15 Tips for Gardening on the Balcony: What to Know Before Starting

A balcony garden can be as complicated or simple as you want. You can spend thousands of dollars or you can make one for very little money. With plant and container choices, you can either make a relatively low maintenance, easy balcony garden or you can do a full-on farm. It depends on your space, light, and exposure and the amount of time, energy, and/or money you want to spend.

Balconies are usually microclimates, differing significantly from the climate on the ground. There can even be different microclimates on a tiny balcony. If an area is shaded, that can be one climate, if another area is exposed to the wind, that is a different climate. The conditions on balconies can be extreme, with huge temperature fluctuations. Also, surface treatments can affect how hot or cool your balcony is and if it retains the heat over time.

The good news is that there are beautiful plants for almost every condition possible. The trick is to really figure out what the environment is before you plan your out-of-the-ground garden. Here are 15 essential tips to consider before starting your balcony garden.

Work Vertically

Are there vertical spaces you can plant or hang planters on? Even if your space is microscopic, you can still garden by creating vertical space. From piling up pots to creating trellises, there are ways to use all of your space.

Choose Plants That Work With Your Sun Exposure

People tend to overestimate how many hours of direct sun a space gets. This is particularly true on a balcony because buildings or walls can obstruct the sun in certain parts of the space. You need to accurately assess how many hours of direct sun each place you want to grow stuff gets.

To do this, you will have to either methodically time it out with a watch or get a gardening tool called a sun calculator. You also need to time it close to your growing season, because as the sun moves across the sky, your results will vary from the winter to the summer.

Consider a Succulent Garden

Succulents come in many sizes, shapes, colors, and varieties, and are generally very easy care plants. They're a great choice for a balcony that gets lots of sun and summer heat. Most container-grown succulents are very drought tolerant, and are not too bothered by wind in terms of drying. They can have large leaves or small ones, upright or trailing habits, so the design possibilities are nearly endless.

Some succulents, like sedums, flower in late summer and fall, while others flower in the spring or even winter months. When choosing succulent plants, make sure they're appropriate to your growing zone.

Pay Attention to Heat

Again, balconies and rooftops can get searingly hot. Not all plants thrive in extreme heat, so it's best to take this into account when you are planning what to grow. For example, lettuce will not thrive in extreme heat. On the other hand, heat-loving plants like pothos, spider plants, and palms will be ecstatic, though they may not enjoy direct sun.

Make a Plan to Deal With Wind

Some plants laugh at the wind and others will curl up and die. It's all about choosing the plants that fit your environment, or to a certain degree, modifying your space to expand your plant pallet. There are ways to create windbreaks to protect more fragile plants by planting larger plants that are wind tolerant in front of the more tender plants. You can also put plants that don't like the wind in low pots near the floor to give them more protection.

In addition to strategic placement, there are different methods you can use to protect plants from wind. Using screens (such as bamboo blinds) that can be moved or adjusted can help create a wind barrier. You can also try using stakes or small trellis stands in your plant pots to help stabilize plants.

Another consideration is that wind dries plants out incredibly quickly, so if your area is windy, you will have to compensate for that by either putting in a drip irrigation system, getting self-watering pots or frequently watering your plants—sometimes several times a day.

Deciding on Annuals vs. Perennials

Depending on your situation, you have to figure out if you want to have plants that can stay on your balcony all year round, or have some tender perennials that can be brought inside for winter. The first thing to do is check your USDA Plant Hardiness Zone to see if your balcony plant is winter hardy. Given the difficulty of schlepping plants and pots to and from a balcony and the fact that many people look at the balcony all year, it can be a good idea to get plants that will overwinter.

When considering hardiness zones, your balcony is a microclimate and your zone may be significantly different than a plant growing in a park nearby. Finding your zone is a good place to start when planning your garden. Keep in mind that if you want to leave your plants out through the winter, in cold climates, make sure your plants are rated two zones more cold-tolerant that your area is rated.

Another option is to create a display of annuals for your balcony. This would mean starting over each spring and planting new annuals, which can get expensive. There are also tender perennials such as cannas, caladiums, dahlias, or gladioli with bulbs or tubers that can be dug up before winter. You can store the bulbs in a cool dry place (in sand or peat moss) and replant containers in the spring.

Start Slowly

The best idea, if you are just beginning, is to start slowly. See if you like gardening and see how much time you want to spend and how attentive to your plants you are. You can always buy more plants, but if you start slowly, you can get a feel for what works in your space and what doesn't, before you have made too big a commitment.

Get a Good Watering Can

For many balcony gardeners, watering houseplants is an issue. Large pots with thirsty plants can take a huge amount of water and sometimes the faucet is far from the plants. If you have a lot of pots or large pots, you may need to invest in a large watering can that you fill in a shower or the bathtub.

Grow Colorful Flowering Vines

There are a number of flowering vines that don't grow too tall that are a nice choice for a balcony. They will need staking or some sort of trellis to climb on. Clematis comes in a number of varieties and is a good choice if you have a decent amount of sunlight. Sweet peas form lovely flowering vines and can be planted annually from seed.

Choose Crops Carefully

Given the limited space of a balcony garden, you want to make good choices about what you will grow. Do you want flowering plants only? Do you want small trees? Check growing habits to make sure you will have enough have space as plants get bigger.

Try Edible Plants on Your Balcony

Perhaps you want to grow an edible balcony garden. Edibles can be gorgeous as well as tasty, and the flavor of most homegrown food far outstrips anything you can buy in a supermarket. Keep in mind you need full sun (six to eight hours of direct sunlight) to grow many vegetables, especially tomatoes and peppers.

However, you can grow lots of greens with much less sun. Lettuces and kale grow very quickly from seed and you can plant several crops per season.

Grow an Herb Garden

A balcony herb garden is a good option if you have at least three or four hours of sun. Most herbs are very easy to grow from seed (try basil, thyme, parsley, and dill). Some warm climate herbs such as rosemary will need to be brought inside during cold winters.

Try Dwarf Fruit Trees

If you live in a warm climate, and get plenty of sun on your balcony, consider growing dwarf fruit trees suitable for your growing zone. Nothing beats fresh Meyer lemons or limes picked from your very own tree. There are also dwarf plums, cherries, and apples. You will need fairly large containers so you may want to start with one tree to make sure you have enough space.

Keeping Things Clean

Gardening can be a dirty hobby, which is of course why some people enjoy it: the smell of soil and getting our hands dirty can be very rewarding. But maybe you don't want your balcony floor covered with dirt.

Having trays beneath your containers is not only good for moisture retention or drainage, but helps keep things clean. Small easy-care throw rugs can be a way to help contain dirt and plant debris, but take care not to shake these out over your downstairs neighbors' balcony. Get a small dust buster or small hand broom and dustpan to clean up spills.

Where to Store Gardening Tools

Gardeners often have backyard sheds to store equipment and tools, but what about a balcony garden? Since you'l be growing in containers, you probably only need hand tools. You can get a basket or tool bag to keep them organized, or maybe have a small potting table with drawers or shelves. Protect your metal tools from the elements so they don't get rusty.