No backyard required: I tried growing vegetables on a 20th-floor balcony – here's what I learned
Gardening is good for our physical and psychological health, and there's great pleasure in plucking ripe tomatoes, salad leaves or fresh herbs to add to a meal. Growing your own food has environmental benefits too, especially if you use a compost heap, worm farm or bokashi bin to divert kitchen scraps from landfill.
But can you garden without a backyard? To meet Australia's housing challenge, more city dwellers will live in apartments and townhouses, and gardening in small spaces like balconies and courtyards can be challenging.
I found this out last summer when I planted tomatoes in pots on our west-facing balcony. By Christmas, the plants were vigorous and tall, providing a calming wall of green outside my 20th-floor window. But sweltering January days put paid to my hopes of a bountiful crop. Despite plenty of water, the plants couldn't cope with drying winds and the belting afternoon sun, its rays magnified through glass balustrades.
Horticulturalist Charlotte Harrison from Sustainable Gardening Australia thinks I might have had better luck if I'd planted tomatoes later in the season.
'Gardening at height is more extreme than gardening at ground level,' she says. 'There's heaps of extra heat radiating from the concrete of the building plus extra light reflected from glass.'
As a rule of thumb, Harrison reckons high-rise balconies can be one climate zone warmer than is normal for the local area. On our Melbourne balcony, she says, I'd do better to consult a Sydney planting chart when deciding what to grow and when.
'Think about the microclimate of the space you're gardening in,' advises Harrison. 'Consider how these conditions might be replicated in nature and what might grow there naturally.'
An east-facing space is generally more conducive to growing vegetables in summer than a west-facing one. Plants enjoy early light, when the sun is gentler, and shade in the afternoon as the temperature rises.
Winds are stronger higher up a building, so our balcony could be compared to a seaside cliff in the Mediterranean, better suited to hardy plants like olives and rosemary than to tomatoes. If conditions are too harsh for fruit or vegetables, then succulents and other desert plants can help to green a space instead.
Creating shade on a balcony can be tricky. Body corporate rules may restrict what can be fixed to the building, but anything not securely anchored could blow away and injure someone below. One option is planter boxes with attached shade hoods. Harrison recommends choosing one that is light in colour to reflect heat and that has a wicking bed so plants can draw on a reservoir of water. Make sure you're not overloading your balcony or deck – a planter box full of soil can double in weight when watered.
When growing in pots, bigger is generally better, says Harrison, because soil in small pots dries out quickly, even when well mulched. Most plants need as much space for roots below as their branches and leaves take up above, so it's better to grow four plants together in one large pot to share soil and resources than separately in four little ones. Before planting, put large pots on low stands with heavy duty castors so they can be easily moved to follow (or avoid) the sun as it shifts with the seasons. And don't forget drip trays to conserve water and avoid annoying downstairs neighbours.
Think carefully about plant selection based on your conditions. Compact varieties of tomatoes, chillies or lemons will be less prone to wind and sun damage than taller traditional varieties. Root vegetables are good for windy settings because soil protects them from the elements.
Too much sun is one challenge for gardening in small spaces, too little is another. There's no point in trying flowering vegetables in spots lacking direct sunlight. For a shady position, leafy greens are a better option, or perhaps you can grow upwards to reach the light. A zucchini plant, for example, is a vine and can be trained to grow up a trellis or a stake.
'Growing vertically can really increase growing space,' says Harrison. But the horticulturalist is wary of vertical gardens. They look good, but often need dedicated watering systems and involve plants in small pots that need constant replacement. 'For most home gardeners, having a trellis makes far more sense,' she says.
Gardening is a source of great pleasure and makes the concrete jungle a bit greener. A community garden can be a great way to get your fingers in the dirt and meet your neighbours. But don't let limited space deter you from gardening at home too. Harrison's advice: 'Dream big, but start small.'
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