Do you want to start a balcony garden? Start a small balcony garden with simple steps. This article will give you an idea of how to make a balcony garden. Also, also check out a few balcony gardening tips for beginners that will help you to start and grow your balcony garden.
Don’t worry, we have your back. ‘Balcony Gardening’ is not as complicated as it seems. With these pointers, you can not only have a beautiful garden up and running without much hassle, but also maintain it well.
Let us check out how to make a balcony garden step by step.
How to make a balcony garden
Let us see step by step how to make a balcony garden? Follow the steps to create a balcony garden.
Step-1: Society Regulations
Before taking the plunge planning a Balcony Garden, be sure the society you live in is okay with it, the same is the case with rented apartments – check with your landlord if the contract allows you to have plants either indoors or on the balcony.
Most societies encourage plants but have regulations in place for potted plants in balconies. It includes their weight, the height you can place them at, nets and other safety equipment to be installed, hanging pots from hooks that are already provided, or specific places in the balcony ceiling where you can drill holes for the same, mounting cabinets, and planters on walls to name a few.
There are stricter regulations for a drainage outlet for the spillover water as well as regular checks for mosquitoes and other insects in collection trays under pots.
The walls of the balcony in most societies can be used as a vertical garden only after seepage and long-term implications are considered.
In older constructions, however, it is important to consider other aspects like the age of the building, the condition of the balcony, and existing damages to the structure of the building if any before planning.
Make sure you are aware of the regulations coupled with safety norms before moving ahead.
Step-2: Map out your space
Planning is key to not only getting things done but doing them right. Now that you have a go-ahead from society it’s time to start working on a plan to set up the Balcony Garden of your dreams.
But before you jump into purchasing pots and planters for your garden, start by measuring your space.
This may seem like a petty task but is the most important part of planning the garden.
Once you have your dimensions simply plot them on a piece of paper – a visual representation of the balcony garden will give you a clear idea of ‘what goes where’, ‘what to keep and what to lose’, and ‘what needs to be bought’.
Keep in mind that all aspects of the balcony will need to be measured, including the height, the clear space needed to maintain the garden after placing the pots – watering pruning, etc. will require approximately a foot or two depending on availability.
If you consider incorporating a sitting area, adding furniture or other embellishments to the garden mark out designated spots for them as well.
Once these basics are out of the way you have a clear picture of the amount of space available for pots, planters, and/or hanging pots.
You can then decide on the number of planters you would like to have based on their size.
Together with these a list needs to be made of stands and other materials required to mount the planters and pots, you also need to check to see if there is a provision for hanging pots, a pegboard with smaller pots will be used or would you consider wall-mounted ones to reduce both effort and clutter.
After these decisions are made you need to consider the types of plants that will be planted along with special provisions in terms of infrastructure for these plants including poles for climbers, a shed for the non-sun loving plants, and nets to keep out birds and insects.
Step-3: Weight
Before zeroing down on the types of planters you need to consider their weight. Individual pots may not weigh much but with soil, water, and the plant itself, planters get heavy.
To avoid excess weight consider buying high-quality poly-resin planters that look just like concrete or stone, have a similar feel but weigh just a fraction.
This will reduce the overall weight on your balcony. Along with this, you could reduce the weight of containers by placing Styrofoam peanuts at the bottom half of large pots and top it up with soil.
If you prefer using only natural materials, you could fill the bottoms with coconut coir, which provides excellent drainage and breaks down slowly. This method can be used for hanging plants as well
Step-4: Positioning
The direction your balcony faces is important when it comes to choosing the type of plants to incorporate into your urban paradise. In east or west-facing balconies most plants grow well as it provides an adequate amount of sunlight.
North-facing balconies, on the other hand, remain shady most of the time, and hence sun-loving plants won’t grow well as compared to a south-facing balcony that remains sunny longer which is not a happy place for shade-loving plants.
The availability of sunlight needs to be coupled with how windy the balcony is in during the day especially in the evening, during monsoon and winters, this will not only determine the types of plants but also the material of the planters and how they need to be arranged.
It is also necessary to have a source of water either in the balcony itself or close to it. Gardening in any form even in a small balcony can get messy. It is always an advantage to have fresh water at hand.
In addition to this, it is necessary to have a drain for the access water. Remember to have a net over the drain opening to avoid clogging.
Step-5: Keep it simple
Setting up a balcony garden is fun with the pot variants available, colors, and all that you can incorporate in your space.
You could go for a live wall, hanging planters, planters stacked upon one over the other, a lush lawn growing on the floor, creepers, flowering plants, a vegetable garden, gnomes, and other garden ornaments, seating arrangements, swings, and many more. With so many options at hand, you need to be mindful of ‘not overdoing it’.
Gardening is a commitment and requires time and consistency, a lush lawn will only remain lush as long as it’s maintained, the same is the case with a wall arrangement or potted plants.
Assess the amount of time you are willing to commit every day if you don’t have a lot of time at hand or travel a lot, grow plants that require low maintenance.
Customize the garden according to your availability and preferences. Growing a mix of flowers veggies/shrubs climbers depending on your taste is a good way of keeping it interesting – perennials and annuals, plants native to the region are easier to grow.
Diversity is interesting because it makes the garden look less chaotic and cluttered. You could incorporate color schemes as well with reds and yellows for a hot scheme, purples, and whites for a cool scheme or contrasting colors like blue and orange. This will help with uniformity and the overall look and feel of the garden.
Step-6: Budgeting for Balcony garden
Piggybacking on the previous point, along with keeping it simple budgeting plays an imperative to keeping you on track, preventing overspending. Set a budget and stick to it.
Getting new material seems like the best option, but you could consider upscaling things you already own and using them as planters and embellishments for the garden, the key is to spend only where it is absolutely necessary.
The Balcony garden could be your art project of sorts where you put together different pieces in terms of the overall decor, seating or planters. It could also double as a family activity where everyone contributes in some way or the other making it a combined display of art.
Budgeting also applies to the number of gardening tools you buy, try limiting yourself to a bare minimum.
Step-7: Maintenance of Balcony Garden
Having plants is like having a pet, you need to give them time, energy, and lots of love and affection.
An important fact to keep in mind is that plants that grow in planters or pots either indoors or outdoors require more care and attention as compared to those that grow on the ground where most nutrients are easily available.
Hence apart from watering them regularly, plants need to be pruned, the soil needs to be cared for, fertilizers need to be added and pest repellent needs to be sprayed regularly.
Apart from these while caring for plants emphasis need to be given to the amount of sunlight they receive, watering and the quality of soil used.
Step-8: Sunlight
The amount of sunlight depends on the position of the balcony as discussed previously. You could also have a shed if you wish to plant shade-loving plants or opt for electrical stimulators if your balcony is too dark.
Step-9: Watering
Most potted plants need to be watered regularly. Apart from this common knowledge you need to take into consideration the climate in the area you live in, for example, if you live in a hot and dry area the plants might require watering more than once a day to remain healthy.
Another factor to consider is the pot used, plants potted in terra cotta pots, need more watering as compared to those potted in fiberglass or plastic pots.
Seasonal changes also influence the watering frequency, in summers, you might need to water them twice as compared to during winters.
For a healthy garden, experts recommend the slow watering technique where you take time with each plant, watering it slowly till the excess drains out of the bottom as opposed to rush watering where you dunk water at one go.
In conjunction with your daily watering routine, having a backup watering plan is important.
Along with regular pots, there are self-watering variants available in the market, with attached as well as external drippers and sprinklers, there are also several videos over the internet that help create mini self-watering ecosystems.
These methods and gadgets are particularly helpful if you work erratic shifts or need to travel often. Apart from these, you could also get someone plant-sit for the duration of your absence.
Step-10: Soil
The quality of plants depends primarily on the soil used to plant them. Don’t use just any soil, the soil needs to be of good quality, you also need to add compost and fertilizers regularly to maintain its quality.
Another trick that experts swear by is covering the soil with moss to retain moisture, this is particularly useful for hot and humid locations and also during summer.
In addition to these pointers, we have put together two checklists to help reduce stress even further. The first checklist aids in starting a balcony garden.
Checklist: Starting a Balcony Garden
- Society regulations about having a balcony garden– Yes / No
- Things to keep in mind in terms of society policy ______________________
- Balcony Dimensions – L _____ B _____ H _____
- Clear space required for watering, pruning etc – _____
Sitting area – Yes / No
If yes size _____________
- Deco – Yes / No
- yes size _____________
- No. of Pots required – _____
- size – __________
- No. of hanging pots required – _____
- Other stands – _____
- Plant variants – ____________________
Along with this checklist, you could use the second checklist for maintenance – this will help keep a track of the types of plants you have and details of any special attention required, it also contains a slot for dates you added fertilizers and sprayed pest kill coupled with a reminder to check the undertray for pests
Plant details
- Name of plant – ______________
- Specific attention required – Yes / No
- If yes what ______________________
Fertiliser
- Fertiliser added on _____________
- Next date to add fertiliser _____________________
Pest kill and control
- Pest kill sprayed on ____________
- Next date to spray pest kill _____________
- Under tray checked on ____________
- Next day to check undertray _____________
We assure you with the help of these tools starting and maintaining a Balcony Garden will literally be a walk in the park.
How To Start A Small Balcony Garden
There are a few options available in terms of the space available to start a small balcony garden. Here are a few designs based on these spaces.
A balcony garden created on narrow front or side margins
Narrow margins are perfect for pots hanging from the beam above or on the window grills. Creepers are another option for these spaces. They climb up grills and can be used to grow veggies or flowers depending on your preference.
As these spaces are generally narrow and don’t have a protective barrier for pots, placing pots on them could be risky.
While caring for creepers be careful about keeping them away from the building wall as their roots could ruin the paint and in the long run affect the overall structure.
Building a garden on a parapet outside a window
Like narrow margins, these might or might not have a barricade for pots. As this may vary from one building to another please survey the parapet before placing planters.
Considering they do, you could place smaller pots with tall plants, you could also erect pillars/rods that can be used for climbers. Fairy lights will add to the beauty of the place.
A small bird’s feeding area along with a birdhouse for small birds will be a good addition to this type of apartment balcony garden.
Parapets are a good place to either read a book or gaze into a starry night sky provided you have the luxury of doing so. If you do, investing in floor mats or cushions and bolsters is a good idea.
These are better than tables and chairs that are restrictive and add to the clutter. These will make your small balcony garden look spacious and comfortable.
A common landing area for 2 or more house used to create a balcony garden
Building a balcony garden in a common landing can get a little complicated as it is not completely private. Secondly, u need to be mindful of the other flat owners as well.
You could start by placing a few pots and then adding to the décor one step at a time. In such spaces, a sitting arrangement can be created with a cover of plants if the place is big enough.
If not, you could place a few pots against the wall and add a few layers by using pots that attach to grills or the balcony railing. Adding layers will make your garden look bigger, on the other hand, they are easy to maintain.
In terms of lighting, lanterns are a good option as they are dim enough for u to have your private time and at the same time bright enough to enjoy a cup of coffee.
A small balcony garden in a walk-in rectangular balcony
This type of balcony is the most common. As you have more space, it is easier to set up an apartment balcony garden but at the same time, it is easier for it to get cluttered. Hence it is important to plan the space beforehand.
With proper planning, upscaling and creativity you can create a beautiful balcony garden in the limited space.
There are a lot of options available for example
- Traditional in-ground gardening – where just like the name sounds, it is one of the traditional methods of gardening. For balconies, the usual setup has been customized a little bit. Here, the soil is directly kept on the ground and a boundary like a fence is created all around to keep the soil at a particular level. Plants are then planted directly in the soil. This gives enough space for the plants to grow to their full potential. This method reduces the number of pots hence leaving room for either storage or a sitting area.
- Vertical gardening – Vertical gardening method uses the walls as a planting space. In this, a ranch-style bed is designed with enough spaces in between the wooden planks to plant the herbs or other plants without crowding the area. You could also use pots that are designed to be mounted on the wall. As this method uses only the wall you have the entire garden to design as required.
- Raised garden bed plants – here you have planters on a table or elevation. This makes it easier to water and at the same time lets, you use the space under the planters for storage.
- Layering – In this method, you layer planters using stands available in the market or those made from old tables or cabinets. This reduces the number of pots around and hence creating an illusion of a bigger garden.
All these styles can be mixed and matched according to your convenience. On the other hand, as this type of apartment balcony garden is more private as compared to the others you can have a sitting area. Either has a small table with chairs or a floor pillow.
Keep in mind that the pillow will have to be kept away after use as there are chances of it getting wet due to spillovers.
You can play around with the lights as well as fairy lights make the place look like a dream coupled with a few LED bulbs that make your space look bigger and brighter.
You could also use pebbles and small stones to give your garden a little definition. This will add to the beauty of the place.
Balcony Gardening Tips For Beginners
Well, setting up a balcony garden may seem super easy but you need to be fully committed to it. All the plants that you choose or wish to grow need to be properly chosen depending on the type of garden you have.
You can transform your balcony to be the most beautiful and exquisite part of your house by following these balcony gardening tips for beginners.
We have gathered some of the golden tips for your balcony garden and how you can make it worthwhile and full of greenery.
Make sure you take care of these special points while you are purchasing your plants, or watering them, or simply placing them in pots. It will help you take good care of the garden and also help plants grow faster.
Let us look at the list of tips for balcony gardening.
1. Build your garden by starting Small
The first thing that you must know about any balcony garden is for all beginners is that you need not rush into everything. Almost every balcony is a small space, either you have a home or an apartment you live in.
So to begin with, make sure you start with some easy to care for small plants. This will help you to boost your confidence once they start to grow. Take around 5-6 plants only and take good care of them.
After you have understood the effort needed to build a balcony garden. You can grow more plants and do the needful similarly.
2. Grow seasonal varieties plant
Plant selection has to be very intricate and needs to be taken into account carefully. Many beginners tend to pick out any plant that either has a good name or looks beautiful.
Unfortunately, that is not how it works. You need to grow plants based on the season that is coming along or the one you are experiencing.
If you would grow winter plants in the summer season, the leaves may burn out due to excess heat. And vice versa. So, make sure you do your research based on it and then plant them in the pots.
Furthermore, you will find tons of variety that have evergreen nature and grow the entire year.
3. Keep your Garden Low Maintenance
So, while setting a balcony garden, you can make sure to keep everything low maintenance. Now, this implies you can take some steps to get this done in the best possible way.
Make sure to put the right kind of plants in the right spot. If you have a plant that would need a good amount of sunlight, you need to keep it under the sun.
Furthermore, make sure that the watering system is rather easier for you in the long run. You can simply put up a drip irrigation system and be done with it.
Next up, the plants need to be chosen in a way that you do not simply fill up your garden but each of them should have enough space to grow.
4. Make a Herb Garden
A lot of you may already have done this, but some of you may not have yet. So, I would recommend that you go for making a small herb garden on your balcony. It is super easy to make and maintain.
All you would need is the initial setup of the pots or the container and that’s it. Also, make sure you have a balcony with a good amount of sunlight.
You can easily plant rosemary, thyme, basil, and a lot of others that you can use in your home on a daily basis. In fact, they are very easy to take care of and grow a lot faster. These plants will keep your garden full of greens and fresh too at all times.
5. Do not grow plants in small pots
Many of you might have the idea or say the myth that it is better to grow plants in smaller pots. It will save space and you can grow a lot more plants.
But it is believed that it is always a lot better if you have at least medium size pots. The roots get enough space to spread out and everything else falls into place the same way.
Yes, you can use small pots like herbs, money plants, etc. These do not need a lot of space to grow but rather grow perfectly well in a small surface area. So, make sure you have done your part of the research no matter what.
6. Keep your Balcony Garden colorful
Growing plants isn’t only about greenery. You should add colors to it as well. And for this buying, some beautiful flowers can do wonders.
Some of the most commonly grown flowers in balcony gardens are pansy, petunia, etc. They grow up to be different colored flowers that can make your garden a picturesque beauty by every means.
7. Add some hanging planter
Another balcony gardening tips for beginners is to add some hanging planter.
If you feel that you have a lack of any space left in your garden. Maybe you can try buying the hanging baskets or simply the pots, that can help you plant some more similar flowers or greenery.
There is nothing special that you need to do to set up the posts. Only take flowers that would need the least maintenance. Also, add as much color you think you can to your balcony garden.
8. Right amount of Watering
Watering the plants may seem like the most basic idea when it comes to setting up a garden either be it on your balcony or any place else. But the truth is you need to know a lot more about watering plants than you think.
Every plant has a different need when it comes to intaking water to grow. Some may need regular watering while some could even go for a few days without it. But make sure you never over-water the plants no matter what.
You may like the following gardening articles:
- Balcony, Terrace and Patio Gardening
- Balcony Container Gardening Ideas
- Best 20 Beautiful Small Balcony Gardens that you can start today
- How to grow tomatoes in Balcony Garden
- How To Plant A Herb Garden In Pots
- Water bottle gardening – Useful Guide
Did you get enough information on how to make a balcony garden? Are you starting your balcony garden now?
I am Elsa, love gardening. I spent lots of time with plants, flowers, it gives me lots of happiness.
I am sharing all the practical tips on how to grow various plants, flower plants, vegetables in the garden. Read more about me.