Balcony Growing

awec

Hi all,

Sorry if this has all been covered before.

We live on a 6th floor apartment and we have a balcony. The balcony faces sort of south / southwest / west (it's on the corner of a building). There are high buildings around us though, so we only get direct sun for a small number of hours per day.

If we were to grow some herbs, what could realistically survive out there? We have no space to bring anything indoors during the winter, so we'd be looking things that would survive outside (though maybe not produce anything edible) during the winter months. Does anything survive outside in our winters?

Other than herbs, is there anything else we could grow as well? We'd be looking smallish plants, we want to be able to sit and eat and bbq out on it too so can't have it completely taken over by plants. I've heard of people growing potatoes on balconies in small buckets, is this actually possible? Is it difficult?

Minimal fuss too! I don't mind watering every couple of days but don't want to have to spend hours on end looking after things.

Thanks!

Sonnenblumen

There are many aspects to consider before deciding but it is very important to distinguish between what may be possible and what is actually feasible to grow on a balcony. Often enthusiasm tends to win in the short term before eventually leading to frustrating and disappointing results.

Growing on balcony is an environment of weather extremes, heat, sun, shade, wind, exposure etc and that's before you consider safety, neighbouring properties etc.

I would suggest you keep things simple and focus on plants(herbs) which will tolerate the prevailing conditions, eg Rosemary, Thyme and Sage.
On the ornamental side, I would recommend Houseleeks, a stunning range of compact growing plants rich in colour and forms, and once established all very easy to grow and requiring little if any attention.

I would give careful consideration to the containers to be used and you would be wise to check with Management Company, neighbours etc. Not everyone is a gardening and no one wants running/dripping water!

awec

Yea I wouldn't want to be hanging anything off the side, just whatever can sit on the floor. The balcony floor has decking with space for water to run through underneath. I believe this is connected to drainage of some sort.

There are other people here with plants on the balconies, but from what I can see these are all just ornamental flowers.

The balcony wall (made of glass) is I reckon about 4 foot tall - obviously I would only want things that will stay below this height to protect from the wind.

We haven't decided whether to bother or not, I'm just trying to figure out how feasible it would be and whether it would just be a waste of time.

RTT

Just seeing this thread now and remember seeing a programme called Love your Garden. Here is a link to the episode where a guy grew 80kg of fruit and veg on a tiny balcony. It's just over 15 minutes into the episode. http://youtu.be/ADpQYnnLmAs

Enjoy!

Keeks

RTT wrote: »

Just seeing this thread now and remember seeing a programme called Love your Garden. Here is a link to the episode where a guy grew 80kg of fruit and veg on a tiny balcony. It's just over 15 minutes into the episode. http://youtu.be/ADpQYnnLmAs

Enjoy!

This guy has website with lots of info on container growing

www.verticalveg.org.uk