If you live in an apartment in the middle of the City growing a garden on a small balcony offers different challenges to a regular backyard but you can still enjoy the wonders of gardening, create a little bit more privacy, and amaze yourself with your own
home-grown vegetables. If the weather turns bad, either a typhoon or sudden cold snap, your plants can easily be protected.
Almost any vegetable plant will thrive in a balcony vegetable garden under the right conditions. Tomatoes, eggplants, green peppers, green onions, cucumbers, lettuce, beans, and herbs can all grow in containers.
Plants
You can purchase baby plants from a home center or grown your own from seed. Seeds can be bought in small packets from home centers, nurseries, and even 100 Yen shops. Seeds can be germinated in a plastic tray, pot, or milk carton. Fill the container with soil and
cover the vegetable seed to a depth of 1 to 2 cm. Leave the potted seed inside your apartment in a warm, sunlit area. When the plants develop their first two to three leaves carefully move them to a bigger container on your balcony.
Containers
Plastic containers and flower pots are available from 100 Yen shops; larger plastic and clay pots are available from home and garden centers. The size of the container will vary according to the fruit or vegetable you want to grow and space you have available.
Make sure the container you choose offers good drainage. The drain holes are best if placed on the sides of the container. To facilitate drainage additional drain holes can be added about 1 to 2 cm from the bottom of the container.
Soils
Before adding soil, fill the bottom of the container with coarse gravel to improve drainage for your plants. You can purchase good quality pre-packaged soils from home centers. Bags come in all sizes from 1litre to 25 litres and usually have a picture label of the
side showing what type of plant the soil is best suited to. Small bags of up to 5 litres in size can also be found in most 100 Yen shops.
Watering
Make sure once your plants are out on your balcony that you do not forget to water them at least once a day. Water plants at the base of the stems and avoid wetting foliage - this discourages plant diseases. If possible water daily using a fertilizer solution and
once a week with tap water to rinse away unused nutrients. Bottles of liquid fertilizer (ì¿hiryō) come in all sizes from 100ml to 1 litre; small packs of bottles can even be purchased from 100 Yen shops.
If you are forgetful or don't think that you can get into a daily watering routine, why not try a self-watering container? These can be easily constructed from a large plastic PET bottle. www.instructables.com and www.ehow.com have some great low-cost,
easy-to-make examples.
Light
Leafy crops can tolerate more shade than root crops which in turn can tolerate more shade than fruit bearing plants. Using containers to grow vegetables makes it possible to position them areas where they can receive the best possible growing conditions. Most
vegetables will need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day, so you may have to elevate your containers using a stand or grow in window boxes fastened to your balcony's railing if your balcony does not have sufficient sunlight.
Common Problems in Container Gardening
Symptoms
Cause
Corrective measures
Plants tall, spindly and unproductive
Insufficient light
Move container to area receiving more light
Excessive nitrogen
Reduce feeding intervals
Plants yellowing from bottom, lack vigor, poor colour
Excessive water
Reduce watering intervals; Check for good drainage
Low fertility
Increase fertility level of base solution
Plants wilt although sufficient water present
Poor drainage and aeration
Use mix containing higher percent organic matter; increase number of holes for drainage
Marginal burning or firing of the leaves
High salts
Leach container with tap water at regular intervals
Plants stunted in growth; sickly, purplish color
Low temperature
Relocate container to warmer area
Low phosphate
Increase phosphate level in base solution
Holes in leaves, leaves distorted in shape
Insects
Use insecticide
Plant leaves with spots; dead dried areas, or powdery or rusty areas
Plant diseases
Remove diseased areas where observed and use fungicide
