Welcome to our small balcony food garden! We’ve been growing and harvesting a surprising amount of food from our small container garden and we’ve been able to eat from it all summer long. Probably partly because we have so many containers now, but also because we’ve been doing succession planting, where we plant new crops once the previous one is not producing much anymore. So we’ve always got some seedlings on the go, and we’ve always got something fresh to eat.
We are growing some of our favourite vegetables, including three types of cherry tomatoes, two types of sugar snap peas, as well as kale, beets, and cucumbers, and we are also growing jalapeño peppers and purple beans for the first time!
Three of the herbs we use all summer long are parsley, basil and mint, so we’ve got lots of those growing. We also had cilantro and dill but they went to seed once the weather got hot so we’re going to plant more when the weather cools down.
The balcony is a good size for us, but we’ve got some seating and a storage box for cushions on one side, so the garden as it is right now is about 45 square feet or 4 square meters. But we love having plants to take care of and fresh food to eat right outside our door so it seems inevitable that the garden will take over a bit more space on the balcony next year…
We mainly plant in 3 different types of containers, rectangular planter boxes, shallow window boxes, and round pots. One of the reasons we try to stick to just a few types of containers is because we don’t have much space to store them over the winter, so buying the same shape and size is going to make it easy to stack them together at the end of the season so they take up less space. We also like using plastic containers instead of clay pots or wood boxes because they are super lightweight and durable.
We are constantly moving the containers around when we water, weed, and harvest, and we also move them around to protect the plants if it’s too hot, too windy, or if there’s a big storm. So it helps our backs when they are easy to pick up.
Setting up this balcony garden has been quite a lot of work and it’s definitely been a learning curve trying to figure out how to keep our plants alive and thriving up here. We’ve been trying out different fertilizers to keep the plants healthy, we’ve been managing different insect pests like aphids and cabbage moths, and we’ve figured out how to keep the garden watered if we’re away. But by far the biggest challenge has been the elements, and protecting the garden from heat waves, downpours, and high winds.
We absolutely love growing food and having plants to take care of, and we’ve already started ordering seeds for next year’s urban balcony garden 🙂
If you want to see more gardening and homesteading videos, check out our Growing Food playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLslKBpzJILetVBaBDIJg5_D3g-QZLYYgx
We’ve featured some really inspiring folks who are growing food on balconies, rooftops, backyards, and homesteads.
Thanks for watching!
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CREDITS
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Music Credit: Exploring Alternatives
Editing Credit: Exploring Alternatives
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#smallgarden #balconygarden #containergarden #asmr #calming #relaxing #garden
47 Comments
Thanks for watching! You can check out our Growing Food playlist here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLslKBpzJILetVBaBDIJg5_D3g-QZLYYgx
More people should consider growing veggies on their balconies, even if you're north-facing. You guys did a fantastic job with the space — everything looks green and fresh.
Such a lovely big balcony. I have thought about doing this but would need to keep out pets and squirrels
Really cool video. Kudos to the gardeners. ❤
Great video! I do ONLY containers also! Thanks for sharing!🙏🏿🎉
I just wish I could spare the energy/attention to garden. I could do flowers, but that might be it.
gardening does become an obsession very quickly. You guys make it look irresistible. BTW, the marigolds are said to be really great for repelling mosquitoes so that’s an extra plus. deadhead them and harvest your seeds, you’ll never need to BUY another marigold. 😊
This was very inspiring. I'm in my first year of gardening mostly flowers but have herbs, sweet & hot peppers and strawberries. I was not expecting anything to grow but now I have a jungle of beauty. I love the intentional sized planters you have and I've taken note. As well as, growing with intention for next season and expanding on an edible garden. Thank you for a great video. Your garden is gorgeous! 💖
I remain full in love with your channel and videos.
That was an enjoyable look at your wonderful new passion – I commend you both for all the work you've put into your gardening, learning along the way. You showed some delicious results, too!
Very inspiring.
So much with so little.
This is so luscious. Where do you live ? How do you keep the squirrels away from your food ?
I container grow on my Patio!
I love the window boxes too.
I can't find the shorter but deeper ones?
Nicely Done 🎉.
JO JO IN VT 💞
Great video! Growing marigolds in or around your vegtables that pests like aphid really deters them. They have dwarf marigolds also. For cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower they have light weight netting that keeps the butterfly moths from laying eggs.
Lovely.But plastic releases BPA's which are endocrine disrupters. Yes, Seriously. They leech into you soil and plants, and into the consumer. Please resesrch BPA's. Known to cause problems in prostate , brain, and fetuses, infants and children, and thats only what they can no longer deny, because of medical proof, there are many more consequences..Enjoy garden, but also your health for years to come.
It’s amazing how you manage to grow stuff despite the high winds. Excellent job!
Gardening is a nasty bug to get. Welcome to the dirty hands club 😁. It is always so nice to see tiny balcony gardens, you guys always get very impressive with the use of space. Keep on growing and attracting pollinators 🧡
All my respect. I run a Gardening Group on Facebook, and I love to see videos like this. They are very inspiring I would for sure share this excellent video on my group. Thank you so much for sharing.
I loved seeing your garden! It’s so neat and productive. Great video!
Hi my first time on your channel your garden is beautiful I garden on my roof top it's my year growing on my roof top it is the best decision I ever made. ❤❤new subscriber here.
Wow – great job you guys! You really have a lot growing in that small space and I'm totally inspired! It's great that you are showing this to demonstrate just what is possible for those living in apartments with balconies!
Love this
I wouldn't be surprised if by next year there was greenhouse glazing above the garden – nice work
I would love to learn more about your small scale irrigation system. Thank you.
Congrats! It IS a CONSTANT learning curve, isn't it? TFS!
Cutting beans with scissors to harvest them? That's a bit much.
Not every place allows for gardens in balconies. So to see this is great!
Faboulous such a good example of human possibilities when you are creative and open to creative and intelligent way of living!!!! Good knowledge of plants and what they can provide even if the space is limited.
Obviously talking of limits : they are none for
this couple- the filming is so inviting, but keep in mind détermination is the secret!!!!
Greatest and useful lesson! Thanks!😊
It's always worth doing as much as we can with what we have. This is a fine example of that!
Beautiful balcony garden! Your use of space is wonderful! Thyme and hyssop are very good to keep the white fly away from your cabbage and kale. Potatoes could also do very well on your balcony, but you would need a slightly large container for them than what you have. I didn't see drainage holes in the rectangular planter you lifted. I'm often surprised to see planters without holes sold in stores. Do these planters not get waterlogged after a heavy rain or do they have some other drainage system? You are right to choose plastic pots, not only because they are light, but they will be less prone to dry in dry weather, and if you store them on your balcony with the soil inside, they won't break like clay would.
Danielle and Matt such a beautiful balcony garden. Thank you so much for sharing your garden with us.❤❤
This is amazing. The only suggestion is consider using gloves and a mask. I learned that with many fertilizers, touching with bare hands and potentially inhaling the dust is a big no-no. I never bothered to read the warning labels! 😅
Your garden is beautiful. Well done. We've kept a balcony veg, herb and flower patch for the past 25 years or so (zone 5a, Ontario). I love it, there is nothing like stepping onto the balcony and picking dinner; ultimate luxury and golden hour is not to be underestimated. This is the first year I've kept a compost bin and used natural feeds like compost teas for feed; results have been amazing.
Presently I'm looking for seeds for some Milkweed to feed the Monarchs Butterflies that come through town every August. I'm also looking at setting up the smallest possible self-sustaining water feature for the dragonflies that occasionally drop by. Seventh floor us is lucky enough to be on the bee and bumble daily pathway. I want to provide a small home for the local insect population that's seeing such pressure right now.
– Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown/Pimisi
Nothing is better than eating fresh produce right out of your own garden.
I really enjoy your videos. It's almost meditative and so relaxing. Great garden.
Its sad to see even people in balconies using pesticides. If you're notgoing organic, just go buy from store. Its much cheaper than those containers.
👍👍🌺🌺🌞🌞😎😎❤❤
Good effort 👍
If you get some racks and some hydro food towers that you can still feed organic you could squeeze in a bit more.
A 600mm2 grow tent inside with a rack I can start two trays of plants, 3 medium sized trays of microgreen, a lot of soft herbs and all my salad mix I can eat.
A bit of a plastic roof for autumn could extend your season months if not all year round. Or a mini transparent greenhouse.
❤❤
this is so nice and so inspiring! gardening certainly isn't limited only to those with backyards. great job guys. 🫶
Marigolds also are veg companion plants, ie to helpbstop pests for uour crops
More knowledge, more power. This is where it's at. Everyone can grow food, they just need more education. Thanks so much for sharing❤
Very very pretty ❤❤❤
Yay! Love to see you featured in your own video ☺️ Sending lots of love from Squamish
Last year was our first garden, we rented and only had a concrete slab. So we lined milk crates with garden fabric and grew everything from herbs, to peppers to tomatoes in them. This year we have a “real” garden with raised beds and in ground beds. Sometimes you use what you have. 👍🏻
What a beautiful garden!!! Also great that you get to enjoy the lush greenery when you're sitting inside. ❤️👍🏼
Maybe you're already doing this, but seed saving is another incredibly satisfying part of gardening! Cucumbers are a fun one, because first you get to watch little pickling cukes become chonky orange squashes. Which sometimes happens by accident anyways when one of those sneaky devils gets past you on harvesting days… 🙂 Beautiful set up and great use of space! 👍