No room? No problem! A visit to Dominika’s 17m2 garden

Having no garden is definitely no excuse to have no plants! Having not a lot of space isn’t either. Dominika can tell us all about that! She has created a complete urban garden at only 17 m². She shows us how much is possible on concrete with the right care and attention.

Hi Dominika, can you tell us something about your purpose for growing?

My main goal is to hopefully inspire and encourage other people to welcome more green back into cities. Gardens can be created in the smallest places, even if there is no full ground or a lot of sun around. All you need is to be a little creative!

You are making us curious now. What plants are you growing? And how many of them?

What am I not growing? Haha.. I love to experiment with all types of plants and I’m always eager to learn more about them. I like to grow flowers, veggies, herbs, succulents, exotics, smaller trees, conifers.. you name it, I’ve got it! I stopped trying to count them, because the amount is constantly changing. That’s because I grow a lot of seasonal plants and bulb flowers. It makes it impossible to keep track! Just to give you an impression; last fall I planted over 400 spring flowering bulbs. 

Is this a recently discovered hobby or have you been doing it for years? 

I guess you could say that I have been gardening all my life. Only fairly recently I became truly passionate about it. About five or six years ago I started creating my balcony garden. It wasn’t until then that I started to learn about urban and pot gardening specifically. 

So you know quite a bit about it by now. What are you planning on doing with all those plants?

I don’t have any specific goal or intention with my plants. I just like to grow them because that’s my passion. Other than that, I think it’s cool to share my experiences with those who follow me on this journey. A lot of my plants are for pollination, some of them are to eat. Most of them are just here to look pretty! 

Have you  ever faced any difficulties while growing as well? 

Shade and high winds! My balcony is facing North and gets only a very short period of sun. If you look up what plants thrive in shade – there’s not so many options out there. Luckily I never stop experimenting with new plant species to see which can adapt to less light. There are also pretty strong winds here! I had to change all my pots to terracotta ones, because they are heavy enough to stay put. 

Sounds like quite a challenge! I guess this is where we come in. Where did you first learn about our products and which ones do you use? 

Your substrates and fertilisers were recommended to me by an urban gardening colleague. I started using Plagron in spring, which is the perfect moment to start fertilising plants. I was able to test it on my seedlings as well as on more mature plants. It didn’t take long before great results started to show! Some of my favourites definitely are Power Roots & Alga Grow. They helped me grow much bigger and stronger seedlings. Right now Alga Bloom & Green Sensation are doing wonders for all my flowers! Green Sensation & Sugar Royal also provided me with giant and super sweet Alpine strawberries.

Do you also use one of our substrates?

Yes, Lightmix! I grow a lot of different plants. The variety and quality of Plagron fertilisers allows me to provide them with all they need to perform to their maximum potential. When it comes to substrates, one of the most important things to me is water retention. If I can skip a day of watering during hot summer days that’s a big win! Lightmix is my favourite for all those thirsty annual flowers!

Good to hear you are happy with the products! Are there any that you still would like to try?

I’ve been trying to lower soil pH for my hydrangeas to have them bloom blue or purple by using granulated soil acidifier. Well that was a fail! So I would like to try a different approach by using your PH Min.

What are your goals for next time we check in with you?

For my garden I’m hoping to grow vegetables and greens all year round, also I’d like to start composting. For myself I hope to become a professional gardener! 

We've got you curious? Go check out Dominika's Instagram for pictures of her lovely balcony garden!