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Container gardening for the space-impaired — it’s so simple, you’ll cry over your first tomato
Grow your own food this summer -- even if you don't have a backyard to till up. With even the smallest well-lit space you can... Read more
For those of us apartment/condo dwellers in the Northern Hemiphere, it is NOT hanging out on the balcony season — but it IS balcony decor scheming season. Our balcony spent most of last summer in a state of crapped-out dormancy, but I vowed that next year will be different… so the scheming has already begun.
Here are a few of the ideas I’ve been collecting:
Source: offbeathome.com
Source: ruffledblog.com
Source: moredesignplease.com
Source: offbeathome.com
And last but not least
Just because what would this post be without the requisit BUNTING, here’s some DIY cereal box bunting I spotted in Brooklyn that could make a great balcony accent:
Looking for even more balcony inspiration? Try http://lifeonthebalcony.com
I got some cheapo paper lanterns with little lights inside them last summer. While you do have to remember to take them down if it rains (they don’t survive…) they look really great both during the day and at night.
I particularly like the apartment therapy hanging plants as the view from my apartment is the parking lot 🙁 and they would do a lot to block out the view without blocking out the wonderful light we get from the patio doors.
My only issue with cereal-box bunting outside is that you have to remember to take it inside if it’s rainy/damp/dewy because it’ll get sad really quickly. Unless you laminate it!
Container gardening is the bomb. Our ‘backyard’ is essentially a dock, so all of our plants are in pots + a couple of galvanized water troughs… trees, annuals, vegetables, all of it! I am NOT very plant savvy, but I feel very competent when everything is blooming and full in the summer. And without too much effort… yay!
My current dilemma when it comes to scheming for spring:
Right now with our living situation we have to move every year, and not little cross-town moves, but big ass cross-country moves. Luckily, my husband’s company pays for a moving company, unluckily, most moving companies won’t move plants.
Any ideas for what to do with plants when you can’t take them with you? Or some other house & patio prettifying solution other than plants that would satisfy the gardener in me?
i <3 the knitting
I’m having a really hard time finding window boxes I can secure to my deck. I think just an indoor-outdoor rug, a couple lights, and a rail of box planters would look amazing, but finding ones that don’t just sit on the railing and hope for the best is proving difficult. It’s windy in my area, and I’d prefer not to injure my neighbors below.
I’m looking forward to stringing up some paper mache lanterns this year! http://www.1708gallery.org/inlight/pdfs/Balloon%20Lantern%20Instructions.pdf
oh i have SUCH plans for the balcony this year! window boxes all the way around the outside with trellis to the roof, couple of hanging baskets and self watering containers, all filled with veggies and herbs and useful or edible flowers! add a little fountain, a fast drying rug, a couple of oil lamps and fairy lights, waterproof floor pillows, a vermiculture bin, we’re going to pack in TONS!!! i want the planters all in by mid feb so i can plant things the moment seedlings are available. i’m so so excited. i might even be able to convince our landlords to let me put in a big compost pile and a couple of full sized raised beds in the empty space beside our apartment