r/Balconygardening

Love sitting outside and working with my plants and cats when the weather is nice!

I wanted to show you my garden, one that was very quiet and sleepy during the heatwave of last summer, now thriving and so dynamic in this wonderful monsoon.

I was so sure my Stephania had given up after she’d shriveled and gotten half her size, but she’s now climbing along my sky bound pig skin philodendron!

I recently introduced this zebra alocasia that always makes me giggle!

Thanks for watching!

Happy Fourth of July!

I spent some time doing my quarterly reorganization of my balcony trellis! I often have to reorganize and reroute vines as they begin to reach past the top.

All of these plants are growing out of a fish tank. This is a south facing balcony that doesn’t get direct light until winter when it “cools down.” 📍 South Florida

Got this one about 2-3 weeks ago and every now and then a stem gets dry like that.

Anybody has an idea why? and how to make it thrive?

This is my first year growing in a balcony. I am also a beginner in growing veggies.

How do I organize to keep all the pots off the floor and to make it look more neat (like those that appear in pinterest) and hopefully add more pots next time?

I have some pots on the leftside ledge (mostly kale and a few mustard greens) as this direction gets the morning sun. The top row of the 2 metal shelves get the full sun throughout the day. Today, I realized I should have moved the pots on the middle and bottom rows on rotation to the top shelf to get more sun during the day.

I had some leafies that curled, dried and died due to intense summer heat last April.

Ideally, I am not allowed to use the balcony railings due to apartment rules but I will see how I get on with being called out. I only placed a few hanging green planters and 1 white one yesterday to see how my leafies will grow given they are placed higher than other pots.

I am uncertain whether a vertical garden grid panel is possible on a glass window (left of my photo).

While I tried to ask ChatGPT, I still prefer human feedback.

Please be kind.

I'm in eastern Ontario, zone 5? There seem to be two different zone numbering? It was 34C out today, and the plants were watered early this morning.

I can almost see the red develop in the tomatoes as they ripen. I'm looking forward to topping bruschetta with them.

The Fuchsia is thriving even with direct sun, and takes some effort to deadhead. The dragon fruit cactus is living its best life in a newly upsized pot and fresh dirt.

The begonias are my current favourite, though not growing much in volume, the bloom rate is good.

Soil ph 5.5,

The sun is so scorching that I really need some shade, but I just haven't had the time to install it.😢

Stuff has grown like crazy!

This is my south facing balcony! It's above a parking lot so it gets nice and hot. I started here when I was a student so with a much smaller budget. Slowly I am making nice improvements. I grow tomatoes, onions, garlic, beans, strawberries, cucumbers, radishes, potatoes, peppers and paprikas (not all at the same time, I vary per year). I have some flower pots here and there. Also since my view is pretty "grey" I also don't mind having a pot full of weeds that just appear. My favourite addition has been my parasol and selfmade planter box against the back wall.

I would love to add some sort of rainwater collection system but it's covered by the balcony above so any tips would be appreciated! Also if you have any recommendations of other types of plants I could grow that would be great. ❤️

I'm preparing my terraces for the hot hot heat! Temperatures in Greece climb north of 35 through June, July, Aug and Sep and are accompanied by furnace-like winds. Coupled with all the concrete white buildings its tough out there! Pictures show the front terrace in March 2026, and the front and back terrace today - June.

Here is my summer-ready planning:

1. Loosely hung hessian (burlap/jute) to protect from the worst of the afternoon sun across two spaces, leaving a gap in the middle for sub-loving plants and to flood my apartment with light to reach the succulents inside; and for breeze so it doesn't become a greenhouse.
2. Removable willow branch fencing, outside of the glass panels - not pretty but good protection.
3. Shuffled around the plants, moving the olive trees and two other hardy bushes into the sun gap space; moved all plants about 15 - 20 cms forward form the glass panels in the railing.
4. Created 'rows' - hardy plants in the back row and smaller less hardy plants in the front row.
5. Pine bark on top of soil to protect soil and roots and stop erosion from the intense winds.
6. Moved seedlings to the back terrace, also hessian-wrapped, where the sun is slightly less brutal.
7. Irrigation system set up and ready to go for the main planters, if I travel. With such a range of plants its difficult to set up one easy system for all their water needs, so I'll hand water everything and if I travel set it for 5 mins per day for all. The summer will be so hot they should be able to cope with this for a short time. The front 'row' of plants not connected to the irrigation will move to the back terrace (or bathroom?) if I travel.
8. Two bougainvilleas on lattice against the apartment wall are out of the irrigation system, they are hardy enough to cope.
9. Capturing air conditioner run off and filling up bowls placed amongst the planters (this might be useless but makes me feel useful).
10. Hoping, praying, worrying and acknowledging that if a plant cannot make it through the Greek summer with all my precautions perhaps we are not destined to be lifelong flatmates.

Very keen to hear any other suggestions, advice and feedback. I searched the internet for similar posts on summerising urban terraces and didn't find many - so I hope this is helpful to others too!

I absolutely adore wildflower meadows, so I’ve tried to recreate something similar on my 5th floor south facing balcony. We’re definitely are entering the chaos stage now, but I love it and so does the wildlife!

(OC, Netherlands)

South-facing third-floor balcony Midwest. Started with a nursery plant at the end of May and it’s absolutely taken off. Easily becoming my favorite specimen this year. 25 gallon pot curated with all sorts of easy to find potions. 🧪