With the rise in city and even town living, many of us these days find ourselves living in apartments or homes where the garden is merely the size of a postage stamp. But those of us who love our greenery will always find a way to bring the outdoor inside via our balconies.

So what does this involve – this shrunken garden type living? Well, because space is so tight your design and planning have to be meticulous of course to make the most of what’s there. And that’s what we’re going to look at here in this blog post.

Creating a Balcony Garden

• Weight

Choosing the proper garden planters is essential, not just in terms of how your balcony will look but also for the weight. A large planter, for instance, can look stunning but can prove heavy to move – especially if made from terra-cotta. It may also cause unnecessary strain against railings too. Luckily our galvanised steel planters are light weight so don’t pose any real problems in this respect.

• Drainage

This is very important when it comes to balcony gardening as the last thing you want is to be creating a mess in the balcony below or worse having all your plants die on you. If you plan on having more than one planter with plants or flowers it’s an idea to leave a watering can nearby. The higher up your balcony is, the more likely they’ll need watering.

• Sunshine

It’s easy to believe your balcony gets a lot more sun than you think, simply because it’s light. If it’s an apartment you have then the sun is going to find it even trickier to get to your balcony as there’ll be so many obstructions along the way such as your neighbour’s sunshade, a partition, the side of a building in shadow etc. If your balcony is south or west-facing then you have a better chance of getting sun than north or east-facing properties. In the case of the latter it’s wise to watch where you’re placing a planter full of blooms – and annuals in particular – that there’s enough sunlight for them.

• Layout

Ask any landscape gardener and he (or she) will tell you that using coloured planters with similar shades together can actually make the space they’re sitting in appear larger. This is because, when looking at them, your gaze is continuous. Pop another colour in there (ie purple into a group of orange planters) and your gaze is interrupted (shortened). If you’re going for the bunching look, put together planters in groups of three, six or nine (odd numbers in other words). Line up three of the same height in a row for instance, or sit them sideways in order of decreasing in size.

In terms of planters, one thing we would point out is that if you’re buying containers which aren’t very tall keep a careful eye on small children who may be tempted to use them as stepping stones to get a better view over the side of the railings!

Meanwhile, for any more advice on buying planters, as well as a look at our spring sale, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Precious Design.