Have you ever wondered how you can transform your empty balcony space from boring to exhilarating? A garden is a smashing idea to give your balcony a facelift.
Whether your balcony is spacious or small, there is a garden design for all sizes to deliver blossoming aesthetics.
While open balcony spaces deserve adornment, using the best gardening ideas to add hue and fragrance to your apartment is essential. Therefore, before choosing a gardening concept, it is crucial to consider three things;
- The size of the balcony
- The idea for the garden and
- The reason for the garden.
Here are some gardening ideas to upgrade your empty balcony space.
6 inspiring balcony garden ideas
1. Container garden:
Highlighting the beautiful features of gardening containers and flowers, this is the most common and affordable idea for balcony gardens. This technique is also every minimalist favourite because a container can hold over three plants or more. One way to enhance the beauty of a container garden is by placing gravel or stones on the soil surface.
2 Designs to explore with a container garden are;
- The floor placement and
- The Wall/Vertical design.
The former is easy to maintain compared to the latter because the plants are within your reach, making it easier to weed, trim or change the flowers
Create a gardening style with a mix of shrubs and herbs like scent leaf, sweet neem leave, basil, lemon balm and mint to add scent to your home, or flowers that produce petals of different colours like Lantana, zinnia and hyacinth flowers.
You can use both floor and wall designs if you like an extravagance.
2. Raised Bed Garden:
Raised bed gardening concept depicts simplicity and elegance. This technique for a minimalist is sophisticated yet delivers a snugly and comfortable space for a calm evening rest.
The beauty of the modern bed has made this method more contemporary and aesthetically pleasing compared to the container garden. Raised bed garden is roomy and suits a spacious balcony, but if the balcony space is compact, stick to the container garden.
Rooty vegetables grow better in a raised bed garden, so consider growing carrots, beets, leafy greens, lettuce and tomatoes. However, if vegetables are not your thing, there are flowers you can grow in your raised bed garden, such as; Lavender flowers, petunias, day lilies and marigolds.
If you want your balcony to speak simplicity and class, go for the Raised bed gardening.
3. Pocket garden
Pocket gardening is not the conventional method of gardening. Instead of a container like the vertical design, it requires a bag with several pockets making it a form of vertical garden arrangement differently.
A tip to maximize this method is to plant colourful flowers in each pocket, and when the flowers blossom, they overlap and create a colourful board. Think of a mixture of yellow-coloured flowers like billy buttons, yellow iris or Pansy, with a red-coloured flower like hibiscus, hardy jewel coreopsis or zonal Geranium, with a touch of purple-coloured flowers like lilac or lavender, and the colour board comes to life.
This idea is best for small balcony spaces that require attraction and coziness.
4. Upside-down gardening
A garden filled with your perishables is a beautiful sight to behold but can be a tussle if you own pets.
The pros and cons of this design are that it protects your plants from your pet whilst giving a greenery look to your balcony, and not every plant does well in an upside-down position. It is less accommodating for florals and used for planting vegetables and herbs.
Some plants to consider in your upside-down garden are tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, strawberry, eggplants, zucchini and some herbs. Marigold is one flower that does well in upside-down gardens.
If you desire to distance your garden from your pets and at the same time give your balcony a fresh green look, have an upside-down garden in mind.
5. Hanging garden:
If you enjoy the evening serenity with the wind tossing the garden around and a glass of your favourite red wine, the hanging garden is worth giving a shot. With colourful flowers planted in a drop-down sequence and led lights hung around the flowers this idea will add hue to your balcony.
Some colourful flowers to consider in your hanging garden includes; million bells flower, portulaca, petunia, and fuchsias, with some scented herbs like creeping thyme, creeping rosemary and Indian mint to enhance the beauty and scent of your balcony.
Hanging gardening can be styled in two different ways;
- Hanging in a suspended position from the ceiling and
- Hanging on the balcony rails.
Again, you can mix both designs like the container gardens for a more appealing look.
Hanging garden (Image credit: Hoselink Gardening Solution)
6. Mixed gardening:
Mixed gardening is an adventurous style for the extra gardeners. Every corner of the balcony has flowers and vegetables lying in various positions. You can achieve this arrangement using a blend of hanging design, upside-down, vertical and floor, and raised bed garden.
For a minimalist, this design is too loud and tremendous. Before exploring this technique, the balcony should be spacious, providing ample opportunity for every flower to bloom differently.
Mixed gardening looks beautiful if you are experienced in aesthetics and colour mixing to avoid a busy balcony.
Balcony gardens are sacred, so care for them like a sanctuary. Protecting the plants in your garden should be the very first activity of the day to keep them flourishing.
Tips to maintain your balcony garden;
- Water the plants every morning and every night.
- Uproot the dying plants and replace them
- Plant flowers that are heat tolerant.
A healthy garden is a good mood booster, relieves stress, helps with connections, and builds your strength.
There are no rules to gardening. Therefore, if you are yet to use the space in your apartment balcony, now is the time to explore these balcony garden ideas.
