How to Grow Food on a Shady Balcony

Growing Vegetables on Your Balcony.

• 1

  Start by choosing the right crops; not all vegetables can tolerate shade. The best options are leafy crops such as lettuce, Swiss chard, arugula and spinach. Broccoli, cabbage, kale, turnips and related plants also grow well. Avoid vegetables that fruit from flower, like tomatoes and squash; these almost never produce a substantial crop in the shade.

• 2

  Choose containers for your plants. Your container options are fairly wide, limited only to what fits on your balcony. The containers should have bottom holes for drainage and must be large enough to support your plants when they are full grown. Large clay pots and wooden planters are good options.

• 3

  Fill the containers with your desired planting medium. Pure garden soil is usually too heavy and can become compacted, and mixes like peat moss and vermiculite are too light and sterile to adequately support food crops. The University of Arizona recommends creating your own mixture with 1 part garden soil, 1 part peat moss and 1 part clean, coarse sand. Add a slow-release fertilizer such as a 14-14-14, according to the size of the container.

• 4

  Plant your vegetables at the same time as you would for traditional outdoor gardening. Each vegetable has its own requirements for planting depth, spacing, temperature, soil nutrients, pH and water. Specific planting instructions are generally on the back of each seed packet.

• 5

  Water your crops frequently. Soil dries out more quickly in containers than in a garden, so you may need to water daily or even twice daily. Moisten the soil until the water drips out the holes in the bottom of your container, but do not overwater.

• 6

  Monitor your plants for diseases and pests. Vegetables grown in containers tend to be more disease- and pest-free than garden plants, but problems may still arise that you need to deal with.