I’ve been thinking how lucky I am to have a plot in a community garden. While I now live a bit more than a mile from my vegetable garden, I’m fortunate in the fact that I can at least grow my own food.

Lots of people in urban or tightly packed suburban areas are not as fortunate.

Some folks have given up their large-spread landscapes to downsize at retirement. Or some live in small urban homes with tiny brick-covered back patios. Or, maybe the outdoor space is just a small balcony. Whatever it is, the space is small and is possibly devoid of actual digging space.

Does this sound like you? Then it is time to start thinking outside the box by thinking of growing IN a box. A box with wheels.

A friend was in a similar situation. She had retired to a small housing development that offered her a beautiful patio, but no actual space for in-the-ground gardening.

Sure, potting up container after container after container was an option. But the containers were heavy and such a nuisance. And sometimes the sun was here and not there. What about a gardening space she could move around her patio on her own? She developed a tiered cart on wheels to give her the gardening space she wanted—and one that she could move here and there as the sun dictated.

MobileGro: A Garden on Wheels

My friend’s cart solved her no-space problem so well that she decided to manufacture and sell it as the MobileGro Garden Cart.

Small spaces often are ones that have odd (if not difficult) light situations. The MobileGro Cart’s wheels let you move it to where the sun is—or out of the sun if you prefer. You can’t do that with a garden plot or a raised bed.

It’s a brilliant growing solution. I have not tried it yet, but I have seen many photos of the carts in action. This unit not only lets you grow in a large window box-shaped planter, but it lets you grow up in either three or four tiers, depending on the model.

The three-tiered MobileGro cart gives you 9 square feet of growing space, and the four-tiered gives you 12 square feet. With either model, the cart itself takes up less than 9 square feet. To keep it as fuss-free as possible, the MobileGro cart has a drip pan under the unit, so there is minimal mess that spills out onto the patio or balcony.

Growing vertically

Bending or stooping down to the level of a traditional in-ground garden can be hard on achy joints. With the MobileGro Cart, the plantings are off the ground and more accessible.

From a vegetable-growing perspective, I can see the top tier being a space in which to plant vining crops. Squashes, cucumbers, melons, and even tomatoes could cascade down the back of the MobileGro. Rather than staking tomatoes or allowing ground space for squashes to crawl, these crops can use the downward vertical space while getting their bit of soil for growing up in the MobileGro’s top tier. Smaller growing crops such as peppers, beans, eggplant, and herbs can grow in the lower tiers.

So, the next time you think your tiny patio is no place for growing veggies, think of MobileGro.