How to Grow Vegetables on a Small Balcony

Grow cherry tomatoes upside down to save space in your balcony vegetable garden.

If you love gardening but live in a balcony apartment, you can still sink your hands into some rich, dark soil and grow your favorite vegetables. The key to small-space gardens is taking advantage of every vertical and horizontal inch available. Some small-space gardens need more frequent care to prevent pests, plant diseases and temperature fluctuations from robbing you of your harvest. Balcony gardens create shade and privacy while individualizing your apartment.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• Drawing paper and sketch pencil
• Grapevine, willow withes and stock lumber
• Wire and string
• Pliers
• Scissors
• Tomato cages
• Plant containers, which may include jars, 5-gallon buckets, bowls, window boxes or strawberry pots
• Shredded newspaper or office paper
• Compost
• Small round river gravel
• Old screens
• Water
• Vegetable seeds, seed tape, cuttings or seedling plants
• Power drill with masonry bit
• Concrete anchors
• Plant hangers
• Electric razor
• Cotton swabs

Instructions

Planning

1. Measure your balcony if you do not already know its dimensions. Include the distance between your balcony and the one directly above it, and the distance from the surface of your balcony floor to the ceiling surface of the one below yours.

2. Subtract any space needed for patio furniture or other items and activities, unless you plan to devote the entire space to gardening. For example, if your balcony measures 6 by 10 by 10 feet and you have a 36-inch diameter bistro table and four patio chairs, you only have 30 square feet of floor space and 450 cubic feet of growing space. This assumes that the patio set takes up half the balcony and your plants take up a 3 foot space above the table.

3. Examine neighboring balcony gardens. Note what vegetables, if any, appear to be thriving. Make a list of the ones that appear to be growing well that you would actually be willing to eat. Exclude any whose appearance or scent do not please your senses.

4. Consult your soil and water conservation district, garden centers, FFA or 4-H clubs in the area about the space requirements, time from planting to harvest and average yields for each vegetable you intend to grow on your balcony. Exclude all vegetables that are "heavy feeders," meaning they require large amounts of fertilizers and soil amendments, and all vegetables that require more space than you have available.

5. Draw a planting guide showing where each plant will go and how closely together they can and will be planted for maximum harvest and minimum maintenance.

Preparing Containers and Supports

1. Find or build any needed supports such as trellises, poles or arbors using grape vines, willow withes and stock lumber. Gather pots and other containers, including jars, 5-gallon buckets and bowls for your plants.

2. Secure a source of compost, shredded newspaper or office paper, peat moss, and other soil amendments.

3. Drill drainage holes in or near the bottoms of each container if they do not already have them. Making holes just above the bottom provides a reservoir to keep plants from becoming too dry. Drill slightly larger holes in the 5-gallon buckets that will hold upside-down plantings, such as those for tomatoes, eggplant or squash.

4. Cut a piece of screen to cover the drain holes in the bottom of each container, except for the ones you intend to use as upside-down planters. Cover the bottom of each ground-level container with 1/2-inch to 1-inch round river gravel. The round river gravel will not compact, unlike sharp-sided gravel. Do not put anything in the 5-gallon buckets you intend to use for hanging or upside-down plantings.

5. Place enough crumpled or shredded paper, sawdust, peat moss, wood chips or straw in each larger container to make it 2/3 full. This keeps the weight of each container to a minimum and prevents overloading your balcony. Fill the remainder of the container with compost or potting mix, leaving a 1- to 4-inch space below the level of the top of the container, depending on its total depth.

6. Water all containers until a handful of soil feels like a damp sponge.

7. Plant remaining seeds and seedlings according to their individual requirements and recommended planting depths. Place your containers where each vegetable will receive the amount of daily sunlight it needs.

8. Hand-pollinate plants if you live in a high-rise, as fewer pollinators will visit plants above the second story. The best hand-pollination device is an unused electric razor with the blade removed, or a used one that has been cleaned with a cotton swab after removing the blade, according to Green Culture Singapore indoor and balcony gardener, Joshua Koh. He advises holding the razor under each flower, allowing the buzzing to vibrate the pollen into the open compartment. Brush the collected pollen onto each flower with a cotton swab.

Upside-Down and Hanging Planters

1. Fill one of your 5-gallon buckets with gravel, paper and soil as described in the steps for ground-level containers. Weigh the filled 5-gallon bucket and add the expected total weight of the per-plant vegetable yield to determine what size concrete anchors you will need for any hanging planters. It is better to overestimate potential yield and buy larger anchors.

2. Secure any plant hangers to the wall or balcony ceiling using a power drill with a masonry bit to make holes for your concrete anchors.

3. Have a helper hold one of the empty 5-gallon buckets you drilled for your upside-down plantings while you carefully thread two tomato, eggplant or squash seedlings through the large hole. Leave the root ball inside the container, with the leaves and stem outside. Fill the container as directed in previous steps.

4. Hang all your upside-down plant containers from your chosen plant supports.

5. Water all containers until a handful of soil feels like a damp sponge.

Tips & Warnings

• Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, green onions, beans, lettuce, squash, radishes, parsley, pole beans and cucumbers do well in containers, states Texas A&M Extension horticulturalist Sam Cotner. He advises small containers for green onions and parsley, and 5-gallon buckets for tomatoes, eggplant or peppers.

• Concrete anchors should be rated for four times the weight of any static load, which means a load that is steady and constant, according to the Ace Hardware Projects and Solutions team. Planters are considered a static load because even if there is some loss of soil due to drainage, it happens so gradually that it does not compromise the anchors.

• Garden soils that contain more clay than loam or sand are too heavy for a balcony or container garden. advises retired Virginia Technical College horticultural extension specialist, Diane Relf.

References

• Texas A&M Agrilife Extension: Vegetable Gardening in Containers
• Virginia Cooperative Extension: Vegetable Gardening in Containers
• Ace Hardware Projects and Solutions: Installing Masonry Anchors
• Green Culture Singapore: Hand Pollination Guide for Tomatoes