This gorgeous tiny home is surrounded by incredible flowers and gardens - all part of sustainable living. | Image by Sharon Willen via Pixabay

by james deutsch, guest contributor

If you and your family are living in a tiny home, then you’re already familiar with the concept of sustainable living. Tiny homes take up less space than traditional single-family homes and do not require nearly the upkeep, utilities, or maintenance of a traditional home. They have become increasingly more popular over the last decade and have multitudes of families living in smaller spaces, taking up less acreage and loving every second of it.

Tiny Home Gardening

Enjoy sustainable gardening near your tiny home plus love the fruits and veggies of your labors. | photo by Sponchia via Pixabay

One of the advantages of having a tiny home is that the land surrounding your home can be fully utilized for your family’s benefit, without the worry of expensive and costly decor or landscaping. A popular use of such land is to create gardens of gorgeous flowers and endless amounts of vegetables for your family’s consumption. With a few raised veggie beds and some vining plants, your family may end up with a plethora of veggies that can easily be used for meals, canning, or daily snacks. 

When creating your tiny home gardens, it’s important to start small and have a few raised beds plus take advantage of your porch or the areas surrounding your home for potted plants, veggies, and herbs. Make use of good, healthy soils so your flowers grow large and beautiful. On top of the colorful addition to your yard, you’ll attract birds and beautiful insects to your gorgeous garden which lends itself to comfortable days enjoying nature from your own porch.

Struggles of Gardening Around Your Tiny Home

One of the greatest difficulties you may experience when trying to maintain a garden in your tiny home’s yard is the lack of protections available. Oftentimes, tiny homes do not necessarily have fencing around their yards. However, protective fencing can be undeniably helpful when trying to keep pests away from your flowers and vegetables. 

Rabbit eating flowers in a sustainable garden because no fence to keep him out. | photo by Chris F via Pexels

When considering the small square footage you may have to work with, maximizing your efforts and the cost of planting and maintaining your gardens makes it necessary to protect your gardens with fencing. Rabbits, deer, moles, voles, and other critters will turn your plants into their new favorite snack without a fence to keep them out. 

How Fencing Can Protect Tiny Home Gardens

If you’ve made the decision to surround your tiny home or even just your garden area with fencing, make sure you choose a fencing company that is fully licensed with years of experience. Chain link fencing is often a chosen option for tiny home fences. It can be used to protect a certain area and also functions well as protective animal fencing.  

Chain link fencing is best when it’s 6’ tall so it prevents animals from entering your space and destroying your gardens. It also offers the following benefits:

• Weather resistant
• Maintenance-free - you won’t have to continuously seal or stain it like wood fencing
• Strong
• Durable

Chain link fencing also keeps the open feel of your tiny home’s yard that you were undoubtedly desiring when you chose a tiny home. With the fencing being made of intertwined metal, it is see-through and provides plenty of visibility for you and your neighbors. It also allows the wind to flow directly through it so it suffers less damage than solid fences. Finally, any vining plants or vegetables can grow upward on a chain link fence creating an easy space to grow sweet peas, clematis, or other vining varieties with ease. 

Benefits of Sustainable Tiny Home Living 

Many families that have chosen tiny home living love the community aspect of living near many other tiny homes and their families. With protected gardens, you’ll have so many veggies, herbs, and flowers, you can extend yourself to your neighbors by having them over for some incredible shared meals. 

Additionally, many tiny home dwellers that utilize chain link fencing to protect their gardens even use their produce to create sustainable gifts for birthdays and holidays. When your home and its surroundings are fully-protected, you and your family can reap endless benefits.

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