Apartment Gardening
Notes prepared by Chloe Thomson of Bean There Dug That, 2025
About the Presenter – Chloe Thomson
Chloe Thomson is a horticulturist, gardener and passionate educator with over 15 years of experience in the gardening industry. She has a background in agricultural science and horticulture and has worked in various communication and marketing roles within horticultural businesses. Chloe has appeared on gardening television, radio and podcasts, sharing her love of plants and practical gardening knowledge. She is now a freelance presenter, writer, video producer and founder of Sprout School. You can follow her gardening advice and projects on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube at @beantheredugthat.
Getting Started with Balcony Gardening
Balcony gardening is all about making the most of small spaces while working within the limitations of light, wind exposure and available space. Even a tiny balcony, courtyard or windowsill can be transformed into a productive and beautiful garden with the right approach. Before selecting plants or buying pots, it’s important to assess your space and understand its unique conditions.
Step 1: Learn Your Balcony’s Orientation & Light
Understanding how much sunlight your balcony receives is key to choosing plants that will thrive. Some plants need full sun, while others grow best in part shade or full shade.
Balconies that receive full sun (six or more hours of direct sunlight per day) are ideal for growing vegetables like tomatoes, capsicums and chillies, along with Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary and oregano. If your balcony gets part shade (four to six hours of sunlight per day), you can grow leafy greens and shade-tolerant herbs like coriander and parsley. For shady balconies with less than four hours of sunlight per day, consider ferns, peace lilies and hardy herbs like mint, which tolerate low light.
Other factors to consider include shadows cast by nearby buildings or balcony railings, which can change throughout the day and across seasons. Strong wind is also a consideration for balconies that always Body corporate rules may also restrict pot weight, irrigation and drainage, so check for any regulations before setting up your garden.
Firstly consider your balcony / balconies (or courtyards) location in relation to the WHOLE building – like this.
Include external factors that may impact sunlight. Eg. For apt 1 the tree and 5 storey apt block will impact both their balconies.
Now look at each individual balcony or space.
Sketch your balcony shape onto an A4 piece of paper, mark north (use the compass on your phone to work it out if needed) and then use coloured pencils to consider how the light hits all or parts of your balcony during the day.
Use ORANGE for areas that get sun for most of the day (6+ hours, does not need to be consecutive)
Use RED for areas that get only afternoon sun
Use LIGHT GREEN for areas that get only morning sun
Use DARK GREEN for areas that get no direct sun
NOTE – areas may be over lapping or you might not have all 4 colours used.
A handy tip is to take a photo or make a rough sketch of your balcony’s sunlight pattern. Keeping this on your phone will make plant shopping easier.
Step 2: Plan & Get Inspired
Before buying plants, take time to plan your garden. Think about what you want to achieve. Do you want to grow your own food, create a green retreat or add privacy screening? Defining your goals will help guide your plant selection and layout. And now that you know your spaces orientation and light you can have REALISTIC goals eg. A balcony with no direct sunlight is not going to grow a beautiful citrus tree grove!
To gather inspiration, search for balcony gardens that match your style and climate. Try using specific search terms like “raised veggie garden on a balcony,” “low-maintenance balcony plants” or “modern minimalist balcony garden.” Creating a mood board with images from Pinterest or gardening magazines can help you refine your vision.
Once you have a clear idea, sketch a layout or edit a photo of your space to experiment with different plant placements. If you’re unsure how things will look, use masking tape or chalk to outline areas on the floor before committing. Adding vertical elements like hanging pots, trellises or shelves will maximise space and create depth.
Try an elevation sketch like this to help you visual the layout. You don’t need to know specific plants. This rough sketch can help you at the nursery to show them, “I’d like a tall screen tree to suit this spot on my balcony please, it gets hot western afternoon sun”.
Another trick is to “mock up” photos of the space. Here is what I did at my house to explain to my husband and the hardware store where/why I wanted reo mesh attached to the side of our house so we could grow 2 different creepers up it.
You can do this easily in the free version of canva.com or many phone apps.
Step 3: Understanding Plants & Potting Mix
Reading Plant Labels
Remember to pay close attention to the sunlight requirements to ensure the plant is suited to your balcony’s conditions!
Choosing the Right Growing Medium
Using garden soil in pots is a common mistake. Garden soil tends to compact over time, preventing proper drainage and root growth. Potting mix is specially designed to be lightweight and well-draining, making it the best choice for potted plants. If you want to make your own potting mix, combine compost, perlite and coco coir for a balanced blend – you’ll find various “DIY potting mix” recipes with a quick google. But honestly just purchasing a premium quality one with the RED Australian standard logo is much better value! And a lot less fiddly.
Selecting the Right Pots & Repotting
The type of pot you choose will affect your plant’s health. Pots with drainage holes allow excess water to escape, preventing root rot. Self-watering pots are a great option for thirsty plants like tomatoes or vegetables, as they provide consistent moisture. Decorative cover pots without holes should only be used as outer containers, with a separate inner pot that drains properly. Think of coverpots as decorative “jackets” for your plants – never plant directly into them.
The type of pot you choose will affect your plant’s health. Pots with drainage holes allow excess water to escape, preventing root rot. Self-watering pots are a great option for thirsty plants like tomatoes or vegetables, as they provide consistent moisture. Decorative cover pots without holes should only be used as outer containers, with a separate inner pot that drains properly. Think of coverpots as decorative “jackets” for your plants – never plant directly into them.
If your plant becomes root-bound, with roots poking out of the drainage holes or growth slowing down, it’s time to repot. Choose a new pot that is no more than twice the diameter of the current one to prevent overwatering.
You CAN repot or refresh the potting mix and place the plant back into the same pot if you’d prefer to. If the roots are really winding around the root ball you can trim them back – and also trim back the top of the plant too – then replant it into the same pot with fresh potting mix.
Hydrophobic Potting Mix
If you notice your potting mix isn’t absorbing water or the potting mix is pulling away from the insides of the pot – the potting mix has likely become hydrophobic aka “water repelling”. To resolve this you should water a diluted wetting agent over the potting mix or if the pot is small enough, soak the whole pot & root ball in a big bucket or trough with water & wetting agent added. You’ll probably need to hold the pot down until all the air bubbles stop rising from the potting mix.
The process above will help the whole root ball of the plant re-wet and take up water
Step 4: Selecting the Best Plants for Small Spaces
Growing edible plants on a balcony is rewarding and achievable with compact or dwarf varieties. Dwarf fruit trees, such as lemons, oranges, nectarines, peaches and figs, thrive in pots. Berry plants, including strawberries and blueberries, grow really well in pots. For those interested in Australian natives, Midyim berries and other bush tucker plants provide edible fruit while supporting biodiversity.
To maximise space, consider vertical gardening. Fruiting vines like passionfruit, kiwifruit and grapevines can be trained up trellises (note they do require substantially strong trellises!), while climbing vegetables such as beans, peas and cucumbers make use of vertical space. If your balcony is shaded, focus on leafy greens like spinach, chard and lettuce, or root vegetables like beetroot, radish and potatoes, which tolerate lower light levels.
Don’t grow herbs in tiny windowsill pots – they’ll most likely die from lack of water! Water thirsty herbs including basil, coriander, parsley and dill are best in self watering pots, while woody herbs like rosemary, thyme, oregano and sage do well in regular free-draining pots with water during the heat of summer as needed.
Step 5: Balcony Design Tips
A small balcony can feel bigger with the right design tricks. Adding height with trellises, hanging pots or plant stands draws the eye upwards, making the space feel more open. Reclaimed or recycled materials, like old wooden crates or shelving, can be repurposed as planters or supports to raise pots. Up turned milk crates or besser-blocks can also work to create height variations with pots or planters. Colour also plays a role in design. Warm tones like reds and oranges create a warm and vibrant atmosphere, while blues and greens have a calming effect. But it’s your garden – if you’d prefer to plant the rainbow – go for it!
Need more inspiration? Check out my mate Steve’s balcony in Sydney on Gardening Australia here. Pia’s renter friendly tiny courtyard is also a great source of inspiration if you’re after a cheap way to create a garden here. And Breanna’s got some great tips for growing edibles in tiny spaces in her little suburban garden that can translate to balconies or courtyards here.
Step 6: Composting in Small Spaces
Even in an apartment, composting is possible. Bokashi bins use fermentation to break down food scraps without producing strong smells, making them ideal for indoor use. Countertop composters that use heat to accelerate decomposition are another option. If your building has communal garden areas, you may be able to set up a shared composting system.
Step 7: Feeding Your Plants
Plants need proper nutrition to thrive. Soil conditioners, such as compost and worm castings, improve soil structure and encourage beneficial microbes. Fertilisers provide essential nutrients, including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Organic plant and soil tonics, such as seaweed extract and compost tea, improve long-term soil health and can help plants during stressful times. Synthetic or in-organic fertilisers options provide a quick nutrient boost. If you’d prefer to grow your edibles organically, look for fertilisers that are “certified organic”, they’ll include a special certification logo on their packaging – not just the word “organic”. Using plant tonics, like liquid pure seaweed products, can strengthen plants cell walls and improve resilience to temperature extremes.
Final Thoughts & Takeaways
Balcony gardening is a great way to create a green sanctuary in small spaces. Understanding your balcony’s light conditions, choosing the right plants and pots, and incorporating smart design elements will help you create a thriving garden. Start small, experiment and enjoy the process – remember there are no mistakes, just learning opportunities in garden experiments!
Questions? Feel free to connect on Instagram @beantheredugthat.
Want to learn more? Join Sprout School – this is my online, self-paced gardening course and group coaching program designed to make anyone a better and more confident gardener. We dive deeper into some of the concepts we talked about during this Balcony Gardening Workshop AND you get access to a private Facebook Group to ask me any questions you’d like for 6 months PLUS a monthly LIVE Q&A session via zoom with other students.
Use the code BALCONY to save $100 off the course – https://www.beantheredugthat.com/sprout-school