HOW TO START AN APARTMENT BALCONY GARDEN

admin | October 18, 2021

If you are living in an apartment, chances are that your home is smaller than what you would like and you don’t have a front lawn or backyard for starting a kitchen garden of your own.

Don’t worry; if you have a balcony space or a terrace, which is in often cases, dull and deserted, you can make use of it to create a balcony garden to cultivate different vegetables, flowering plants, herbs, and other edible greens.

Irrespective of the size and architecture of your balcony, along with some creativity and investing some effort and time, you can transform your apartment balcony space into a dream balcony garden, which has the possibility of offering you a great sense of satisfaction. Let’s look at the step-by-step process for creating an apartment balcony garden:

1. Check for the building rules

Check for the building rules comes in the first step before planning to start an apartment balcony garden. Once you’ve made up your mind to start your own balcony garden, and if you are living in an apartment or condo, as a first step, make sure to inquire if the rules of your building allow you to set up a garden.

2. Find the right space

Taking into account the factors like sunlight, area, and position, you should choose an area or space, according to the location available to you (Balcony, terrace, rooftop, or patio). Assessing the amount of sunlight that your balcony receives, you can measure the area you would be allotted for placing balcony pots and containers and mark the same.

Space available in other forms such as railings and walls, where you can hang containers or pots and create a vertical garden can also be considered.

3. Choose the right plants for the balcony garden

Choosing the right plants for your balcony garden is also important. According to the calculations you’ve made regarding the sunlight that the balcony receives, choose the type of balcony garden plants that have the potential of growth and survival under those conditions.

It is ideal to start with easy-to-grow vegetables and herbs like spinach, tomatoes, eggplant, curry leaves, basil and mint.

4. Choose the right balcony garden pots or containers

After choosing the plants you can decide on the type of balcony garden pot or container that’s required to place your plants. With various types of pots and containers available in different sizes, shapes, forms, and materials, you can choose one according to your own preferences or even consider building one for yourself.

Remember to ensure that the balcony or rooftop can take the added weight of pots along with the soil and try considering reusable plastic and glass containers as an ideal way to reduce waste and go green.

5. Get the right soil

Once you’ve decided on the plants you’ll be growing in your balcony garden, then the next step is to get the right mixture of soil. You can choose between the ready-made potting mix available in the market or to make it yourself by mixing the soil with compost and coco-peat.

6. Watering the balcony garden plants

A sufficient amount of water is significant for the growth of any plant and for balcony gardeners, watering their plant is an issue and you need to figure out how you are going to bring water to your plants. Drip irrigation and self-watering pots are two of the new-age alternatives that can be considered for watering the plants.

You might also require to ensure that the water from your plants would not drain to your neighbor’s house. Placing saucers or trays under your plants could prevent such overflows.

7. Check for the wind

With apartments situated in heights, balcony gardeners should also be aware of the extreme conditions their plants could face. The higher you are, the more wind you are likely to have in your balconies and hot drying winds can quickly dehydrate your plants.

Using lattice or wire trellis can block prevailing winds and also provide support for climbing vines. Shifting the plants occasionally to avoid the sun and wind burns is also recommended.

As an eco-friendly builder in Kerala, Veegaland Developers acknowledges all kinds of green initiatives that are valuable for sustainable development and the future. We, therefore, design and develop flats and apartments with eco-friendly means and state-of-the-art techniques.

RERA-registered Veegaland Developers flat and apartments in Kerala have sample homes equipped to offer the interested buyers first-hand experience of their prospective homes. For more information on our ongoing and upcoming projects, please visit: www.veegaland.com