetable gardening has been the joy of my adulthood.

My interest in vegetable gardening started in my early twenties when I moved into my first apartment by myself.

The apartment had a lovely bay window, and I decided that I would try to grow a basil plant.

And then there was a second basil plant after that first one died. And then it was a third basil plant. You get the picture.

Eventually, I realized that more water does not equal more love when it comes to plants. I’m not the only one who had to learn this, right?!

I cherished that little apartment with the great bay window, but the time came to move on. I went a nine minute drive away to a house in a historic, quirky downtown neighborhood.

Although the 1890 built house was lacking in bay windows, it came with small outdoor spaces – a small front and back yard complete with a deck. I finally had space for more than just a basil plant!

As happens with vegetable gardening, one plant leads to another and that first summer, I added a couple container planters onto the back deck.

And eight years and a Master Gardener certification later, I now have over twenty raised beds and containers with thriving vegetable plants!

The days of accidentally killing basil plants are (mostly) behind me and many growing seasons later, that one basil plant has led to a variety of cool and warm weather veggie plants throughout the season.

While I have come a long way as a gardener, I’m still making mistakes and learning with each season.

I hope you too can learn from my mistakes over the years and be inspired to see how you can grow a thriving vegetable garden in small, urban spaces.

Let’s get to planting!