I really need to start on my little balcony garden this week what can I plant?

[EachandEveryone]

I've never had green fingers. I have an iron balcony and fire stairs so will buy done big pots and those ones that hang over balconys. Can anyone tell me what is simple cheap and cat friendly to plant? Thanks this is all new to me but I have the week off next week and need to get cracking on.

Catnip easy to grow here and they love it! Also catmint, spearmint, lavender and Valerian.

If you want to grow something that you will use but won't hurt the cat, chillies, tumbler tomatoes, herbs, lettuce, rocket, oriental greens like mizuna or oak choice, strawberries. Edible flowers. Avoid Lillies, foxgloves, oleander, Lilly if the valley.

Pak choi, not oak choice, thank you autocorrect

I find wallflowers are a good bet as they flower from now til oct/nov so have a long season of interest. Erysium bowles mauve is a good one. Another safe bet if you want low maintenance and year round structure are evergreen grasses or hebes. All quite low maintenance. Grasses mixed with walflowers would be an easy solution unless you were thinking of things to eat, all safe for cats. Not sure about catmint they love it so much they tend to destroy it by lying/rolling on it.

Another idea is to stick to just to one thing, for example just fill all your pots with herbs, smell lovely, v easy to grow and edible. Maybe chuck in some ornamental sage like salvia hot lips for some colour.

But what about the cat getting hold of the herbs or would you put them on the balcony? I'm not sure if I would eat anything that her sndher mates next door had had their paws on. The other thing is I don't drive and I imagine it's all very heavy to start with so I need to get the heavy stuff online

Perhaps stick to just flowers and nothing edible then if you are worried the cat might spray on or chew them. I think places like b&q do a delivery service :)

You could plant one pot with grass that the cat can eat and put it in an easily accessible place - that might stop her trying to eat your other plants?

Would placing a mesh/net over the plants that you want to protect be an option for your balcony?

Oh i have visions of a new york fire exit garden you shoukd see some of them online. I feel bad she hast got a garden to roam in and id like something nature wise to interest her. I do habe quite abit of room.

B and Q dont deliver much ive checked its mainly pick up.

Can I use miracle grow? Would a big pot of grass mixed with cat mint work?

Yes you can use miracle grow. You need to feed things in pots as they quickly deplete nutrients in the compost. I'd keep catnip in its own pot, it's quite a big plant.

Should I get the large planters then

A 12 inch pot should be OK, you just don't want it competing with grass. If you are getting pots to hang on the outside of the railings, I would get some tumbler tomatoes, you get loads of fruit and out of cat's reach. Big fan of chillies in pots too, if you use them. You can get a range of colours, red, yellow, purple, so decorative too.

I would get one of the cat grass mixes rather than use normal grass. It's easy to grow and they prefer it to normal grass. I grow bamboo in pots in my teeny garden and my cats love sitting amongst it. It is sturdy enough not to get wrecked by them which is handy.

How about a wooden outdoor cat tree or at least some shelves at varying heights to add some more interest for her?

If you Google Catio you'll find all sorts of ideas

Its suddenly got really cold! Can i plant indoors and wait until it gets warmer to transfer?