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Apartments in the city usually do not have a garden, but often have a balcony, which is also suitable for growing vegetables. There's just not that much space, which is why choosing the right vegetables is so important.

In a nutshell

  • Balconies have certain advantages over other growing areas
  • Vegetables must have certain characteristics to make them worth growing
  • Diversity and high yield possible through different varieties
  • With the right planning, fresh vegetables can be harvested all year round

Why growing vegetables on the balcony is worthwhile

Although a balcony is often very small, it has a number of advantages over large garden areas. On the one hand, maintenance is much easier and takes far less time. For example, weeds need to be removed much less frequently. Heavy work such as digging or even mowing the lawn is completely eliminated.
In addition, it is easier to keep track of things. Balconies that get a lot of sun during the day store the heat until late at night, which in turn benefits many types of vegetables. Cold-sensitive vegetables are also easier to protect from frost on the balcony. However, diseases or pests are less common on the balcony. Snail feeding, for example, is only possible via animals that have been brought in.
Necessary properties of balcony vegetables:

  • high yield in a small space
  • easy-care
  • easy cultivation or purchase of young plants
  • space saving
  • attractive to animals, necessary for pollination of some vegetables
  • easy to process and preserve

Plants from A - K

cucumbers

  • suitable varieties: Mini cucumbers (snack cucumber 'Minik' F1), climbing, climbing varieties (Mexican date cucumber Pepita)
  • Sowing and planting time: Sow indoors in April, plant outdoors in mid-May or then direct sow individually in appropriately sized tubs
  • Location: sunny to semi-shady; airy, but protected from strong winds
  • substrate: not too dry, loamy and nutritious
  • Maintenance: Mulch, don't forget the trellis, tie up the shoots regularly, thin out the fruit a bit
  • Fertilizing and watering: high nutrient requirement, liquid fertilizer about every two weeks, water a lot, keep moist
  • Diseases and pests: mainly aphids and powdery mildew, possibly prefer resistant or tolerant varieties, read off aphids, promote beneficial insects and protect against rain
  • Time of harvest and processing: Harvest mini cucumbers as soon as they feel crunchy, eat them fresh or pickle them sour

potatoes

  • suitable varieties: Rosara (red-skinned), Annabelle (boiling), Margit (floury)
  • Sowing and planting time: Can be grown indoors from February, plant in the ground between April and May, individually in deep containers
  • Location: sunny, airy
  • substrate: nutrient-rich, humic, choose a container or planting bag that is as high as possible
  • Maintenance: Pile up or fill up soil around the plants, mulch
  • Fertilizing and watering: water especially during prolonged periods of drought, fertilize every two weeks with the irrigation water
  • Diseases and pests: Colorado potato beetle on the balcony is rather rare, but late blight is possible in wet weather
  • Time of harvest and processing: the first potatoes are ready to harvest about 90 days after planting, use immediately, early potatoes cannot be stored for long

Notice: On the balcony it is only worth growing new potatoes, which can be done continuously (until around August) where there is room for the vegetables.

Kohlrabi

  • suitable varieties: Azurestar (purple), Delicacy (white or purple)
  • Sowing and planting time: can be sown and planted from April, can be grown indoors from March, planting distance 30 cm
  • Location: sunny, but also partial shade, not too dry
  • substrate: not too nutritious, moist but permeable
  • Maintenance: Loosen the soil from time to time
  • Fertilizing and watering: watering regularly prevents the kohlrabi from bursting and becoming woody, fertilize only a little
  • Diseases and pests: Aphids and cabbage white caterpillars can be collected
  • Time of harvest and processing: ready to harvest after about 20 weeks, eaten fresh or cooked as a vegetable

Plants from M - P

carrots

  • suitable varieties: Rondo (early), Oxheart (summer carrot), Long Blunt (late camp carrot)
  • Sowing and planting time: sow from March to August, from a planting distance of 5 cm, prefer deep containers
  • Location: sunny, not too dry, airy
  • substrate: loose, without large stones, rich in nutrients
  • Maintenance: keep the soil loose
  • Fertilizing and watering: water regularly, fertilizing is not necessary
  • Diseases and pests: Aphids, carrot fly (possibly try mixed culture with onions)
  • Time of harvest and processing: early carrots are ready to harvest from June, late ones can be stored well in sand, otherwise freeze or preserve

paprika

  • suitable varieties: jalapeño, hot peppers (both hot); Sweet peppers: Hungarian tomato peppers (sweet), polka (block peppers), snack peppers (high-yield, small fruits)
  • Sowing and planting time: Sow indoors from February, plant outdoors from mid-May, not hardy, one bucket per plant
  • Location: sunny
  • substrate: permeable, nutritious
  • Maintenance: for growing varieties, attach and tie support, mulch
  • Fertilizing and watering: keep moist, fertilize every two weeks, heavy feeder
  • Diseases and pests: rather rare
  • Time of harvest and processing: green fruits already edible, ripe after several weeks, eat fresh, freeze; hot varieties are suitable for drying

Planting from Q - T

radish

  • suitable varieties: Cyros and Fanal (very early, prefer indoors), Knacker (early), Riesenbutter (summer), Rudi and Icicles (all year round)
  • Sowing and planting time: from February to May and from August to September, planting distance 3 - 5 x 15 cm
  • Location: sunny to semi-shady
  • substrate: permeable, nutritious
  • Maintenance: loosen the soil from time to time
  • Fertilizing and watering: keep moist, do not fertilize
  • Diseases and pests: hardly available, possibly butterfly caterpillars
  • Time of harvest and processing: ready to harvest after 3 to 4 weeks, eaten fresh

salad

sugarloaf
  • suitable varieties: Pick and cut lettuce, lollo rosso, rocket, lamb's lettuce
  • Sowing and planting time: from March, rocket or lamb's lettuce also as autumn seed, overwinters outdoors, planting distance between 5 and 10 cm
  • Location: sunny, semi-shady, not too dry
  • substrate: loose, not very nutritious
  • Maintenance: chop from time to time, harvest lettuce and cut lettuce regularly
  • Fertilizing and watering: keep moist, but do not fertilize
  • Diseases and pests: aphids
  • Time of harvest and processing: harvest fresh leaves continuously after a few weeks, with autumn sowing harvest until the following spring

tomatoes

  • suitable varieties: Cocktail, cherry or mini tomatoes (yellow currant)
  • Sowing and planting time: Sow indoors from February, plant outdoors in mid-May, one tub per plant
  • Location: sunny, airy, but not too windy, preferably protected from rain
  • substrate: nutritious, permeable
  • Maintenance: Support and tie up if necessary, remove old leaves regularly, mulch
  • Fertilizing and watering: keep moist, fertilize every 2 weeks
  • Diseases and pests: Aphids, fungal diseases in humid weather
  • Time of harvest and processing: as soon as the fruits are colored, eat fresh, dry or boil down

Plants from U - Z

zucchini

  • suitable varieties: Black Forrest F1 (needs trellis), Mini Zucchini Piccolo F1
  • Sowing and planting time: Sow indoors from March or April, plant in mid-May, one bucket per plant, requires a lot of space
  • Location: sunny, sheltered
  • substrate: permeable, nutritious
  • Maintenance: Mulching protects the shallow roots
  • Fertilizing and watering: Fertilize every two weeks, keep moist
  • Diseases and pests: mainly fungal diseases, which hardly harm the plant
  • Time of harvest and processing: young zucchini are ready to harvest from 10 cm, flowers can also be eaten, eaten fresh, freeze or boil down

snow peas

  • suitable varieties: Weggiser (medium altitude), early Heinrich (early ripe, medium altitude)
  • Sowing and planting time: sow from the end of April, planting distance 5 cm
  • Location: sunny, sheltered but airy
  • substrate: permeable, rich in nutrients, loose
  • Maintenance: Use trellis, guide shoots if necessary, lightly pile up the plant, chop
  • Fertilizing and watering: keep moist at first, don't let it dry out later, fertilizing is not necessary
  • Diseases and pests: Pea moths when there is too little air movement, fungal diseases when the location is too wet
  • Time of harvest and processing: Cultivation time about 3 months, eaten fresh, boil or freeze

Notice: The crunchy, sweet-tasting pods are particularly popular with children.

onions

  • suitable varieties: red and white onion sets, spring onions, winter onions
  • Sowing and planting time: Plant onion sets from March, winter onions from September, sow seed onions from March, planting distance from 5 cm
  • Location: sunny or partial shade
  • substrate: permeable, loose, nutritious
  • Maintenance: keep the soil loose
  • Fertilizing and watering: Fertilizer not necessary, keep moist
  • Diseases and pests: Onion fly, possibly try a mixed culture with carrots
  • Time of harvest and processing: Harvest onion sets from August or in spring, braid them into braids and hang them up to dry, harvest perennial spring onions as needed

frequently asked Questions

Which fruit is best for the balcony?

Strawberries, which are also available as climbing strawberries or hanging strawberries, are best suited. So-called columnar fruit can also be grown on the balcony, or individual blueberry or currant bushes.

What are the special features of growing on the balcony?

The space on the balcony should be used optimally, so it is good if vegetables grow more in height than in width. Hanging baskets are good, climbing vegetables also require little space.

How do crop rotation and mixed cultivation work?

If the soil in the pots is changed every year, crop rotation doesn't matter much. Mixed cultures can be cultivated to a limited extent in balcony boxes or special raised beds. On the balcony, too, it is a good idea to look out for suitable planting neighbors for the vegetables, even if they do not share a pot.

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Category:

Vegetable garden