I love plants, and I thought that when I had a balcony I was going to enjoy growing lots of edible plants on it. Even though I enjoyed plants, I didn't enjoy all the issues that came about when I tried to grow on a balcony. I have now gotten rid of a lot of plants and I'm starting fresh.

Even though I have hundreds of indoor plants, and find caring for them a wonderful joy and way to de-stress after a long day, I found that the balcony "garden" became a nightmare of logistical problems, was expensive (despite having mostly ugly containers and DIY set-ups), covered in pests, and I had hardly any food to show for it. Despite the wonders of the internet, it's been very difficult to find anything useful when it comes to my situation.

I have ripped up a lot of the balcony now and I'm starting over, but I wanted to share my experience and problems so that hopefully someone just starting will enjoy growing a balcony/container garden because they learned from my many mistakes.

Okay here we go!

1. Do not purchase a pot, unless you also purchase a sturdy, drip tray that can hold lots of water and you know it will fit.

I was looking for large planters for several reasons. It gets very hot in the summer here, to where keeping plants watered in the regular sized containers is almost impossible. I don't have a lot of money to spend on large planters (the minimum is usually $30...six of those! yikes!) so I got large laundry tubs.

The large laundry tubs have been...infuriating. I drilled holes in them, filled them with soil and plants, watered, and then the dirt water drained off the balcony and made a huge mess...now every time I water I have to run around like a maniac getting a bunch of towels to dry up the mess so that neighbors don't complain.

Why didn't I just get drip trays? Well drip trays are special kind of evil. After having purchased laundry tubs, I couldn't find drip trays with a 20" diameter, the flimsy 17" ones barely fit, and after they are filled with water, YOU CAN'T PICK THEM UP!!!! Or they spill everywhere! So I was with a little cup gathering the water out of the drip trays.

2. Don't purchase large, flimsy, plastic drip trays (see above)

3. Do not purchase a self-watering container that doesn't warn you appropriately that it's about to overflow...or have a tube or some other way for that overflow to go nicely into a sturdy drip tray.

4. Don't purchase large planters that are too wide to walk around...go for narrow, tall planters (although I can't find them so good luck)

The other issue with the laundry tubs was that they were very wide.Wide pots on a narrow balcony waste a lot of space, are difficult to move (they knock over surrounding plants in pots when moved) and plants that cascade of the sides, are easy to break/damage when you move the pots.

5. Don't buy lots of one kind of planter right away, you may find several problems with them and then it's too late.

6. Keep in mind a space for trash, soil, and water.

Plants, outdoors, are really, really messy. I don't want to bring in a pest-laden plants into the kitchen trash, where they will crawl out and attack all my indoor plants. I didn't realize how important this was.

7. Avoid assigning yourself projects you hate that are for your plants but not, actually, working with the plants. (unless you REALLY enjoy it)

I love plants, I work with them for my own pleasure and as a way to destress, but I really dislike trying to find overwhelming amounts of "decomposed granite" (there is no room for a cubic yard in my tiny apartment, and no, I'm not going to plant that in the balcony, I'd rather grow lettuce in peat moss) which I have to find a place to mix (no, the neighbors below me are not going be okay with granite dust everywhere) and then I have to figure out how to move a laundry tub full of granite...umm...I don't think that is possible for me to deal with. Nothing against gritty mix, but I have to deal with my own limitations of space, time, and budget.

I got so overwhelmed and miserable trying to do the best things for my plants, I forgot that I enjoy PLANTS, not spending a whole weekend on soil mix, that makes it not fun for me. Of course, if it ever becomes actually practical for me to get a small volume of experimental soil mix, that would be a different story, but there are other projects I assigned myself that just weren't practical. I can't do woodworking to make my own planters, for instance.

8. Don't plant seeds once. Remember, bugs need food too.

I had severe spider mites eating all of my would-be delicious water spinach, among other plants, and it was quite discouraging. I planted yard long beans, only to see that all of them slowly died with yellow spots...except for one! There was one plant that looked dead to me, but I hadn't gotten around to pulling it up, and I was gradually avoiding all balcony chores. Well, it actually got over the mites, grew to about six feet, produced beautiful flowers and pods all the way to the frost. If I had kept planting seeds, then I might have seen more survivors, which would have given me a pretty good harvest! So now I make sure to plant seeds on a recurring schedule, even if the first set dies, because there's a good chance future seeds could overcome the pest/weather/what have you and grow really well.