Project Balcony Garden

[tiggerai]

Well, after 5 years I've decided to do something constructive (read: edible) with my South facing Balcony.
I've got myself a mini greenhouse, a Pot ladder for herbs/Strawbs and just commissioned a 3 tier planter for the corner and my seeds are on the windowsill germinating (apparently)

I'm giving tomatoes and cucumber a go (Greenhouse) and Lettuce mix, Radish etc. Once I've got the Planter on the go I might try some other things too.

Herbs will go in the pot ladder. Parsley, Chives, Basil.

I'll post some pics when I've taken some Wish me luck!

[Bagnaj97]

a Pot ladder for herbs

Herbs?

[Phage]

Big fan of Rosemary myself. One of the few things I haven't been able to kill. Likes it dry.

[Zhaoman]

We used to plant little cabbages, tomatoes, carrots and chives in our back garden in a little greenhouse. It worked a treat and didn't really require much effort at all, they just want water and some compost and they seemed to be fine! The chives grew very fast and they needed little maintenance it was great. We also tried planting melons but that didn't really work... The previous owner had planted rhubarb but we weren't into the stuff so we kind of just left it to grow to enormouse proportions! I have no doubt you'll be munching on some nice fresh produce soon (just don't forget to water them )

[GoNz0]

i miss my herb garden

[g8ina]

sings : "I am Constable Knapweed and I keep law and order, I watch to see that all is well along the garden border."

Heeerrrbidaceous !

[cptwhite_uk]

Parsley - not so easy to grow, leaves are delicate and prefer warm sheltered conditions from my experience so I'm imagining a balcony might be an issue
Chives - easy to grow and come back every spring (so don't throw them away in winter!), would be good in a self contained pot
Rosemary - I'd second this, hardy and very useful when cooking stews, pork chops etc.
Basil - Best on a window sill indoors, keeps the leaves fresh. we normally just get the ones from the Supermarket and put it in a indoor glazed pot, normally good for 3 months or more and pruning it back when it gets too big. They're very thirsty, make sure it's well watered always.

I think you'll struggle with cucumber space wise, assuming you're got one of those small framework greenhouses with the zip open door? Tomatoes like wise, If you're just got for a standard variety you'll find they grow vigorously and need space.

I know it's not what you want to hear but I'd also give strawberries a miss, to get a decent crop you need at least 15-18 plants, which I'm assuming you don't have space for? If you look at this patch on the right hand side of my lawn there's around 50-55 plants and I'd estimate it gave about 5kg of fruit last summer, over a 5-6 week period. A large supermarket punnet's worth every 3/4 days. Remember the fruit will come over a similar period, to you end up getting 1 or 2 strawberries every couple of days if you don't have many plants.

Lettuce is dead easy so highly recommended. It doesn't need deep soil so I just plant trays of it (using propagator trays) - Tip, you can get these from Wilkinson's for a decent price. In fact I'd highly recommend Wilkinsons generally for basic garden tooling, great quality and lowest prices generally.

Given you're space limited, you're best looking at things which are going to be space efficient. I'd highly recommend trying carrots, see my notes here on how to sow them and thin them. Make sure you use a small stub variety and deep trays

In terms of your tomato, give a dwarf bush variety a go. There's many to choose from but this year I'm trying Thomson and Morgan's Vilma variety which produce small sweet and juicy cherry tomatoes, and the plant only grows to a bush around 60cm diameter, so would be perfect for a balcony. Edit: With it being a bush it doesn't require pruning of side shoots or supporting - very low maintenance!

Also have a read through my tips on the other thread I linked too....don't be tempted by cheap compost - go for John Innes, or Compost Plus with added nutrients as a base, and don't forget to feed tomatoes with tomato plant food, and a general plant food once a week for more other vegetables as soon they start flowering / fruiting. Compost plus will typically feed them for the first month / 6 weeks.

[Petra Ceason]

Tiggeri,

There's a load of good, sound advice in cptwhite_uk's post, especially regarding the SIZE of tomatoes and cucumbers, please take note they grow BIG.

You can grow in grobags if you water them correctly, and they are fairly clean and easy.

There is an alternative available on Marshall's Website, box shaped beds called Greenhouse Gro-Beds at £11.95 for three. I have some and they are easy to use. They are about 750mm x 500mm x 20mm, so you move them into place THEN fill them with compost. They also sell Potato Gro-Sacks at £7.95 for three, but this year I'm growing Runner Beans up canes in mine, I can never get a worthwhile crop from potatoes.

Oh, and I agree Wilkinson's is a great source of budget Garden Sundries.

One other thing, if you are a real Beginner, Dr. D.G. Hessayon's paperback gardening books are EXCELLENT reading, and they are split into volumes, so you only need to buy the ones that apply to you.

Go for it, have a ball, and the best of luck.

Petra.