Do you have a green thumb and find it tough living without a yard to garden in? Or maybe you just enjoy having fresh basil and parsley to use for dinner. A balcony herb garden is easier to grow than you think! With some dedicated time and space, you can have your very own herb garden right in the comfort of your apartment balcony.
The first step when planning your balcony herb garden is to select its dedicated space. Where does the sun shine and for how many hours a day? If you get lots of sun on your balcony, you may want to only choose sun-tolerant plants and plan to water them multiple times a day. If the space is mostly shaded, shade-tolerant plants it is. Do you want to use the entire balcony or just a small portion of it? Are you going to use a hanging basin or pots on the balcony floor? You have countless options!
Next, choose your plants for your balcony herb garden. There are a huge variety of herbs you can easily plant.
Here are a few popular ones:
The above herbs are all annuals. Annuals need to be replanted each year.
Perennial herb options will re-grow on their own each season:
You have selected your space and herbs, and you’ve planted them. Now what?
Herbs need daily care.
Watering them consistently and often is important, especially if they get a lot of direct sunlight. This is especially true with a balcony herb garden since plants in outdoor planters dry out much faster than plants in pots!
Herbs do not have huge root systems like other plans, so shallow and compact planters work great. This allows for good drainage. You can even combine most herbs into pots with other herbs to save space, making your balcony a great place for them to grow together.
Always harvest your herbs from top to bottom. This means you should always be clipping whatever herbs you are harvesting from the top of the plant. Clipping from the bottom can result in an unbalanced, lanky plant that has difficulty sprouting new herbs.
Check on your balcony herb garden each day! You should be checking their soil and water levels, seeing what needs to be harvested soon, and clipping anything that is ready. Keeping a close eye on this will ensure your plants stay in tip-top shape.
Your apartment balcony can be a place where herbs thrive. Happy planting!
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