A Reddit user in Northern Germany proved that you don't need a lot of space to grow a full garden. They managed to grow over a dozen plants on their balcony in less than 50 square feet of space.
The Redditor posted a picture of their garden under the header of "My 4.6qm [square meter] balcony garden."
The photo is captioned: "My July progress pic in zone 8b (northern Germany). I have tomatoes, chili, berries, lots of herbs, etc. planting from seed was my little experiment this year and I'm happy how it turned out …"
The pic shows all sorts of thriving plants huddled close together on the balcony.
Zone 8b refers to their Hardiness Zone. By knowing what Hardiness Zone they're in, growers can determine which plants are most likely to do well. A Hardiness Zone is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature of a region, and they're broken up into 10-degree zones, which are further broken up into 5-degree zones.
For example, Des Moines, Iowa, is in zone 5b, with an average minimum winter temperature of minus 15 to minus 10 degrees. Culver City, California, on the other hand, in zone 10b, only goes as low as 35 to 40 degrees on average.
Obviously, gardeners in each location are going to want to grow different plants.
Zone 8b in Germany is similar to much of the southern United States, with an average minimum temperature of 15 to 20 degrees.
By growing their own fruits and vegetables despite the limited space, the Redditor not only gets to enjoy caring for the plants and watching them grow, but they're also doing a huge service to the environment. Homegrown fruits and vegetables reduce the amount of plastic packaging, pesticides, and other pollutants that go into the production of what's bought at the store.
But not everyone has had the same luck as this particular Redditor.
One commenter said: "Amazing! I'm fighting the insane sun on [sic] Germany on my balcony the past few weeks, so everything I planted has pretty much wilted or is dying by now except for some herbs … this looks so wonderfully lush!"
The original poster replied: "We're lucky enough to have a SE facing balcony, so not direct sunlight the entire day. But thank you."
Another commenter simply complimented the garden, writing: "Beautiful! Great work."
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