Pictorial Coverage: HDB Plant Stalking
Some of us may claim that urban farming is tough because of the limited space that we have in the high rise apartments we live in, but some creative HDB residents have proven us wrong by demonstrating their creativity and green fingers. We see beautiful and innovative ways of plant display and upcycled planters that really shows that urban farming is possible. The following is a series of pictures from some HDB plant stalking that may give you some ideas for your own corridor gardens. Don’t be surprised if you find some of your plants here!
Corner homes and creative plant organizing
Living in corner homes is great for having corridor gardens. You have a dedicated space outside your apartment which allows the sun in for your plants, and even comes with ledges and holes that you can utilize for your hanging plants. During our plant stalking adventure, we made a conclusion that common bathroom items are a favourite for organizing plants, as the pictures below show.
Using a rack usually seen in the bathroom for shampoos, or in the kitchen for condiments to organize your plants is a smart space-saving way of display.
Plastic compartment boxes with drainage holes that make it easy to attach to the ledges and railings of the corner units, ensuring the plants in them receive sufficient sunlight and some misting when it rains.
Corner units also give you more space to work with outside the lift (if there is one), either for your own curry plants, or your child’s little experiment.
Step displays are also beautiful ways of displaying your plants. They can be likened to shoe racks – space-efficient, yet effective.
Corridor homes and innovative displays
We believe that corner units are great because one would have slightly more space, but that does not mean that corridor units gets the short end of the stick. Having unobstructed access to sunlight, we did notice that corridor gardens are typically more stretched out with a greater variety of plants. Below are some of our favourites.
Using chairs to give your corridor garden a standard look, and leveling all your pots so that they get more sunlight is a great and cost-efficient way to maintain your corridor garden.
This family’s display takes the cake. Using bamboo and raffia strings to create a winning display that is also functional, this corridor garden has lovely greens and flowers that simply glow with health.
Racks like these that elevate your smaller pots are also effective ways to get them more sun.
Not forgetting the usual plant stands that could use an upcycled old table to get a uniform look, and let it soak in more sunlight. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see that there are egg shells in every pot as well, we love the idea!
Our first HDB plant stalking experience had brightened our day from seeing the efforts made to care for and extend corridor gardens. Among these stunning displays, there are definitely a few desiccated plants and forgotten pots with withered greens, but we all agree that majority of them have been treated with love and tender care evident from their healthy green leaves. The point is that having little space did not have an effect on these urban gardeners, in fact it even encouraged a little DIY to overcome the lack of space. We have learnt so much from this stalking exercise, and are excited to see where our next plant stalking experience would bring us!
Written by Ange Chua
Edited by Cynthea Lam
Ange Chua is an aspiring bird-watcher trying to fix her black thumbs. When she's not writing, you'd find her drinking tea out of teacups or reading in bed with her dog. She thinks her spirit animal is an alpaca.