All this talk of gardening is depressing me. See, i wish i had a house with lots of space to plant pretty flowers and make a zen rock garden, and maybe even a pond. Alas, i live on the top floor of a four-floor apartment building.

However, i'm trying to keep my chin up - i do have a fabulous balcony. It's not huge but it has enough room for one or two pots on the ground and i could put some on the railing. It gets a whole buttload of afternoon sun. From about 11 am on, the sun is on that side of the building. Being on the top floor, there is no shade when the sun is out.

Any suggestions? I am also on a very tight budget - not working and living off of George and unemployment insurance doesn't leave me a lot to play with. However, we just moved in last July and there was no time to put any flowers out there. This year i desperately want something pretty.

What is relatively inexpensive and handles direct sunlight well? I already have all my pots, i just need the guidance.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2001

Answers

It might be too cold for these where you are, but I had great luck with lavender and different kinds of sage. Jeremy built me some wooden planters, and I had lavender and sage spilling out of them through the balcony railings. Rosemary also works, and catnip if you have cats who would enjoy it. You can start with tiny little plants from the culinary herb section of a nursery -- sometimes here they're under a dollar each, but they grow really fast.

Water them more frequently than you would if they were in the ground, though.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2001

Actually it gets really hot in the summer, and pretty humid so that may be okay.

Catnip would be a big hit with my maniac cat who practically does backflips for the dried version. Fresh would be even better.

You hit something right on the head though for me that i should mention as an extra caveat - not only am i poor, i'm incredibly lazy, so the idea of buying the small plants and transplanting them appeals to me much more than getting seeds. Plus it works with my "i want it NOW!" attitude, seeing as how i won't have to stand there and watch obsessively as i wait for the seeds to actually produce something.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2001

How about fire escape gardening? Any tips for that? I would love to grow things, or have flower boxes like normal people, but I only manage to kill the things I love.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2001

I've done that, too, Jen. The big thing with fire escapes is that you will very likely either have full blinding sun or no sun at all. At least that was my experience. And watering is kind of a pain in the ass, and your stuff might get stolen so don't do anything very expensive. But there is a long tradition of apartment dwellers growing basil and tomatoes and peppers on fire escapes ... it's kind of fun.

If you kill everything you plant, the odds are you are either not watering enough, or you are watering too much without providing any drainage. The former is more likely than the latter, since people who don't garden much tend to underestimate how much water plants need. I know whereof I speak; before I managed to have a successful balcony garden, I killed every single plant for three years running. I still kill container plants because I forget to water them.

If you're not letting the plants dry out and they're dying anyway, make sure there are holes in the bottom of the container, and that water isn't building up in a saucer or anything. That will kill plants, too.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2001

Lobelia and lantana are annuals that do really well with a lot of sun. I have literally filled almost 50 window boxes with them, and they are gorgeous hanging type flowers that will bloom all summer.

Lisa

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2001

I'm going to suggest good old petunias and allyssum. Because they're so common they're pretty cheap, and both do well in full sun (especially petunias). And they can do a pretty nice cascadey thing in pots and handing baskets....

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2001

I really like having morning glories on my porch/balcony. I string fishing wire up to the ceiling type thing, and the flowers climb up and make a nice shaded area. You still have time to grow them from seeds now (they're very esy to grow from seeds), and they live well past the first frost. They take about three weeks before they really sprout, but once they start, they're impossible to stop. I planted mine in a long, rectangular container, which I think cost about $3 at Home Depot.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2001

I had planters hanging off the railing with tons of sun. Sun was a big problem for me, actually. I never managed to kill chives or basil. I also had a lot of success with hot peppers.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2001

For two years now I've grown herbs in containers that are in a spot that gets no shade. I use a couple of big cedar containers I picked up at Home Depot. For drainage, I bought a small bag of landscaping rocks. On top of that I put a couple of inches of sand, then the soil. I've had great success with oregano, dill, chives, basil, thyme and cilantro.

They are pretty to look at, and of course, I enjoy them in cooking.

Good luck.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2001

I'm on the third floor of an apartment building, but I have two balconies. You'd be amazed at what you can fit on a balcony. Those over-railing box holders are great -- I can fit three of 'em facing inside, and three facing out. I've got 30-inch plant stands to lift my other pots into the sun. I've got an eastern exposure, and whimperingly envy everybody who has full sun, but I've still managed to grow part-to-full-sun plants. I just don't *like* shade plants. I've got a couple of happy coleus, tried impatiens but they were too messy, just not crazy about anything else. I get almost five hours of sun a day if I'm lucky; if I'm not, the morning fog ruins everything. I kill plants by overwatering. I try to buy pots with adequate drainage holes, but so often a huge pot will have one little hole in it, and that one you have to wrestle open with a screwdriver. If I had a drill, my pots would have better drainage, but I don't. I have a definite tendency to overwater, which I am trying *very* hard to curb. I try to remember my mom's advice (though she wasn't a container gardener) -- let the pots get somewhat light, but give them a thorough watering before anything droops. She says that frequent half-assed waterings are worse, because they encourage shallow root growth. I don't know how deep roots can get in a pot, but hey, the deeper the better.

I am in love with nasturtiums this year. They don't need much water at all, they like poor soil, and they aren't crazy about being fertilized. I have found that deadheading them is a good thing, though, or they grow these giant pumpkiny seed pods. I've heard you can put them in salad, but they kind of stink so I haven't tried it. They're beautiful when they're blooming, which seems to be all the time here in San Diego.

Petunias are always an old standby. I like the miniature 'fantasy' varieties best, and they don't need deadheading. I put mine in miracle-gro pre-fertilized soil and they go crazy.

"Million Bells" calibrachoa are wonderful plants. Every once in a while one just keels over on me, but otherwise they bloom like crazy and live forever. They look like mini-mini petunias without the sticky leaves. I love the streaky look of the flowers in the 'terra cotta' color, like oil-dyed easter eggs. There are two trailing varieties that I know of, and they look great trailing out over the patio ledge.

Lotus vines are also fun. I've found they attract hummingbirds like crazy.

And you can't go wrong with a few moss roses, which are very heat-and-drought tolerant and have brightly-colored flowers and love full sun. They're good for filling in gaps, being fairly little unobtrusive plants when they aren't blooming.

I bought nearly all my plants at Home Depot and Target, so I know they're all common (even though I hadn't heard of calibrachoa till recently). I like a lot of the things in the "garden music" line, award-winning plants for about $2 in 4-inch pots. I see them sold at practically every garden place I visit. Usually buying bigger baby plants is unnecessary, and six-packs are fine, but these are good plants so they're worth the two bucks.

My advice is to buy a lot of plants and a big watering can and a whole bunch of window boxes with ledge holders, and go nuts. If certain plants don't do well, yank 'em out and replace them. Experiment till you find things you like that work well. With full sun, you've got more flexibility than I do, but you may need to water more conscientiously. Just don't overdo it. If you stick your finger in the dirt and it feels damp, they probably don't need water yet. But when you do water, don't skimp. There, my mom has spoken.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2001

I have a patio garden and have done things like sweetpeas up the fence, potted tomatoes and peppers, fresh cilantro in a window box, and green beans from a window box up a lattice attached to the top of the fence and the roof. The beans hang down nicely for picking, too.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2001

The best suggestion I have is to make up a good sized moss basket and hang it on a balcony or anywhere you can find a good place to secure it. Its nice if you have a little overhang that protects it from the worst of the elements. Plant little ivys and lobelia or fibrous begonias around the sides and stick some geraniums in the top for height. If you don't know how to plant one up, simply order one from a gardening center then tell them you want to watch/help while it is being made up...there is your education. Be bold...learn as much as you can while you're looking whats going into the basket.

I make them up in the fall and fill them with spring bulbs, again ivy in the top cascading down the sides and little plants with red berries (wintergreen) here and there. Top this with a bow for Xmas if you like. Winter pansies are lovely in amongst the ivy because they bloom first thing in the spring as well as on and off throughout mild parts of winter. In the spring these moss baskets become balls of fresh daffodils, snowdrops and crocus...whatever you put in them in the fall

This isn't difficult even if it sounds like it is...you'll be amazed how very simple moss baskets really are. Moss baskets are fun and they will absolutely "WOW" you to bits, especially in the spring. Costs a bit to get going with one but after the initial outlay its really a cheap way to be on the cutting edge of container gardening. I've done huge ones and they are spectacular.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2001

Hi this isn't an answer as such, more of a question. I have a small balcony on the 20th floor of a block in London! I have a wonderful view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament but my balcony is rather grey and dreary. It gets a lot of sunshine and because I am so high up is windy - any ideas? I have just spend an afternoon putting some new pots out in the hope I will have more luck this time - I have a Virginia Creeper that is doing well and would love to do something with succulents and cacti. Any ideas would really be appreciated. - Mitzi

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001

Mitzi, I know nothing about the climate in London. If you lived in my climate my suggestion would be to make sure everything stays well watered if your plants are in a windy area, but I suppose you get plenty of rain.

Generally speaking, if you're in a windy spot you'll want to make sure your pots are bigger than would be necessary in a more sheltered zone. That will keep top-heaving plants from blowing over, as well as keep them from drying out so quickly. Is the balcony railing appropriate for vines? You could try morning glories or something like that -- they'll withstand the wind very nicely.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001