Growing your own veggies on your balcony or patio can be very rewarding, but how do you get going? Vegetable gardens for beginners is a very straight-forward topic, so here are some valuable tips.
Consider Your Space
The starting point is to get your space organized. Make some room for your planter boxes on the balcony, making sure that you place them in the most sunny spots. Veggies just love the sunlight; it’s what gives them the power to create all the nutritionally rich leaves, seeds, roots and stems you are going to eat.
In setting up your planting space, there is no reason that is should not actually contribute to the aesthetic value of your balcony. If you also use your balcony for simply sitting and relaxing, or to entertain friends and family, then containers full of lush, rich, green vegetable plants can contribute greatly to the feeling of welcome and comfort. They can even help to enhance the presentation of any flowering plants that may be sharing the space.
Some simple things to consider are:
- Place your taller plants in locations that, when they grow to full height, will not hide any nice view you may have of the surrounding landscape.
- Look at using planter boxes that you can hang on the outside of your balcony, if the sunlight is not enough for them.
- Check your water drainage. This should not be a problem in most instance, because balconies are set up to manage rainwater that accumulates, but just make sure that when you water your plants, any excess is not going to fall in the wrong place (like on your neighbor’s head!).
- Side walls that have no windows (being made of brick, concrete, etc.) are a good place to mount a trellis for climbing plants, as long as good sunshine can reach them there.
What Will You Grow Them In?
There are so many options here. You can buy many types of planter boxes, or you can get an old bathtub, or even build something yourself. It’s actually best to start with the plants themselves and work backwards to the type of planting environment that suits them best.
Some plants prefer deep soil, whilst others are quite comfortable in a relatively thin layer of planting mix. Consult with your plant supplier to make sure you understand the depth requirements of the plants you intend to grow. Some obvious ones, however, are that root vegetables, like carrots, need a lot more depth in which to put down those roots, than herbs and leafy green veggies like lettuce. These can grow in quite shallow pots.
As you set this up, you can create a nice stepped appearance in your garden, with the herbs and green-leaf veggies in low planters near the front, carrots and other root plants behind them and finally the tomatoes, beans and other taller plants behind that.
The other thing that you will grow your veggies “in” is, of course, the soil. Always get a good quality potting mix from your garden supplier. If you use soil that has just been simply dug up somewhere, the chances are that you will also get all sorts of weeds that will want to share the space with your veggies. Potting mix is generally free from these unwanted visitors.
Also, most potting mix has some sort of water retentive qualities that makes it easier to keep your plants moist.
And, finally, you should consider “feeding” your plants. Get a good quality organic fertilizer. Use it sparingly, but often; even to the extent of adding a small amount of fertilizer every time you water them. Read the directions and don’t overdo it.
Proper Watering is the Key to Success
There are three major items that plants need to produce all that great nutrition they are famous for: air, sunlight and water. Air is in plentiful supply and, hopefully, you have chosen a sunny location for your new plant-friends, so that takes care of the sunlight as well. And once set up, you don’t need to do anything more to provide the air and sunlight they need; nature provides these in abundance. But water? Well, that’s a whole different story.
The really tricky thing with watering is that you must make sure there is enough of it, but you must also make very sure you do not overdo it and drown the poor things. Also, some plants need more water than others, whilst others are very sensitive to over watering. When you buy your plants, you will undoubtedly have some recommendations included that tell you how much water to give them. Or, you can consult with your plant supplier, who will generally be very knowledgeable in this and also very eager to help.
Something to consider is the drainage that your planter pots provide. So, just must make sure that the planters actually do allow the water to pass through. There is nothing worse than leaving the plant’s roots flooded (unless they are designed to grow in a lake, like water lilies…) In fact, over watering is probably the biggest killer of balcony plants.
Now, as part of your watering routine, sometimes it is important to know that some plants prefer to be watered from the top with a watering can or drip-feed, whilst others are best suited to bottom watering; soaking the roots for a while. Most plants, however, are quite happy if you use both systems from time to time.
So, how do you know if a plant has enough water. Two things to consider here:
- To avoid over watering, wait till you see the first slight signs of wilting appear and (only then) apply the water they need, and do so in small quantities.
- The simplest way to test how moist your plants are is still to just stick your finger down deep into the soil next to them. You will quickly feel just how damp the soil is.
Get Started and Enjoy the Ride
Vegetable gardens for beginners is not a difficult subject. Just follow the simple suggestions here and you will be on your way in no time. Go for it! And enjoy the rewards of fresh, nutritionally rich produce that you know is free of all the nasties one often suspects of veggies purchased at the supermarket.
