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That is the question that I get the most. And my answer depends on where the person lives.

Let start with someone who lives in town in an apartment. This is the most difficult to answer.

First do you live in an apartment that has a room with a southern exposure? Do you have a balcony? Will your landlord allow you to use the roof of the building?

I would recommend Strawberry pots for use in an apartment or even on a balcony. With these pots, one can put a tomato plant in the top and lettuce or spinach in the side holes. Or use it to grow herbs for your kitchen. For a plant that vines (peas, beans, cucumbers, ect...) one can use a flat rectangular pot with a small metal or wood teepee trellis for the vines to grow on.

If one has a room with a southern exposure, then you can use that room for direct sunlight for growing. But if not, you may want a grow light. Before you go out and buy a brand new one go on your local Freecycle.org group and see if anyone has one to give away.

If your landlord will allow you to use the roof of the building, then you will need to make some raised planting beds, with a drainage route to a downspout from the roof. You will not want to let the excess water to run onto the roof where it could sit and cause damage if it gets in the wrong place, lol. If that happens then you would be hit with a huge bill for repairs.

If they don't want you to use the roof, then you can ask if you can have a section of the grassy area of the complex grounds. Often time they have an area set aside for bbq and/or picnics they are usually shaded so that would not be a good place. Find a corner of the complex, see how much sun it gets daily. You are looking for a minimum 6 hours of exposure for good results. If they allow you but require raised beds, to prevent possible damage to the sprinkler system, you may have to either run a hose of your own or take buckets of water to keep that in mind on the size you are looking at.

But, if your landlord will allow you to use the roof or a corner of the property, to help defray some of the cost of building the raised beds, seriously consider talking with your neighbors to see if they would like to go in and not only help with the cost and construction of the beds, but help grow and maintain the produce as well. If you approach your landlord right, you might even be able to get the apartment complex to pay for the raised beds. That way, if you should move out then they can continue using the beds with other tenants.

There are several kits that one can buy for these raised beds and they come in different configurations, but my recommendation would be to build them so that from one side you can comfortably reach 3/4 of the way across. For produce like lettuce, carrots, radishes I would also recommend a bed that is approximately waist high, so you are not straining your back and knees taking care of it. You will want to have the boxes at least 1' deep, preferable 2', to give the roots plenty of room. Nothing will stunt the growth of your produce faster than crowded roots.

Then your final stage is to make sure that you get good potting/planting soil. Be careful and look at how the soil was treated. There is some places that radiate the soil and that can affect the growth of the produce. There are some that adds weed control chemicals and that too can affect the produce or even prevent some seeds from germinating. If you want to grow the produce organically, the irradiation and those chemicals is most definitely not the way to go.

I know there will be some who disagree, but please remember this is just my opinion from years of growing my own produce. Feel free to give your advice one where to begin gardening if living in an apartment.

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For those who may not know what a strawberry pot is. THe come in many different sizes, colors and some ar glazed some aren't.