The living styles in urban areas are changing. There are more high-rise buildings than ever, and their numbers will rise even more in the coming years. While the residents of high-rise buildings can enjoy the view of the city from above, they only get to interact with nature, especially the greenery, when they go out. Having a garden of their own is a dream for many home owners. However, the main problem with the high-rise buildings is that they often offer limited space when it comes to the balcony. In modern urban spaces, balconies offer very limited space, which is a challenge for these home owners when they think of creating a beautiful garden using their balcony space. People often think of transforming their balconies into lush garden retreats, but they struggle to bring that vision into reality. In this blog post, we will explore some ideas that can help modern, urban home owners to effectively convert their balcony into a vibrant garden oasis.
Evaluate the Balcony’s Environment
A big mistake that almost all modern home owners make is not assessing the overall environment of their balcony. There are certain factors that should be kept in mind before making the final move to transform your balcony into a dream garden oasis. The first critical factor to consider in this regard is whether the balcony receives enough sunlight or not. To grow your favorite plants in your dream balcony garden, it is mandatory to first ensure that sufficient sunlight comes into your balcony. The ideal way to assess this is to observe the total hours that your balcony receives sunlight. Balconies receiving full sun get approximately six hours of sunlight. On the other hand, a balcony with partial or full shade typically gets around 3 to 6 hours and 3 hours of sunlight, respectively. This assessment is crucial to choosing the type of plants that would grow ideally in your balcony garden.
Another critical thing to be aware of is the wind exposure. A balcony situated on a high-rise is more exposed to strong winds in comparison with a balcony on a low-rise building. Depending on the wind exposure, the task of choosing the right type of plants becomes a bit more complex. For a high-rise building's balcony, it would be wise to choose sturdy plants that can withstand the strong wind. On the contrary, a balcony in a low-rise building can have less sturdy plants that can grow and thrive easily under such settings. The final aspect to consider after assessing the sunlight and wind exposure of your balcony space is the available space. This aspect is as important as the other two elements since the available space will determine the number of plants you can place on your balcony to make your gardening dream come true. Understanding these three factors will help any home owner to choose the perfect plants and design the garden in a way that allows those plants to thrive without any complexity.
Opt for the Suitable Plants
Giving your balcony the desired lush green garden appearance vastly depends on the type of plants the garden will have on display. It would be perfect to opt for species that are familiar with the climate of the specific region and well-suited to the particular conditions of the balcony. Creating a lush garden can only be achieved if the plants in it can flourish without any challenge, giving you the desired garden appearance. When it comes to choosing plants, there are numerous options. Someone with a passion for cooking can easily grow different herbs and edibles, such as rosemary, mint, basil, and thyme. One of the biggest advantages of growing these plants in your dream balcony garden is that these plants emit pleasing fragrances, which will help to establish a calmer setting on your balcony. If you have chosen to use containers to grow plants in your garden, you can also have small vegetables like chili peppers, cherry tomatoes, and lettuce.
People who are fascinated by flowers can also include different flowering plants in their balcony space. One can choose from the options of petunias, geraniums, marigolds, and begonias. Hands down, these flowers can instantly brighten your balcony garden, which will further attract helpful insects like bees and butterflies. Moreover, if you are someone who loves a more tranquil and textured appearance and ambiance in your balcony garden, then you also have the choice of including foliage plants. Ferns, spider plants, pothos, and philodendrons are some great foliage plants that one can add to their balcony garden space. Not only would these plants support your dream of a lush balcony garden, but they would also help improve the overall air quality. These suitable plant options will be great for establishing a lush garden sanctuary on your balcony.
Techniques to Optimize Space
Since modern balconies come with limited spaces, they provide home owners with the opportunity to apply creative gardening techniques to ideally utilize the available space and turn them into dream balcony gardens. A gardening concept that has been gaining immense traction in recent times is vertical gardening. The main purpose of this type of gardening is to utilize the vertical spaces in a plot. Different types of hanging baskets and wall-mounted planters are perfect for creating a vertical garden space. In addition to this, container gardening is also an innovative option that home owners can employ to ideally utilize the available space on their balcony. These containers are available in different shapes and sizes, which can offer a more versatile and vibrant look to your balcony garden. Without a doubt, using these space-saving gardening techniques can help establish a lush and structured balcony garden.
Implement Decorative Elements
Modern home owners need to understand that developing a lush balcony garden is not only about adding plants, but the perfect decorative elements can also take the overall ambiance to the next level. Lighting is an aspect that can make your balcony garden more attractive. Selecting soft lighting arrangements can brighten up your entire balcony garden. If you want to relax in your balcony garden and enjoy the view, then you should definitely include some space-saving seating arrangements. Foldable chairs and tables can be great options to make your balcony garden space more relaxing and comfortable.
The process of transitioning your cozy balcony space into a lush green garden is a promising endeavor to bring nature to your living space. Following the strategies discussed in this article can have a significant impact on making your balcony a perfect garden oasis.