Balconies are the perfect place for a garden if you don’t have room for a garden in your backyard. You can turn your balcony into a beautiful green area that looks and feels inviting. You need to plan carefully before transforming your balcony so that you can successfully grow the plants you want.
Figure Out How Much Room You Will Need
Measure the balcony and take note of windows and doors that will get in the way. A sliding door is best but you could even hang plants on the exterior of a regular door.
If you go to the USDA site, you can see the plant hardiness zone map for your part of the country.
This can help you determine which plants you can grow in your area of the country.
Sunlight
You have to check whether your balcony gets shadows from trees or building and if it gets enough sunlight throughout the day. You need to know the direction of the sunlight and from which direction it shines onto your balcony.
The Purpose
Now decide what you want from the plants you will grow. Do you want vegetables, herbs, flowers, bushes or maybe a little of each? If you just want a vegetable garden, you will design it to get the maximum use of space for the most plants. If you want to sit out on it and grow plants and flowers, you will have to design it to fulfill your needs.
Designing Your Garden
The fencing on your balcony is perfect if you choose vining plants such as tomatoes, beans and peas. If you are able to secure containers on the wall area, be sure to anchor them well. Herbs grow especially well in small containers. You can get creative and use a variety of items to hang on the walls to use. Gutters, plastic soda bottles cut in half, pallets and even, PVC pipe can be used. This is your space so create whatever it is you want.
Storage Area For Your Tools You are going to need some tools to care for your garden. You probably want to keep these tools out of sight when you aren’t using them. A seat with hidden storage is perfect just make sure it’s easy to get to. You could use hooks to hang your small tools on the wall or on the back of the door. You won’t need the large tools that are needed for a large backyard garden.
Start Planting
Now that you’ve figured out what you want in your garden and the design, it’s time to buy your plants to get them planted. You can do this in a few days or over a few weeks, depending on your budget and your needs.
Tending Your Garden
It’s important to tend to your plants regularly. Water your plants as needed and be sure that you fertilize them as well. Each day, get rid of any dead leaves and be sure to inspect closely for any type of disease or insect infestation. Check out our blog post filled with organic homemade recipes in case you have to get rid of any pests. If you find a particular pest on one of your plants, you can take care of it before it gets to the rest of your plants.
Get Started Now
One great thing about a balcony garden is that you can move things around as you go. If you find that something is not growing well in the spot it’s in, you can move it around and experiment. You could even decide to change the theme or add new plants. The choice is yours. Depending on where you live, you can actually enjoy your garden all year round with the proper planning. You could even inspire the neighbors to create their own garden!
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