Putting together a garden in a small flat can be fun and creative. No matter how small your balcony or deck is, there are many ways to make the most of it and grow a lovely garden. If you want to start a balcony garden, here are some ideas and tips.

Best Use Your Space

A beautiful patio garden doesn't take up a lot of room. Make good use of walls, railings, and buildings above you. Pots, shelves, or trellises can be attached to the walls. If your balcony has a roof, add some hooks so plants can hang from there. If you want to support climbing plants, you can cover the railings with chicken wire or buy plant hangers that you can connect to the top of the railing.

Know what you can't do

It is important to know how much room you have before you start planting. Check with the owner of the building to see what you can do. Think about how much weight your deck can hold. Heavy things like big pots of clay and wet soil can add up quickly. It's also important to think about the microclimate of your porch, which includes the temperature, sunlight, and wind.

How to Water

For those who don't have access to an outside water source, watering a balcony garden can be hard. You might want to buy a big, light watering can or a watering can that can be folded up and filled in the bathtub. Self-watering pots can also help you save water and water less often. To make things easier, buy an outdoor hose that is light, expandable, and can be connected to a kitchen sink with an adapter.

Things to Grow

For a rooftop garden, you can grow almost any plant that can grow in a pot. You could grow veggies, herbs, small trees, small shrubs, annuals and perennials that do well in containers, succulents, tropical houseplants, and flowering vines. Pick plants that can handle the amount of sun that your balcony gets.

Pick Out Your Containers

When choosing pots for your balcony garden, think about how much they weigh, how long they last, how well they handle bad weather, how easy they are to water, and how much they cost. Containers made of plastic and aluminum are light and come in many shapes and sizes. Another choice is fabric grow bags, which are light and easy to store when the growing season is over. Hanging baskets and outdoor railing baskets are great ways to save space. Tiered planters let you grow your yard up and down.

Ideas for a Balcony Garden

Here are some creative garden ideas for your balcony:

Herb Garden:

Most herbs do well on a sunny porch and don't need much room. If your patio doesn't get a lot of sun, you might want to grow herbs that do well in some shade, like tarragon, parsley, chervil, and cilantro.

Vertical Garden:

Use wood pallets, old bookcases, or tiered planters to make the most of vertical room. This lets you grow more plants without taking up valuable floor room.

Fun Mix:

Don't be afraid to put different kinds of plants together. Adding small trees, shrubs, plants with leaves, and bright annuals to your garden will make it more interesting and varied.

Plants That Climb:

To support plants that climb, use trellises and fences. Your deck will smell and look beautiful with flowers climbing up trellises and falling over railings.

Private refuge:

Use slatted walls covered in climbing plants and other plants to make a private refuge. These walls also block the wind and protect plants that are easily damaged.

small Trees:

You might want to plant small trees like olive trees, which don't need much water and can survive high winds and temperatures below freezing. Light them up at night to make them look even more beautiful.

If you use these tips and ideas, you can make a lovely and useful balcony garden that makes your living space better and gives you joy all year long. Have fun planting!