Experiment #8 Begins: The Balcony Vegetable Garden

I love the outdoors, but live in a place where space is small and expensive, and outdoor space is rare. We have a tiny balcony for a bit of fresh air, but I struggled for a year with what to do with it. It barely fits two people at once, and we have to move the second chair to get back inside.

After over a year in my current location, I finally turned to my balcony in the spring to figure out what exactly to do with it, and to dedicate some love and attention outdoors. I made an outdoor space that was worth using, even if we barely fit.

 

It was beautiful. I spent time out there. I watered the plants and kept them alive for several months. 

Then, it rained a lot and my begonia got moldy and died. Then it rained too little and my marigolds got spider mites. I saved them, but too late. They never stopped looking bedraggled. The petunias couldn't handle the afternoon heat, and shriveled when August hit. 

It was a good run, summer balcony, but its time to prepare for the approaching fall and to get rid of the old and the now ugly. I want to keep using the space, so I am replacing the plants. Rather than replace the plants with more fall decorative plants, I decided to try doing something useful. 

I'm starting a long term experiment now: growing some vegetables. With a budget covering only enough for seeds and soil, I'm having to get creative with planters as well. What follows is the tale of the beginnings of my balcony garden, and I'll follow up later with its progress and results. 

The Balcony Vegetable Garden, Part One

Step One: Research

This first step required me to look up first what vegetables grow well in the fall, and then what vegetables grow well in the fall in containers. I bought most of what looked plausible figuring that I would just try a bunch this year and see what worked best. I'll repeat the search in the spring. 

I've ended up with Swiss Chard and broccoli (both of which require larger size containers to grow), Spinach, Romaine Lettuce, and Carrots. Oh, and spearmint, which is my fun piece. The package says its good for flavoring cold drinks and teas. 

The second part that had to be researched was what sort of items I can use as containers beyond the containers I already have. There are a lot of creative people in the world. The most important answer I found, though, was to be careful of what recycled plastic containers you use because of both the materials that they are made out of and the materials that were stored in them or near them. This is a helpful article I found on the topic: Safe Gardening Containers

Step Two: Plant

I ordered my seeds, but you can also go to a garden center and buy some. I had to get more potting soil too, and make a few containers. I have a few real containers. I'm also using a milk jug that I cut in half as a starter container for broccoli. Turn the top half with the spout upside down into the bottom half to make a self watering container. 

Then, plant seeds and wait. 

I've been adding a few more plants every few days. 

This is broccoli, starting to grow. I'll transfer it
to another container when it gets a bit bigger.
It is planted in a milk jug, cut in half. 

Other vegetables, waiting to sprout. 

That's all for now on this one. The balcony garden will involve a lot of watering, monitoring, and waiting. I'm not expecting to get a lot of vegetables this year. This is truly a trial run to see what works and if it is worth my time in my current location. I'm curious to see how this goes; perhaps it will be useful in the future.