Small Garden Accessories

Right now, the windowsill of my apartment’s living room is lined with close to 20 starter pots — each one containing a little, budding sprout that will soon be transferred outside to my vegetable garden. The dirt patch is tiny — between 50 and 60 square feet — but each summer it produces tomatoes, radishes, beans and herbs like cilantro, lavender and lemon thyme (my favourite for its heavenly citrus scent). Given the diminutive size of the lot, there’s very little room for anything but the plants — definitely no space for garden gnomes! Still, a few key elements can make for an attractive, functional space. Here are a few things I’ve been eying:

These garden markers from Crate & Barrel look like little chalkboards, but are actually made from recycled coffee cups and the “chalk” is a weather-resistant wax crayon.

My colleague Margot Austin pointed out this set of small garden tools. Between 8 to 9 inches, they are tiny enough to maneuver between my tightly spaced plants (and store easily in my apartment), and are lively and playful with their different colours. Plus, at $9.50, the set of six is extremely affordable.

These garden stakes are durable because they are plastic-coated steel, so they won’t rot like wooden ones. And because they’re green, they’ll subtly recede in a mass of leaves.

I’m not sure how practical this watering can is — it might not hold enough water — but it’s cute enough to leave out by the garden!

Photo credits:
1. Crate & Barrel
2. Lee Valley
3. Lee Valley
4. Anthropologie