Favorite Blogs About Small-Space Gardening

Here's one for all of you balcony, fire escape, patio, and windowsill gardeners out there. In my non-Planet Green life, I'm also a garden blogger and the founder of the Mouse & Trowel Awards, which is kind of like the Bloggies for garden bloggers. I started the awards for selfish reasons: I wanted more good blogs to read, but was running out of time to find and read them all. What could be easier than finding out what my peers thought of as "the best" and just start reading those?

Well, it works beautifully, and my Google Reader is stocked with plenty of good garden reading. With that in mind, I'd like to share some of my favorite blogs (as well as related Twitter feeds, when applicable) for those of you who have limited space, but limitless dreams for your garden.

1. Plants Are the Strangest People Plants Are the Strangest People (or PATSP, for short) is a houseplant blog written by one of the smartest, funniest garden bloggers around. I appreciate reading a blogger I can learn from, and Mr. Subjunctive knows more about houseplants than anyone I know. If you like your plant geekisms accompanied by a hefty dose of sarcasm, you will love this blog. (@MrSubjunctive)

2. Life on the Balcony I think of Fern Richardson as the Martha Stewart of balcony gardeners. By that I mean that everything she publishes on her blog is done with great attention to detail. Her blog is beautiful, well-written, and informative. She covers everything from edible container gardening to frugal gardening, and provides plenty of inspiration for putting together beautiful, functional container gardens of your own. (@LifeontheBalcony)

3. Urban Organic Gardener Many Planet Green readers, especially those of you on Twitter, are probably familiar with Mike Lieberman, also known as CanarsieBK on Twitter. Mike writes primarily about edible container gardening (fire escape gardeners -- you'll love his blog!) with an eye toward both frugality and eco-friendly practices. (@CanarsieBK)

4. 66 Square Feet This is a beautifully done blog about, as they say "living in a tiny apartment with a tiny terrace," as well as information about roof gardening. Gorgeous photographs, too. (@66SquareFeet) 5. The 6 x 8 Garden The 6 x 8 Garden chronicles an attempt to grow a successful edible garden on a second-story apartment balcony that measures (you guessed it!) 6 x 8 feet. Another blog full of beautiful photos.

6. Indoor Gardener Kenneth from Washington, DC, is a gardener and foodie who shares both of his passions on this well-written blog. Beware the recipe posts, though --- I swear I gain five pounds just reading some of those! (@IndoorGarden_er)

7. Mr. Brown Thumb Mr. Brown Thumb writes about houseplants, cacti, succulents, bulbs, and bugs (among other things) from his Chicago garden. If you're looking for a blog that will teach you HOW to do something, rather than just show you pretty pictures of what the blogger's already done, then you'll love this blog (not that the photos ain't pretty -- Mr. Brown Thumb's photos are amazing). Mr. Brown Thumb is also unique among garden bloggers in that he posts how-to videos on his blog fairly regularly -- something that many of us in the garden blogging community (myself included) have yet to try on our own blogs. (@MrBrownThumb)

8. About Container Gardening I've referenced Kerry Micheals' About.com blog about container gardening a few times here on Planet Green. Her creative reuses for her containers, as well as her stunning plant combinations are sure to inspire you. (@containergarden)

9.The Balcony Garden Sue Swift writes about balcony gardening from her home in Milan, Italy. Beautiful images, as well as an often fun, playful approach to gardening, make this blog a joy to read. 10. FarmApartment This blog is fairly new to me, but I'm hooked. Here's a little from Evangeline, who writes Farm Apartment, about the movement toward apartment farming: "Though us apartment-renters may not have any land to transform, we need not be left out. This blog follows my quest to figure out how many farm-like activities I can do in my one-bedroom apartment. I can't milk a cow, but I may be able to churn butter, I think. I'll also be exploring what "Living Off the Land" means in the 21st century. What is the closest approximation of this us city-folk can hope to achieve?" There you have them: ten of my favorite garden blogs for the space-challenged among us. I hope you'll check these out, and please feel free to share your favorites in the comments!