By: Jennifer O’Connor
It was “I see your potential” at first sight.
When I moved into my home, I stepped out on the balcony. The person who was living here left some stuff for me to take to the garbage room, and without the trash it was essentially a concrete and brick box. Still, I knew that this little space could be fabulous with some nice seating and a few plants.
If you’ve got a similar space, check out The Balcony Gardener: Creative Ideas for Small Spaces by Isabelle Palmer, a guide to growing all kinds of blooms and edibles as well as creating a unique urban oasis.
“Looking out on the florae and visiting fauna is not only uplifting — my garden is also a source of great pride,” writes Palmer, who also founded an online garden supply store of the same name. “For this resason, I would like to encourage others to create an area where they can relax at the end of a long day and feel those benefits too.”
Her book is a handy guide full of practical, easy to follow, creative advice that will appeal to the novice gardener and provide more experienced green thumbs with some inspiration.
Palmer begins with a chapter on the basics of gardening including tools you’ll need, keeping a garden all year long, and some design tips: “Don’t overdo the number of colors in a planting scheme; it will look too busy and make your garden look smaller.”
She then suggests some themes for different gardens. I love the idea of The Lazy Garden: “This garden, with its hot, lazy ambience, contains an array of waxy, succulent plants surrounded by whitewashed walls and accented by colorful furniture and accessories.”
Palmer also has ideas for reusing materials, such as using olive oil drums as containers and propping a pallet on its side to make a planter.
She goes on to give advice on herbs, vegetables and fruits that you can grow in pot (where to put them, when to sow and harvest). “Be sure to keep an eye of your herb garden and ensure it receives enough water,” she writes, “you may need to move the pots around during particularly hot spells to stop them drying out.”
Palmer finishes with ideas for furnishing, decorating and making gifts and decorations from the bounty on your balcony. For example, when accessorizing your space: “Choose cushions that reflect some of the colours you’ve used in your containers and planting. You can either alternate the shades or blend in the hues. Try different fabrics and textures.”
My balcony garden was well underway by the time I found this book. I had selected a mess of herbs as well as plants that I remember seeing while playing at my grandma’s house (black raspberries, rhubarb, violets). I put a few bits of driftwood on the cement floor.
Inspired by Palmer, I decided that a small shelf I’d planned to get rid of will make a perfect addition to the garden. I can place herbs on top so they’ll get more light. It needs to be stripped and refinished, and I’ll sew a curtain to cover up the garben tools and compost stored on the shelves.
I’m also looking for a wine crate to grow some herbs on my partner’s terrace and a few olive oil drums to plant some more flowers (I’m thinking coneflowers, marigolds and lavender, which Palmer notes attract butterflies). I just finished making a couple of table clothes out of vintage beige fabrics.
Creating a simple balcony garden doesn’t have to be that expensive. Herbs are easy to find for under $3 each. Terra cotta pots are simple and relatively cheap (apply plain yogurt to the surface with a sponge, advises Palmer, to encourage lichens and mosses to grow and give the pot an aged look). Check out native perennial plants. The flowers I planted last year have come back.
I still consider myself a novice gardener, but a few pots on a balcony are easy to manage and it’s great to sit outside and enjoy the relaxing space I’ve created.
As I write this, my milkweed is growing (soon to welcome monarch butterflies, I hope), the wild columbines need a good watering, and I’ve noticed a flower on my black raspberries.
It’s quite a sight.
http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/doityourself/article/1209516–balcony-gardening-is-easy-as-rhubarb-pie
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