Promises are made to be kept. I have kept mine and I am proud of it. I had promised myself that my balcony garden would be more colorful and I had made a few plans which I mentioned in my August garden journal. Then I wasn't even sure if I could do what I had planned to do. However, I have always known that if you have the passion you'll find a way to make it work.
(The images used here show my tiny 10x10 feet balcony garden from different angles.)
Before I tell you how the work in my balcony garden has progressed let me explain the purpose of my balcony garden. I have had a disc prolapse which has limited my activity in the garden. The vegetable garden on the terrace requires heavy work which meant that I have to depend on others to get things done. Not everyone is passionate about gardening and works in my kind of time frame. Besides the copious rain we have had this year had made a joke of my vegetable garden. So I decided to do the things I can do by myself. I created a hanging garden with one hanger at a time. I decided to make it beautiful and colorful, so I could enjoy it anytime I wanted since this space is partially covered.
While creating the garden my objective was to ensure that this is low budget or better still it could be created with the resources I had. I found that buying hanging pots was turning out to be an expensive option. I used soda bottles, regular pots, baskets etc. Ropes and metal wires which we had bought for some work on our terrace were used to hang pots.
I made hooks by bending wires with a small pliers. A close look at the hooks in the image above shows how simple the contraption is. I made rope hangers (macrame) with simple knots.Thus the basic infrastructure for my hanging garden was ready. I then proceeded to get plants for this area. At first I used the plants I already had by propagating more of them from cuttings. Later I ordered a few cuttings from sellers online at very low costs. I took a calculated risk with this experiment as transportation takes four days to a week when I order plants from other states. I searched for sellers who had good packing skills by watching unboxing videos and it worked.
Tradescantia Nanouk
The costliest plant I bought for this portion of my garden costed me less than half a dollar. I love this tradescantia nanouk plant so much from two cuttings I propagated enough to fill the whole balcony space.
I decided to add colorful flowers which are not very expensive to this space. Impatience, zinnias and marigolds were the answer. The plan here is to collect and grow plants from the seeds they produce.This cycle goes on until I am bored of it.
I needed more bright and colorful leaves to give character to this space, so I decided to add coleus which makes my garden even more colorful. Thirty of these cuttings cost me $3. Worth the risk as only 60-75% take root after transit stress.
Now I have a crowded but colorful balcony garden which makes people stop and admire while they go about their daily tasks.The space between our home and the next apartment is one feet, believe me, so I needed more hanging plants to guard my privacy. The hanging garden concept really works in this situation.
The aluminum clip I made
This being a balcony which extends into a pergola looks out on to the road. There is more shade than sunshine so I planned my garden accordingly. I also made metal clips with aluminum strips to clip plants. These are inexpensive, long lasting and rust free. The strips were bent to the dimensions of the railing and a clip of sorts was made hold the planter. This was an innovation of sorts. I tried making various types of clips before I found the one that worked for me. These clips allowed me to have plants at different levels as well.
Small containers which I use for my succulents were made into hanging pots with the help of a soldering iron and a small wire which acted like a handle of a basket. Sometimes three wires held the container like a hanging basket, depending on the kind of plant it held. Necessity is the mother of invention and cheap inventions are the heart and soul of simple gardening.
I used my over grown hoya vines (second image) as an arch in the pathway from the balcony to the pergola. A number of ferns I used for this area have become overgrown and too heavy, they started to send out roots into other containers. I had to shift them out of here to my porch even though they did well here. Most contraptions and plants that are here now have come to stay on only after a great deal of trial and error.
I plan to add more pinks and purples to this area as these are my favorite colors. I have also figured out that most hanging plants don't do well in direct sunlight so this space works well for them. The fact that this is completely a DIY garden made from scratch makes me even more happy.
Flowers growing from a soda bottle
My hanging garden has its drawbacks. I cannot walk around here freely, for one there isn't any space and secondly the plants hang low and thick and you could get knocked on your head if you didn't know how to navigate here skillfully hehe. This has become an rain forest of sorts with plants hanging all around.
Coleus plants tucked into a soda bottle
This is a space I so love, where I can work without stressing my back too much. It's colorful, it is an expression of my passion for gardening and my pride. It is a lesson in point for those who complain that they have no space for a garden. Here is my mantra..
If there is a will there is a way. If there is a way then you can manage to sneak in and create more space where there was none initially.
Life is all about making things work, gardening is no different.
I hope you enjoyed this tour of my tiny garden and the progress I've made since I first started this. If you love gardening please join this challenge in the hive garden community
Thanks for all your support.