gardening in small spaces
For me, gardening/horticulture is pure therapeutic joy … communing with nature/the Universe. It’s like creating colourful exterior rooms.
Once an apartment dweller, many people couldn’t believe I had an extensive garden on my balcony—I called it ‘my vast country estate’. When shown photos, as seen here, they were amazed.
Yellow day-lilies
everywhere
A gnome guards my big bonsai Quercus robur (English/ Common Oak)
1 Calibrachoa and Petunias in abundance 2 Schinus molle (Peruvian Peppercorn tree) 3 Castanea sativa (Chestnut tree) 4 Malus domestica 'Fuji' (Fuji Apple tree) espaliade
with 10 apples ripening
here are a few pointers—learnt from Burnley Horticultural College—to help with your own gardening in a small space:
1 Take note of the light conditions your plants will get. My balcony faced due west and got the scorching heat and hot winds of summer. Through experimentation Ijput in drought loving plants and those from the tropics to survive the heat.
A few summers ago some survived, others didn’t. In fact, the ones that enjoyed ajweekend of 46 °C (114.8 °F) was a Mangifera indica (Mango tree—ajseedling dug from the compost) and various Bougainvillea.
2 Stack hanging baskets under each other with similar habits and needs—watering one waters the others.
In this way, I had 21 baskets on my balcony, all creating ajflourish of eternal colour and aromas.
3 Some plants in hanging baskets are meant for growing in the earth proper. But because they attract birds and bees, Ijreckon they could be grown in containers for a few years. For instance, ajCorrea reflexa (Correa), left, was visited by ajhoney-eater each year.
See also
the importance
of feet
