Just set up my new Urban Vegetable Balcony Garden! PICS

[InCaseOfZombies]

Hello all. First time poster here. I just set up my balcony veggie container garden. A little prematurely since the temps have dipped below 50 in my city but everything should warm up in 2 days so im hoping I don't lose anything. I have an average sized balcony and am trying to maximize my space. I added some shelves for lettuce, arugula, strawberries etc. The rest of the stuff went in 16" planters. I am using organic potting mix and will be fertilizing with castings and tea from my Worm Factory 360 in addition to other organic liquid fertilizers from the local hydro store.

The plants in the Pots are :
-Green Beans
-Celery
-Green Bell Pepper
-Early Girl Tomato
-Red Bell Pepper
-Neon Chard

On the Shelves:
-Salad Blend Mixed Greens
-Romaine Lettuce
-Bok Choi
-Strawberries

Sown in the peat pods:
-Arugula
-Mesculin

I have 2 extra Pots and am planning on planting sweet corn in one and cucumbers in the other one. I have a few pics and was curious what you guys think? The balcony gets fullish sun. Some parts of the roof cause a shadow to fall on certain parts of the balcony but I have wrapped the entire glass sliding doors with Mylar to reflect the sun's light back towards the balcony and hopefully help provide better light for my veggies.

Any tips/advice would be much appreciated Thanks!

[gumbo2176]

You should do OK with the lettuces, salad greens etc. in the pots. If you planted leaf varieties of these you simply pinch or cut off individual leaves as you need them and let the plant produce more.

As for tomato and pepper plants, they need pretty large pots and do best when staked or caged for support. Tomato plants get huge and if left unsupported they will cascade over the pot onto the deck. Bell pepper plants are somewhat brittle and if they get a lot of fruit on them, they have a tendency to fall over or the stems break.

Cucumbers will climb or sprawl depending on how you want them to grow. I would not waste a pot with just a plant or two of corn. It simply isn't worth it and I doubt they would do well in a pot without falling over at some point in time.

What you have looks to be very healthy but just be aware that some of what you want to grow gets huge.

[InCaseOfZombies]

Thanks Gumbo. I was thinking about supports for the peppers and tomatoes. What would you recommend? Since I don't have actual dirt to install a larger support frame, how can I give the veggies support? Would the tomato cages be enough? Im thinking maybe I can Maguyver something that bolts onto the existing black bars behind the planters.

For the sweet corn, I saw a variety on Burpee (Corn On Deck Hybrid http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/corn/corn-on-deck-hybrid-prod003168.html) that looked interesting. Willing to try it out. Thinking about cramming 8 stalks in one pot. It will look cool at the very least.

[webmaster]

That Worm Factory 360 Worm Composter looks sweet. My eyes practically hit the monitor screen when I saw your photo of the worms! I'm going to talk to my wife about getting one of those. I can compost food scraps, get fertilizer out of it and harvest worms for fishing, too!

[gumbo2176]

Thanks Gumbo. I was thinking about supports for the peppers and tomatoes. What would you recommend? Since I don't have actual dirt to install a larger support frame, how can I give the veggies support? Would the tomato cages be enough? Im thinking maybe I can Maguyver something that bolts onto the existing black bars behind the planters.

For the sweet corn, I saw a variety on Burpee (Corn On Deck Hybrid http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/corn/corn-on-deck-hybrid-prod003168.html) that looked interesting. Willing to try it out. Thinking about cramming 8 stalks in one pot. It will look cool at the very least.

Personally, I'd let the tomato plants cascade over the pot onto the deck because it looks like space is at a premium. They shouldn't suffer the damage a plant will often sustain when coming into direct contact with the ground.

For the cucumbers, you can string some twine on the metal railings and let them climb on it. However, they will grow enough to block a lot of sunlight below the top rail of the enclosure as they fill in the space. Vining plants grow quite vigorously and take over an area in short time. Think Kudzu when planting cucumbers, pole beans, etc..

Corn likes to be planted close because it relies on contact with other corn plants to make the ears. The main reason I don't plant corn in my garden is when it is in season, it is so cheap at the market that it makes it not worth planting. Now, if my garden was 3-4 time the current size, I'd consider growing corn. But I'd rather plant things that are more economically feasible to grow and give me the most bang for my effort.

[rainbowgardener]

No, tomato cages just stuck in your pot will just fall over. Mine do anyway, even deep in the ground. You could tie tall bars to the balcony railing bars and tie (with nylons or soft cloth) your tomato stems to those.

You will need bigger pots for the tomatoes, though, and preferably should look for some dwarf tomato varieties (the tomatoes aren't necessarily dwarf, just the plants).

It looks great! I like it. If all you have is a balcony, grow some food on your balcony! Keep us posted on how it is going.

[InCaseOfZombies]

No, tomato cages just stuck in your pot will just fall over. Mine do anyway, even deep in the ground. You could tie tall bars to the balcony railing bars and tie (with nylons or soft cloth) your tomato stems to those.

You will need bigger pots for the tomatoes, though, and preferably should look for some dwarf tomato varieties (the tomatoes aren't necessarily dwarf, just the plants).

It looks great! I like it. If all you have is a balcony, grow some food on your balcony! Keep us posted on how it is going.

Will do. Thanks for the tips!

[sepeters]

Hi, InCaseOfZombies!
Are you in Glendale, CA. or Glendale, AZ? If you are in AZ, please feel free to PM me anytime you have a climate specific question, we can suffer through desert gardening together! Also, MarlinGardener lives in TX and has helped me a lot with advice, so look for some of those posts! Everyone here is really nice, you'll like it!
Your balcony garden looks great! I am so in love with your worm factory! Looks much better than the one I made!
Here in Tempe, my romaine and some of my red leaf lettuce is bolting, so try to keep it out of the sun as much as possible as it's starting to warm up.
You can use tomato cages for the peppers, they will need the support. I pretty much agree with everybody about the tomatoes. Let the indeterminate ones grow over the railing and out onto the deck. Just stake the bushing ones and tie them off when needed.

If you find you need to cage your potted Early Girls wait until you pot them up (they will need 5-10 gallon pots) and fill the pots with soil, then push in 3-4stakes at key poinst around the rim Think triangle or square) and firm the dirt around them. Put one central stake in the middle, plant the tomato, tie it to the center stake. Then wrap those outer stakes with chicken wire or that plastic fencing used on construction sites and tie the cage to the outer stakes. I use the plastic fencing because I think the metal cages get too hot where I live. Your tomatoes will outgrow the pre-made tomato cages very quickly.

If your green beans are pole beans they will get big and will need to be caged just like the tomatoes, but the bush beans are good candidates for the premade tomato cages, as are eggplants, ffr.
I'm excited for you!

[PunkRotten]

There is also a Glendale CA. I actually grew up there.

[InCaseOfZombies]

Hi, InCaseOfZombies!
Are you in Glendale, CA. or Glendale, AZ?

Glendale California

[Sasha]

No advice, but I think this looks fantastic. The shelving unit is a great use of space, and you seem to have the less sun-loving greens in there. I noticed the open rail balcony - excellent for light receipt. With full sun I imagine your plants will do fine, and I suspect the mylar might not be necessary (if you say full sun, I would assume you mean southern exposure?). I did tomatoes on a porch last year and (mostly) successfully staked them with bamboo stakes. Takes up no extra space.

I'll be starting up my own balcony garden this summer so this is all good inspiration.

[Happy Days]

Wow! Your balcony garden looks really nice. I am a big fan of container gardening.

I have been growing some of my tomatoes in hanging bags for several years now. It might be possible to "MacGuyver" a hanging set-up by attaching a Shepherd's Hook to your railing. I use cable ties to attach such things to my wrought iron deck railing. Easy to cut off when winter arrives here.

I've also tried peppers in the hanging bags but was not happy with the results. Tomatoes do fine for me.

Sorry for the poor quality photo (shot in bright light).

[InCaseOfZombies]

Wow! Your balcony garden looks really nice. I am a big fan of container gardening.

I have been growing some of my tomatoes in hanging bags for several years now. It might be possible to "MacGuyver" a hanging set-up by attaching a Shepherd's Hook to your railing. I use cable ties to attach such things to my wrought iron deck railing. Easy to cut off when winter arrives here.

I've also tried peppers in the hanging bags but was not happy with the results. Tomatoes do fine for me.

Sorry for the poor quality photo (shot in bright light).

That's pretty cool. I thought the whole topsy turvey thing was a gimmick. Maybe I can squeeze more plants on my balcony now!

[ElizabethB]

Your neighbors must be jealous. In the 80's I lived in a third floor apartment in NOLA. My balcony was a jungle. I agree with Gumbo - you need bigger pots for tomatoes and peppers. The visual appeal is wonderful Cukes should do fine in "window box" planters. I would use a 36" for 2 plants. That will give enough room for the roots to grow latterly. Give them something to climb. Maybe tack some hog wire to the balcony rail and post. Oh if you are using plastic pots take the saucers off. Your pots do not need to be sitting in water. You also do not need a mosquito breeding ground.

If you are planting indeterminate tomatoes screw cup hooks into the balcony cover and run twine to the base of the tomatoes. Keep the side suckers pinched and train the main stem up the twine. No need for cages and awesome production. You can also root the suckers for later season plants.

Your balcony is beautiful

Happy gardening and welcome to the forum.

[Happy Days]

Wow! Your balcony garden looks really nice. I am a big fan of container gardening.

I have been growing some of my tomatoes in hanging bags for several years now. It might be possible to "MacGuyver" a hanging set-up by attaching a Shepherd's Hook to your railing. I use cable ties to attach such things to my wrought iron deck railing. Easy to cut off when winter arrives here.

I've also tried peppers in the hanging bags but was not happy with the results. Tomatoes do fine for me.

Sorry for the poor quality photo (shot in bright light).

That's pretty cool. I thought the whole topsy turvey thing was a gimmick. Maybe I can squeeze more plants on my balcony now!

I did too until I tried them. Now I buy them at the end of the growing season when stores are clearing out their gardening stuff. I think I paid $5 for them. They last 3-4 years for me and they work great with less space, weight, etc. You do have to water them a bit more frequently than some other containers, but that's about the only caveat. And I love having the tomatoes up off the ground. They are rarely bothered by pests now.