Balcony Garden

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

If you don't have a summer cottage, a balcony or loggia will help out

Not all townspeople have the cherished six acres outside the city. But many of them want to enjoy the beauty of garden flowers without leaving their homes. I belong to them too. My little garden is located on the balcony.

Of course, you can't grow many plants in such a miniature garden, but I learned how to grow small-fruited strawberries on the balcony and get small yields of fragrant berries. To decorate my balcony during the whole warm season I grow lilies, begonia, morning glory, petunia, nasturtium, marigolds and other flowering plants.

Strawberries ripen on the balcony

For several years now I have been growing varieties and hybrids of small-fruited remontant strawberries: Cinderella, Ruyana, Generous F1 and even the large-fruited variety Zarya.

To obtain seedlings of these plants, I sow seeds from bags on the twentieth of February, the day of the fetus according to the lunar sowing calendar. It is most convenient to sow them in deep plastic containers from meat products purchased in supermarkets or from processed cheese. Their height, as a rule, is no more than 7 cm. I put the purchased soil "Living Earth" into a container, and on top I pour washed wet river sand with a layer of no more than one centimeter. Sand is a dead soil for plants, preventing the formation of rot and diseases of strawberry seedlings with a black leg.

Then I carefully lay out the strawberry seeds on the sand. They cannot be covered with soil. They must grow in the light. I close the container with glass and put it in the refrigerator for three days. Then I put the container on the windowsill in the light (my windows face south-east). Once a day I open the glass, remove condensate from it - water drops - this is how I ventilate the seedlings. First, white roots appear, then cotyledonous leaves are formed. After their appearance, I begin to gradually accustom the plants to the air. First, I slightly open the glass, leaving a gap of 5 mm, then gradually increase it. A week later I remove the glass completely. I water the plants with a teaspoon so as not to damage the small plants, not to wash them with a strong stream of water.

After the first true leaf appears, I very carefully, so as not to damage the roots, take out the plant with a teaspoon along with a small amount of soil and plant it in large pots - five plants in one container. I place one in the center of the pot, the rest in a circle. The diameter of the pot is 35 cm, the height is 20 cm. At the bottom of the pot, I must add large expanded clay. I put the pots in light pots so that the soil in the pot does not overheat in the sun. I water as the earthen coma dries. Sometimes strawberry seedlings stretch out and swing on a leg. To prevent this from happening, I pour a little soil under each plant.

I feed the strawberries with liquid fertilizer "Uniflor macro" (small plants), "Uniflor growth" (before flowering plants), "Uniflor bud" (during flowering), "Ideal" or Azophos once every ten days (according to the instructions) before flowering. During flowering and fruiting, I feed it once every two weeks.

I take out pots of strawberries on the balcony in early April. The temperature outside must be at least + 6 ° C. If frosts are expected at night, I bring the plants into the house. Our balcony is not glazed and is not protected by anything. But there are no drafts there, because he goes out into the courtyard.

Strawberries begin to bear fruit in July. At this time, the main crop ripens. Such a plant looks very beautiful: at the same time there are flowers and berries of different ripeness on it. Every day I collect 2-3 fragrant berries from one pot. In one week from three pots I get a 250 gram glass of ripe berries. Strawberries bear fruit until the end of September. Later, the berries do not have time to ripen, and there is not enough light for the plants. You can, of course, transfer the pots to the windowsill in the house and illuminate the strawberries with fluorescent lamps, but the harvest will still be insignificant.

At the end of September, I distribute extra adult strawberry plants to my gardeners for planting in the beds, and I leave myself as many pots as will fit in a box in which they will winter on my balcony until next season. Next spring I will again sow new seeds of remontant strawberries, and from the overwintered pots I will leave only one, which with an adult plant will bear fruit earlier than the newly sown ones.

I keep pots of strawberries on the balcony in a special box in winter. The husband put together the drawer from the panels of the old cabinet. The width of the box is a little more than 40 cm (the pots should fit freely in one row), the height is about 55 cm. The box should be 10 cm higher than the tallest pot. It stands on cylindrical legs and is closed with a lid on top. There are 5 cm between the bottom of the box and the floor. There are several small air holes in the sides of the box. I wrap the box with thick black plastic wrap so that it does not get wet.

Before placing the strawberry pots for storage in a box, I cut off all the plant mass at the root. At the bottom of the box I pour finely crushed polystyrene with a layer of 5 cm. I put pots with plants on it. I also cover the free space between the pots and the box with foam crumbs. Before the first frosts, I close the pots with a foam lid, then a lid from the box, move it to the wall of the house. When cold weather sets in, I wrap the box with snow that has fallen onto the balcony. And then during the winter I add fresh snow there. As a result, by the end of winter the height of the snow cover above the box is about 20 cm. I do not pack the snow. It does not melt in the thaw.

With the arrival of spring, when the temperature is above zero, I remove the snow. At a temperature of + 2 ° C, I open the top cover of the box (I do not remove the foam). And I'll take off the foam cover as soon as the sprouts appear in the pots. Then I take them out of the drawer.

Now you need to transplant the strawberry plants into fresh soil. I carefully remove the bushes from the pot, remove those sockets where there are no roots. I plant the live (strongest) strawberry plants in a new pot of the same size and put them on the shelves and metal supports on the balcony. I give the rest of the plants to my colleagues at work. The newly sown strawberry seedlings at this time are still at home on the windowsill. And then a new berry season will begin.

Lilies decorate the balcony

For many years I have been growing Asian, Oriental, tubular lilies on the balcony - more than 20 varieties. I choose only low-growing varieties, up to 60-70 cm high.

Before planting, I disinfect the newly purchased bulbs for 20 minutes in a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate and for the same minutes I keep the bulbs in a solution of Intavir or Aktara from pests (according to the instructions). I cut off the dried roots, leave the living ones, but shorten them. After April 15, I plant lilies in pots of 3-4 pieces, depending on the size of the bulb, and in flower boxes. I plant one variety in one pot. At the bottom of the pot I pour a layer of expanded clay, then the soil "Living Earth". I pour soil up to half of the pot, put the bulbs there, add the soil around them, but I do not fall asleep to the top of the bulb. When the sprouts of lilies grow up, then I add the soil. I do not fill up the earth to the top of the pot. It often happens that the plants bulge out of the pot, then I add some soil.

Between the lilies planted in boxes, I plant petunia, nasturtium or low-growing marigolds so that the soil does not dry out quickly in hot weather, and the decorative effect is higher in this case. When the lilies have faded, the boxes still delight with the beauty of blooming annuals. I planted between lilies and begonias, but noticed that after such a neighborhood, the lilies did not grow the bulb well. Apparently, this happened because the roots of these plants were at the same level, and they were cramped in the box. But lily bulbs double in size during the season. And with such a neighborhood, the bulbs did not grow at all.

I feed lilies along with strawberries. I stop feeding after the end of flowering. Plants should gradually prepare for winter.

When the lilies grow up, I install metal supports in the pots so that the plants do not break with the wind. The supports at the top are round so that the stems are inside the circle.

Of course, the number of flowers in lilies grown on the balcony is much less than in lilies grown in the garden. Asian hybrids usually produce 2-3 flowers, but some varieties have up to 10 flowers. In tubular - 1-2 flowers, in oriental hybrids - 3-4 flowers, maximum 10 flowers. Lilies bloom at different times of summer, so my balcony always remains decorative. In addition, on the balcony in the warm season of summer there are indoor flowers: hibiscus, pelargonium. I love to sit there in the evening after the heat of the day and enjoy the beauty of flowers and hanging strawberries. In the morning, a huge number of bumblebees arrive on my balcony. They fly to the smell of flowers, and along the way they pollinate strawberries.

Asian hybrids of lilies do not have a scent, while oriental hybrids and tubular ones smell, and each in its own way - from a sharp to a subtle pleasant aroma. The most pleasant- smelling Golden Splendoour lily.

After the stems of the lilies dry in the fall, I cut them off, leaving a small stump, then remove them from the pots and boxes. Gently shake off the ground, cut off the roots, leaving 4-5 cm, remove rotten and dry ones. I keep the onions in a not very dark solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes. I dry them for 2-3 days, spreading them on a newspaper on the floor at room temperature. On the left stump of the stem I attach cardboard plates with the name of the variety and the height of the stem.

After the onions are dry, I put them in bags with holes (in which I bought them), cover them with sawdust and place them in the refrigerator in a vegetable drawer. So I keep them until spring. I take out the bulbs in early April, remove the old stem, rotten scales (if any) and plant them in new soil and immediately expose them to the balcony.

My begonias

In early February, I plant begonias tubers in pots. I pour expanded clay on the bottom of the pot, then I pour “Living Earth” soil up to half of the pot. Slightly press the tuber into the ground and sprinkle it around the tuber to half its height. I do not fall asleep in the central part of the tuber (hole) - sprouts should appear on it. When they appear, I add some earth so that it covers the base of the sprouts. When the sprouts grow up to 10 cm, I fall asleep with soil to the top of the pot, without adding 2-3 cm, so that when watering, the water does not slide to the floor. I feed begonias along with strawberries and lilies in the same way. I store their tubers, just like the bulbs of lilies, only in the fall I do not keep them in potassium permanganate, but immediately dry them.

I hang ampel begonias on the balcony in pots. The flowers of these plants are male with simple flowers and female - with double. In order for the begonias to bloom more decorative double female flowers, the male flowers must be removed. If the plant produces many female flowers in the presence of male flowers, then they can be left.

I plant all annual flowers on the balcony with grown seedlings. I sow their seeds in early April. Before disembarking in open ground, I keep it on the windowsill. I try to cut each plant into a separate container. I remove old faded flowers from such plants so as not to spoil the appearance. Ipomoea flowers open in the evening and bloom until morning, so they have to be removed every day.

By planting various perennial and annual flowers on the balcony, you can enjoy their bloom from early spring to late autumn.