No matter where you live, you can find space for an outdoor garden. If you're a city dweller, you can transform your balcony into more than just barbeque or bike storage. You can create a soothing outdoor retreat by selecting containers and plants that utilize every available bit of growing space.
Carol Senderowitz, who specializes in growing gardens in small spaces, suggests these design principles and growing tips:
- For balconies that are long and narrow, smooth out corners with groupings of multi-leveled trees, shrubs and plants.
- Repeat a plant, or plant grouping, throughout the garden area.
- Feature trees and shrubs, and use colorful flowers mainly for accents.
- Create focal points by using bright colors or interesting shapes and textures.
- Consider the view from inside your home when placing plants outside.
- Choose trees and shrubs that have four-season interest--ones that flower in spring, are green in summer, change leaf color in fall and display interesting bark in winter.
- Consider the conditions of your patio when choosing plants: wind, weight of containers, water access and drainage.
- In cold weather climates, line wooden containers with 3/4-inch builder's foam to protect plant roots.
When planning for your own space, start with a diagram that is to scale. Include the architectural features of your balcony: windows, doors, railings and walls. Use this initial diagram to get a sense of how much room you have for plants, containers and any furniture. Be sure to leave plenty of room for people to move around and enjoy the space, too.
Although annuals are a common choice for balcony gardens, you can also plant perennials and bring them indoors for the winter to avoid any damage from cold weather. You can also try to over-winter plants on the balcony by wrapping the container in packing material. However, you may have to replace less hardy plants or plants that have been exposed to extreme conditions from year to year.
Since you are working with limited space, choose plants based on basic, efficient design schemes.
Plants for elevation
- Dwarf Alberta white spruce does well in a container. This cone-shaped conifer has dense gray-green needles that are soft to the touch. It's slow growing and will reach a mature height of 6 to 8 feet.
- Hibiscus grows to three feet tall and blooms all summer.
- Mandevilla is an evergreen vine that winds its way up a trellis. Bring it indoors in the winter.
Railing planters/combination plantings
- Caladiums make great focal points with colorful leaves that can grow up to 18 inches long. They are a tender perennial and can be replanted next year if you dig up the bulb-like tubers in fall and store them indoors.
- The dracaena spike adds height and texture to groupings. Its long, slender leaves provide a strong contrast to caladiums. Place it in the back of a planter.
- Asparagus ferns make a wispy background filler. Dig them up before the first frost and bring indoors for a houseplant.
- Silver licorice cascades over the edge of a planter and weaves in and out of plants, making it a nice filler. Place it at the front of a container to soften edges.
- Variegated vinca adds color and eye-catching, trailing vines. It grows quickly, so one vine will do in most containers.
Color
- Coleus is a delicate plant that grows to two feet or more. Depending on the variety, it has pink, yellow, crimson or red foliage.
- Ornamental sweet potato vine sprawls over the edge of a pot and adds a light contrast to plants with darker leaves.
- Niermenbergia fills in like a ground cover and produces masses of colorful flowers.
Privacy/wind protection:
- Feather reed grass is an ornamental grass that blooms in early summer. Its graceful, reddish-green flower spikes change throughout the growing season to a creamy white. This grass is a good focal point or background in a garden.
Once you choose your plants and know what size containers you plan to use, create an enlarged version of your original diagram to save yourself a lot of lifting and rearranging.
- Cut out paper circles and rectangles that represent your containers and furniture. Be sure to cut them to scale.
- Group pots with tallest plants in back. Put large pots against the railing and position railing planters so they can be seen from inside your home. Place furniture in an accessible location that offers a good view of all the plants on the balcony .
- Rearrange the elements until you find a suitable balance, and secure the paper pieces to the diagram with tape.
When you've gathered your plants, soil and containers, you're ready to start potting plants. Container planting has a unique set of requirements.
- Be sure your containers are large enough for your plants to grow into; avoid crowding plants.
- Keep in mind that glazed ceramic pots are heavy enough to withstand wind and retain moisture better than terra cotta. Purchase pots of different sizes and shapes for a visually appealing grouping. Every container should have drainage holes.
- Simplify cleanup by placing a sheet of plastic under your containers when planting.
- Use a lightweight soil mix that contains equal amounts of soil, peat, and perlite. It holds water well and won't compact in the container. This soil settles quite a bit when watered, so fill your container nearly to the rim with soil.
- Reduce the frequency of watering potted plants by mixing hydrophilic polymer into the soil. The polymers expand several times their volume in water, leaving the soil well drained and evenly moist.
- If you've chosen a plant that is root-bound, remove it from the pot by rolling it on its side while applying gentle pressure. The plant will slide out easily.
- Place the plants into balcony containers at the same depth that they were growing in their original container.
- If using a trellis, put it into the pot and then add the soil and plant. This allows you to firm in the trellis after your plant is in place.
- Look for adjustable railing planters that accommodate railings of almost any width and hold various-sized liners. Removable liners make it much easier to replace plants or bring them indoors for the winter.
- Wait until the containers are in their final location before watering. Dry containers are lighter and easier to move.
Once you've arranged your balcony garden, the basics of growing plants are pretty much the same as growing them in a traditional garden. All you really need is sun, soil and water. However, getting water to your balcony might require some creative engineering. Consider purchasing a hose that attaches to a kitchen sink faucet and is long enough to reach your balcony.
Check the soil every day; plants may need daily watering when it's hot and windy. Soak the soil until water drains out of the drainage hole. Shallow watering can cause a build up of harmful salts. While the plants are small, place the pots fairly close together to help them to retain moisture and protect them from wind. Move them apart as the plants grow.
Add a slow release granular fertilizer to the soil while planting or sprinkle it on the surface and work the granules into the soil. Apply the fertilizer at the rate recommended on the label. Or use a water-soluble fertilizer once a month.
Other maintenance is relatively minimal. Weeding is greatly reduced, if not nonexistent, with this type of garden. You merely need to remove any yellowing or brown leaves and spent blooms from your plants. This will leave you with plenty of time for relaxing and entertaining in your garden balcony.
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