Indoor and Outdoor Gardening

Indoor and Outdoor Gardening

There are a variety of reasons why people opt to grow their own food on a balcony, patio, or courtyard. Some are downsizing from a larger home to a more manageable one, while others have opted to rent instead of buy due to the high cost of homeownership. It's not like we can't garden because of this, however. A little garden may be created in any size yard. A garden might consist of a single plant in a pot. In reality, there is a seemingly endless variety of containers for gardening, including pots, half-barrels, window boxes, troughs, cast-iron planters, and recycled materials.

Designing a Patio Garden

There are a few essential measures to take while organizing a garden for a limited area. The first step is to think about why this room even exists. It's up to you whether you want to plant a garden to produce food and herbs, entertain guests, relax, create a place of serenity and healing, or even use it as a memorial garden. Next, take a good, hard look at everything you have in your room. Where do I find the entrances, outbuildings, and fixed planters? How much clutter is there? To go through your belongings, ask yourself, "Do I love it?" Have I utilized it in the last twelve months? Get rid of it, repaint it, patch it up, and give it to someone who can use it if it's no longer useful to you. If you can, pull up a chair and contemplate where you feel most at ease energetically. Seating like a park bench, lounge chair, Muskoka chair, dining set, swing, etc. may be placed there. Which do you prefer, a formal or casual atmosphere? Which capabilities are most important to you? The final touches to your little garden include elements like water, flowers, veggies, herbs, windchimes, wildlife, color, etc. Last but not least, plan ahead, especially if you want to employ bulky components like a half-barrel. Once you put soil in it, you won't want to move it around.

Making the Most of Limited Outdoor Space

Containers

In general, plants grow better when surrounded by organic materials like wood, clay, stone, or even cast iron. If you have any weight limits because of your balcony garden's location, remember that moist soil is quite heavy. Fiberglass and other similarly lightweight container materials are best for growing plants on rooftops and balconies. Hanging baskets, wirework stands and baskets, wood window boxes, sinks, troughs, galvanized buckets, old shoes or boots, bathtubs, tires, and other found things are just some of the many types of containers available.

Scale

Gardening on a tiny scale requires careful consideration of every detail. Plants with a smaller footprint appear better in a smaller container, while those with a larger footprint look better in a larger container. I really enjoy the appearance of vines growing on trellis in half-barrels with smaller plants around the container. In the half-barrels I use, I have planted many various vines but have discovered that the effect of scarlet runner pole beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) is truly a stunner with their magnificent red blossoms, and you can eat them too.

Microclimates

Where do certain plants thrive best, and why? Pick plants that will thrive in your intended environment. While geraniums (Pelargonium x hortorum), marigolds (Tagetes erecta), and petunias (Petunia x hybrida) thrive in full sun, begonias (Begonia x semperflorens), coleus (Coleus x hybridous), and fuchsias (Fuchsia x hybrida) thrive in shade. The effects of wind on delicate plants may be significant. You should choose wind-resistant plants, like several types of grass, since the rustling sound they make as the wind blows across them is quite relaxing.

Soil

I usually get my potting soil from home improvement stores or greenhouses. They are easier to transport, free of weed-seed-germinating pathogens, and packed with peat moss to reduce soil compaction in containers. Vegetables are grown in a garden where I also utilize organic soil that has not been treated with synthetic chemicals.

Watering

The soil in a container may dry up faster, so check on it every day. If you're using clay containers, this is much more crucial. Roots are rotting in water in containers without drainage holes. Empty saucers that are filled after a lot of rain or water If you want to avoid flooding your neighbors' floors, it's best to raise your plants off the ground while gardening on a balcony.

Fertiliser

Plants grown in containers need fertilizer more often than those in the ground because they are watered more frequently. Use organic fertilizers such as blood meal, bone meal, or fish emulsion, especially if the soil is going to be put in the garden at the end of the season, since chemical fertilizers hurt the fauna.

Function

Your modest garden is more like an outside room after you're done with it. Remember that this may be painted to match the rest of your house for a seamless look. During the warmer months, I create garden rooms outdoors by relocating my indoor plants there.

Key emphasis

Make something the eye is drawn to, such as a huge pot, a tall plant or tree, a splash of color, or a fountain. A big container is ideal for growing perennial vines like Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), which will return year after year. Hide a plant or decorative item behind another object to heighten the element of surprise and delight in its eventual reveal.

Colour

Instead of using many different colors, which may be overwhelming in a tiny room, stick to a limited palette of three, such as pinks, blues, and whites; reds, oranges, and yellows; reds, whites, and blues; or reds, whites, and purples. By contrast, bright and bold colors tend to make a room seem smaller and darker. More formal and especially stunning at night is the "moon garden" color scheme of white and green. There are several nighttime-blooming white flowers.

Lighting

My favorite part is the trellis covered with climbing vines and the little Christmas lights tucked among them. For nighttime gatherings, accent a specific location with uplighting using modest spotlights.