Balcony vegetable garden: techniques and suitable varieties

🌿 Growing an edible garden on your balcony? It’s possible – and even delicious.

Do you think you need a garden to garden? Think again. Even a few well-exposed square meters, a railing, or a windowsill are enough to create a productive urban vegetable garden, beautiful and tasty. Whether you live in an apartment, in the city, or in a house without land, it is entirely possible to grow vegetables, aromatic herbs, and edible flowers in a few well-chosen containers.

Here are our tips to start a edible garden on a balcony, following the principles of natural, ecological, and accessible gardening.

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1. Choose suitable containers

The basis of any container gardening is the container itself. Ideally: pots, boxes, or planters that are sufficiently deep (at least 30 cm for vegetables), with drainage holes.

Some ideas:

• Pots made of terracotta or recycled plastic.

• Wooden boxes (wine crates, pallets).

• Long planters for leafy vegetables.

• Flexible grow bags, easy to move.

Tip: add clay pellets or gravel at the bottom to ensure good drainage.

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2. Choose rich and living soil

In pots, the plant depends entirely on the substrate. Prepare a light, fertile, and draining mix:

• Organic potting soil (special vegetable garden or universal).

• Mature homemade or purchased compost.

• A bit of vermiculite, perlite, or coconut fiber for aeration.

• And a surface mulch (dry leaves, hemp, flax) to retain moisture.

Also consider natural amendments (worm compost, liquid manure, etc.) to maintain a living soil, even in pots.

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3. Arrange your crops smartly

☀️ Exposure:

Most vegetables need at least 6 hours of sun. If your balcony faces south, anything is possible. In the shade or north-facing, favor:

• Chives

• Pennyroyal mint

• Four seasons wonder lettuce

• Matador spinach

• Arugula

📏 Optimize vertical space:

• Use shelves or tiered stands.

• Hang pockets or grow bags.

• Grow climbing Black Cherry cherry tomatoes, sweet peas, dwarf nasturtiums, or even climbing beans on a trellis.

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4. Which plants are easy to grow on a balcony?

🌿 Aromatics:

Easy to grow and very profitable in pots:

• Flat-leaf parsley

• Lemon basil

• Thyme

• Broad-leaf chives

• Oregano

• Savory

• Tarragon

🥬 Leafy vegetables:

Ideal in window boxes, to harvest over the weeks:

• Batavia lettuce

• Viroflay monstrous spinach

• Arugula

• Horned tetragon (perfect in summer)

🍅 Compact vegetables:

• Yellow Pear cherry tomato or Moneymaker tomato: perfect in pots.

• Round zucchini or Goldena zucchini: productive even in a deep container.

• Half-long radish, Yellow round radish, Large round winter black radish.

🌸 Edible flowers:

Decorative, melliferous, and often edible (please check beforehand for identification and potential contraindications):

• Calendula

• Common borage

• Dwarf nasturtium

• Pansies, marigolds, cosmos 

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5. Tips for succeeding with your balcony vegetable garden

• Water early in the morning to limit evaporation and prevent diseases.

• Turn the pots regularly for even growth.

• Start small: 3 or 4 varieties are enough to learn.

• Keep a journal: note your successes, failures, and desires for the next season.

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🌱 In summary

The balcony vegetable garden is not a reduced version of the garden: it is a space in its own right, rich in diversity and surprises. With a few well-chosen seeds, good soil, and a little attention, you can harvest your own tomatoes, fresh herbs, and edible flowers as early as this summer.

👉 Discover our special “balcony” selection : a ready-to-sow kit, containing compact, robust, and tasty varieties, selected for small spaces.