Balcony flower boxes for a complete newbie

[Jecstar]

Morning everyone, I’ve just moved to a flat and for the first time ever have a small balcony. I’d love to make some flower boxes for this year and then maybe next year try and grow fruit/veg in pots.

I’m a complete beginner and currently don’t own anything garden related so I need advice. Have been to the local garden centre and got very excited but now need to actually start doing.

Would these ikea flower boxes be ok? What type of compost is best? The garden centre had loads is more expensive better? And then flowers, how do I know if they will grow in pots?

Have a few days of work coming up so is now the time to plant things in the hope that they will be blooming in the summer?

Sorry for all of the questions, thank you for any help or advice you can share with me.

Ikea flower boxes

Hopefully some keener balcony Gardeners will be along soon, but in the long distant past I had several years gardening with just window boxes.

The IKEA box looks ok but it does depend on what type of balcony you have to secure it to, but making sure the boxes can't fall off and hit someone is vital. Also think about where does the water go? If it just runs off onto downstairs balcony that will be a problem.

This link might help as a start point and the RHS is a great resource - as is Pintrest for ideas.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/plant_windowbox1.shtml

I used to grow mini tomatoes, alpine strawberries and salad leaves on my balcony, found they all need a lot of water though ie twice a day. My balcony was sheltered and not near a road so didn't have to worry about fumes etc impacting edible crops. Otherwise suggest geraniums known as pelargoniums as a good start point for bedding plants- tolerant of hot dry conditions and provide a splash of colour in the summer. Have fun and enjoy!

The important thing with the potting compost is to look for peat-free.

Peat based compost is something the horticulture industry is reluctantly weening itself from, but it’s an environmental disaster.

For your very first balcony flowers I suggest pansies. They are easy to grow, flower prolifically and are very happy in containers. Just dead head the spent flowers and you’ll have many months of colour.

They are fine . Are they going outside or inside the balcony and do they have drainage holes. If they do, think about where the water is going to drip. If they do not then put some pebbles or gravel in the bottom so that roots are not sitting in water.

I would use container compost and definitely go for peat free. Which way does your balcony face as this will affect the performance of your plants. As well as the pots you could buy a gro bag for vegetables or salad. Not strictly necessary but are good for newbies.

When you buy your plants, take them out of the pots and tease out the roots.
For the easiest containers, euonymus and heathers are fail proof. For flowers and herbs your choice is pretty wide. Things that give off a strong perfume, are night scented stocks, sweet peas and lavender.

if you want to attract bees look for simple flowers like calendula, cosmos and nasturtiums.

Which way does your balcony face? It makes a big difference to what you can grow. Also the bigger the pot the easier it is to keep the plants alive - little pots/troughs will need a lot of watering, and all balconies are a bit windswept so you need to be expecting to water your plants daily through the summer. Assuming your balcony is sunny I would start with one trough with a mix of pelargoniums and another one with a tumbling tomato and basil (get a supermarket growing herb pot and split it up a bit). Tomato food will do for the flowers too.

So many helpful posts already thank you!

My balcony is south facing, however the other buildings around mean that it is in shade by 4/5 o’clock.

I’d love to have loads of colour and encourage bees/insects. Will Google the suggested plants and make a list of what I’d like to put in there - I’m guessing the people working in a garden center would help me find the plants on my list.

a little bit of ivy could add a bit of dimension to the planter

You could have alpines in compost mixed with grit. Window boxes will dry out quickly and you're better with drought tolerant plants

Rather than pelargoniums, I'd rather have 'proper' geraniums like Johnson's Blue. They grow very easily and have lovely blue/purple flowers. Carnations do well, and there are things like grape hyacinth, actual hyacinth too.

When I lived in France I had a south and a west facing Juliette balcony. Lavender grew really well on the south side but did attract the odd bee into the apartment (soon found their way out). I also had round pots on hooked stands at the bottom where strawberries and cherry tomatoes grew really well. On the west side I had a box of zinnias. They were a little tall but it meant I had fresh flowers for the apartment through most of summer. I think they'd do well on the south facing side in summer too.

I put water crystals in the compost for all the pots except lavender and used plant watering globes when I went away. You can pick them up quite cheaply on Amazon these days.

If you are on a budget WILKO have very good plants for reasonable prices. Depending where you are n the country I would wait until May to plant any bedding plants.

Lavender is a good idea. You won't have to water it much which is good whether or not your boxes have holes. It's very hard to get the amount of water right for plants that need lots of water when the water can't drain out the bottom. Your plants may end up looking parched or stagnant.

Same for nasturtiums but they like poor quality soil so don't spoil them with wonderful compost. If you're on a budget just buy a packet of seeds and stick them in. They will go on into the autumn.

Both of those attract insects.

Lobelia and petunia are very satisfying when you're just starting out.

Dwarf cosmos is very showy and beautiful. You can start it inside from seed in little planters, then move it into your boxes when it's bigger. They will also last into the autumn.

But you can't beat a geranium when all's said and done.

Put horticultural grit beneath the plant whatever you do.

You won’t want your compost to be too heavy so mix it with Vermiculite, it’s lighter and holds moisture.
id think out of the box for quirky containers such as baskets, easily lined with coir. Succulents make good balcony plants as they don’t need much water or soil.
There’s lots of good ideas on Pinterest. It sounds a fun project.