Tips for Growing a Vegetable Garden on Your Apartment Balcony

Living in an apartment doesn’t mean you can’t grow your own veggies at home. In fact, you have a space that’s perfect for a small family garden – your balcony. Here are some tips to make that small space into a productive, growing garden.

Pick the Right Plants

You aren’t going to have deep flower beds you can plant in, so choose plants that don’t need to grow deep under ground. Also, consider plants that climb, as you can use trellises to allow them to grow upwards. If your space is large enough, you can plant a few plants that require large containers, but if not, stick with items like eggplant, peppers, lettuces, herbs and vine-based fruits that grow up and out, rather than down. Tree experts at Dallas garden and tree care services give best advice in this.

Check the Weight Restrictions

Before you start, check your apartment community’s balcony weight restrictions. Garden containers filled with soil, water and plants can be quite heavy. Make sure that you know that the container is going to be well supported on the patio.

Keep It Small

It’s easy to get excited about your container garden, and end up with a cluttered, unusable patio. Keep things simple so your patio looks beautiful and is still accessible. You can always add more later if you feel you can use the space.

Used Raised Beds and Vertical Planters

Raised beds provide quite a bit of space in a limited area to plant. A raised bed or table planter with at least 11 inches of depth can give you quite a bit of planting space. You can grow tomatoes, lettuce and zucchini well in this type of planter. A vertical planter is a great choice for plants that need to be closer to the light. These provide a raised planting surface that can get the plants closer to the sun and away from the shadow of your patio wall.

Plan for Watering

One challenge with apartment gardens is the lack of irrigation. You won’t have a garden hose in most apartment patios. Invest in a good watering can you can use when the rain is not sufficient. Make sure, however, that the containers have adequate drainage. Too much water on a patio garden can do more harm than good.

As you can see, it’s fairly simple to grow a productive garden on an apartment patio, with the right planning. Use these tips to get the most out of your space, and enjoy the pleasure of fresh-picked veggies right at home.