Balcony gardening

[jbest123]

Does anybody garden on a balcony??

[imafan26]

There are quite a few people who garden on balconies and patios. Do you have a particular question?

[jbest123]

I do not have a balcony yet but it looks like we will have one next year. The condo we are looking at has a balcony about 10' high from the ground. I don't know what questions to ask was hoping somebody would tell me what to look out for.

[imafan26]

For any garden, you need to look at the amount of sun that it gets and make sure you don't over crowd the space. If the balcony rails let air and light through great, if it is a solid wall, sometimes that can be challenging since plants don't do well next to a solid wall.

The amount of light you receive will determine the type of plants you grow. You will also have to work out things like how you are going to water without leaking onto the level below or somebody's head. Small plants can be watered in a sink or bathtub. Larger plants can go into self watering containers or if you use saucers, you need to be careful not to let the plants sit in water. If it is windy, you need to find plants that can tolerate it and pots that won't fall over.

[cynthia_h]

How much weight can the balcony safely hold? Wet containers full of soil--containers large enough to grow plants bearing food!--can weigh a LOT.

Find out this number before it's a crisis.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[hydrangeaarranger]

If the balcony is exposed to strong winds and you are worried about the weight of pots heavy enough to ensure they don't blow over, you could always try buying plastic pots and drilling small holes into them. You can thread cable ties through these and lash the pots to the railings.

[tomc]

John! long time no talk.

Do you think you will have room for any of your past vices?

John is a great propagator. Don't let him fool you, he can get a pool cue to grow...

[rainbowgardener]

A couple years ago there was a person who was a regular here for awhile, posting as SP8, about his 3rd floor balcony garden in Japan. I think he moved and got a real garden and quit posting.

This was his profile:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/me ... le&u=17721

I grow vegetables in containers in an area of about 2 x 4m on a 3rd floor balcony: https://veggie-might-sp8.blogspot.com/

You might check and see if the blog is still there and/or look for some of his old posts. He was a serious gardener on that balcony.

[jbest123]

Hello all the move has been postponed until DW is emotionally ready to sell our current house. I have learned enough to give balcony gardening a try if the move ever occurs. I am sure I will have more questions later.

P.S. tomc thanks but fooled Yaaaa