My Adventures in Apartment Gardening

Hello Steemit, I wanted to talk to you about my apartment garden and why I decided to do it. I've always loved having houseplants for aesthetic value and wanting to feel connected to nature. I love to be outside but I have to spend most of my time indoors, so I've always had some form of plants in my house.

Being a college student, I took an environmental geography class, and we learned about the effects of human activity on our environment, and one of the biggest concerns was agriculture. Living in America, I became aware that most of my food did not come from where I expected. A lot of produce was grown as a cash crop (some of you reading this may be a part of that community!) for things like broccoli. If it was fertilized, even in america, it also impacted the environment around it through heavy fertilization that runs off through streams and pollutes wildlife. This is especially common in the east coast. Massive amounts of fuel are burned into the atmosphere simply by the transportation of food to get to my grocery store. This class made me aware of the damage we do for the convenience of living in a 1st world country.

Things would be so different if we just grew our own food. Community gardens are becoming more and more popular, and I'd love to invest in one. But for now, I live in a tiny apartment, with no land to grow food, and one large south-facing window. There is no way I could grow enough food to sustain myself alone, but I wanted to do what I could to at least lessen the burden. Even if I made little to no difference. So I decided to use my full-sun south facing window to grow as many edible plants I could

I bought potting soil, seeds, and pots to get started. I recycled some jars to work as pots as well. Before I knew it, they started sprouting.

and getting bigger...

I eventually bought a hydroponic fish tank, which grew food fertilized from the nitrates produced by the fish.

We bought a cute little Elephant Ear Betta who's water is filtered by the plants. he's become a very good gardener.

And I was able to incorporate the grown food into my regular meals. it felt awesome to eat what I grew in the house.

Overall, I was very happy I started growing food in my apartment. It may not have made a huge difference on the environment, But it made a huge difference in my happiness. I looked forward to seeing my plants and my fish grow every day. My betta fish has developed such character and has become our feisty fish friend. Some day I may have a house with enough land to grow much more food. I invite anyone to try this. It's been super fun, and I learned a lot. Simply being aware and making an effort to change things is so important.

If you are interested in the hydroponic fish tank, I bought it from Back To The Roots! It requires a bit more maintenance than they claim, and it takes a while to get the hang of keeping your fish healthy. But it's worth the time.

Thanks for reading!