Think about the last time you ate some fruits or vegetables – tomatoes, carrots, whatever your favorite is. Now think about where it came from. You’re probably imagining a quiet farm somewhere with cows, tractors, and the like, right? What if I told you that your vegetables might have been grown in a big city?

Urban farming (also referred to as ‘indoor farming’) is a new trend that’s been sweeping the country, where urban spaces such as warehouses and rooftops are repurposed to grow produce for urban areas! Indoor farming is quickly becoming a popular alternative to traditional farming methods, and helps to bring much-needed fresh and healthy food to areas like inner cities that might not have access to farm-fresh produce.

Of course, if you’re going to farm indoors, you have plenty of aspects to consider when working out the logistics of the whole enterprise. The most popular form of urban farming is called “vertical growing”, where the vertical space of a warehouse or old office building is utilized to provide comparable growing space to what you would find in the flat crop land of a traditional farm.

Sounds pretty good, right? Who wouldn’t love having access to freshly grown, all-natural food even in the hustle and bustle of a big city? If you’re considering starting your own urban farm in your basement, garage, or even some extra warehouse space you have access to, it doesn’t take too much – just enough space to grow, access to water and sunlight (or special colored LED lights), and plenty of wire shelving! By stacking your crops vertically on racks or shelving, you can save yourself a ton of room and provide much higher crop output by ensuring all the plants receive the soil and space they need to grow properly.

You don’t have to go huge with your operation, either – even if you just want to tend to a small garden to feed your family (and maybe the neighbors, if they find out you’ve got a garden!) there’s plenty of rack and storage options you can choose from to make sure your garden has room to grow and thrive, wherever you keep it.

Whether you’re getting into urban farming for commercial reasons or just because you’re addicted to fresh chives, it’s much easier than you might expect – so long as you have the right equipment!