How to Grow Vegetables on a Balcony

Growing Food on Your Patio

• 1

  Take a stone or small rock and put it in the drainage hole for the pot. This will keep the soil in, and the excess water out.

• 2

  Add soil to the bottom of the pot. Large vegetables like tomatoes like lots of room, so use bigger pots for those. Hold your plant up to the pot, and see how much room there is between the bottom of the roots and an inch from the top of the pot. Add more dirt until you reach that level. Tamp the dirt down.

• 3

  Put the vegetable in the pot, and carefully pack the dirt around all sides of it. Tamp the potting soil, and add more dirt if it needs it. You want the top of the dirt to be an inch below the top rim of the pot so you can add water. If you are using seeds, follow the depth recommendations on the back of the seed package.

• 4

  Water your plant, and keep out of the sun for a few days. Use the moisture meter to make sure that you have enough water in the soil for the plant. Repotting plants often shocks them, and they can't deal well with bright, warm sunshine.

• 5

  After a few days, put the plant back into the sunshine, and check the moisture levels. Most people tend to over water plants, and by using a moisture meter, you can make sure your plants are not sitting in too much water, or they are dying of thirst.

• 6

  Plants grown in pots need more food than plants grown in regular garden soil. Feed them at the recommended intervals found on your plant food box or bottle. Every time you water, food in the soil is flushed out.