A balcony garden

Do you live in a block of flats but have always dreamed of a vegetable or flower garden? It is easy: a little work and you have your dream green corner within reach. The only essential element is having a balcony (even a narrow one).

Where to start?

First we need to determine the conditions that prevail on the balcony or terrace. Let us check which directions our balcony faces and whether it gets a lot of sun. The choice of suitable plants or herbs will depend on the level of light. If, however, you do not want to give up any particular plant species unsuited to strong sun or wind, it is worth attaching screens or windbreaks to the railings. They will effectively protect your plants from unwanted effects.

Pots, baskets and balcony boxes

Once we have organised a place for our plants, we move on to choosing suitable containers in which we will keep them. For perennial plants that do not need repotting, it is worth buying a large wooden box or a frost-resistant planter. It is worth lining the bottom with polystyrene, which will act as additional insulation against frost. If you opt for decorative baskets or openwork boxes, it is worth lining them with plastic sheeting so that the soil does not spill out through gaps.

Flower boxes look wonderful, but you can also put "something to eat" in them. If you decide to grow edible plants, choose a large container and fertile soil. Chives, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, onions and cucumbers do particularly well on balconies.

All plant containers (no matter what we plant in them) should be tall enough for the plants' roots to spread freely. Shallow containers encourage the soil to heat up quickly and to dry out excessively.

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Proper organisation of the balcony

To grow our garden we use not only the balustrade or the floor. It is worth putting up some wall hooks or racks. Thanks to them, our balcony garden will take on a designer style. If you have only a small balcony or terrace, it is worth considering an innovative idea, namely a planter-chest. It serves two functions at once, decorative and organisational, because in its base you can freely store tools and other accessories. If you dream of growing grapevines on your balcony, you only need to buy a small frame which, combined with a suitable pot, you place in the chosen spot. As you can see, where there's a will, there's a way.

The balcony no longer has to be just a grey part of our flat. Choose practical and at the same time beautiful solutions, and your daily coffee at the table will taste different. What a balcony garden gives us is a sense of freedom, because every moment is a good one to pursue your mini-gardening hobby.