First Growing Season on the Balcony
At this point in the year most gardening tasks are complete - although I have to admit to having quite a bit of clean-up chores left - and I thought it would be nice to write a little bit about my experience this year with a balcony garden.
I wrote a post earlier in the season about how I was going about garden planning for such a small space, and here on the other side of things I’ve learned a lot. This post will just be about the general experience of the balcony - I’ll be writing up some harvest totals in a few weeks for those of you who are interested.
There are a lot of considerations when it comes to growing on a balcony. One thing I didn’t imagine ahead of time was that I’d end up with quite a pest problem. Without the natural ecosystem I’d encouraged in my previous gardens I found myself reaching for the insecticidal soap more frequently than I might like. My other main concern was keeping everything watered enough. My south facing balcony is very hot, and there is a large overhang which means it is almost completely dry as well. Not being able to rely on rain to keep my plants alive took a lot of adjustment. Not everything thrived as I got used to that, but I’ll chalk that up to learning experience.
There were a few surprises along the way. One was that because of the heat I had success with a different variety of crops than I was used to. The last garden was cool and shady on a north facing slope, so things like cucumbers never really took off there. Here I was able to pick quite a few off my two climbing plants. The heat also meant that my seasons were quite extended. My lime and olive trees were thriving outside even in the early spring and I just brought them inside yesterday. Allowing them to have access to outside longer really helped them. I’m hoping I can be more on top of their care through the winter and that they both get a good start next year. Maybe I’ll even get some limes again!
I’ve also - surprisingly - enjoyed the space constraint this year. I often bite off more than I can chew when I’m working on projects, and this year I was glad to have less to garden and more time to focus on my growing family. Life as a family of four brings a whole lot more chaos, not to mention that Mr. Forager also finished up his masters degree this summer and started a new role at work. It’s been a very full year!
I also wanted to create some space for our family to use outside. We moved things around a few times, but ultimately found space for a small bistro table and a propane grill. There’s some space for Little Forager to drive his toy cars, and even Baby Forager has enjoyed wiggling on a blanket outside.
We’ve all enjoyed having the balcony as a little extra space seeing as our apartment is so tiny. A surprising amount of wildlife has visited the garden - including pollinators like swallowtail butterflies - as well as birds and chipmunks. I wasn’t expecting this seeing as we’re surrounded by concrete parking lot, but to quote Jurassic Park, ‘life finds a way’.
