Liquid Fertilisers -Volunteer Plants - Seed Germination - Inverawe

Liquid Fertilisers: Angus Stewart explains how liquid fertilisers work and compares the different types available, demonstrating the best applications for each.

Volunteer Plants:Jerry Coleby-Williams explains the value of volunteer plants in his productive garden, and shows how to recognise and use them.

Seed Germination: Colin Campbell explains the science behind seed germination to help improve success rates in the garden.

'Inverawe': Jane Edmanson visits Tasmania's largest landscaped native garden, where the owners have used local and endangered plant species to restore the natural landscape in a semi-formal garden design.

Leonie turns a sun blasted balcony into an inviting retreat

SERIES 20 Episode 30

Everybody deserves a garden, no matter where they live. But sometimes having one can be quite challenging, especially if you live in a multi-story block of units. Leonie took on a particularly difficult challenge: a balcony that is blasted by afternoon sun, dried by a constant sea breeze and overheated and over lit by a neighbouring tin roof.

How to Make a Balcony Garden

• Start with a site assessment. Work out how much light your balcony receives during the day. What do you want your balcony garden to do? Will it provide shelter, privacy, edible produce, perfume or just a great view? Once you've decided on that, there are a few basic design principles to consider.
• Use the borrowed landscape. That is, hide or enhance the existing surroundings. Leonie uses some bamboo fencing for privacy and to stop the heat, wind and rain destroying the plants.
• Use large potted plants if you want to block out the neighbours. Leonie chooses two varieties of ficus for their height and hardiness.
• Make use of vertical space. Install hooks or screws from which to hang baskets, grow climbers up a trellis or grow tall, thin plants against a wall. If you're short of space make more by going up instead of out.
• Dividing space with lattice or a row of plants can make a balcony seem bigger. Leonie used chairs and a group of hardy shrubs to make the balcony into two rooms. The idea is that a glimpse of the other part of the balcony through this screen gives the illusion of a much bigger space.
• Keep it simple. Nothing makes a small space seem smaller than too many plants, pots and different colours crammed together.
• Be practical. Leonie puts the herbs beside the kitchen door so they're easy to access at cooking time. Leonie used tough herbs - Thai Coriander and Garlic Chives and Pandan. Grow them in big pots so they don't dry out as quickly.
• Watering is essential! One of the main reasons that plants die on balcony gardens is lack of water and this is often due to infrequent manual watering. Install a drip irrigation system with a simple battery timer so the plants never miss out on a drink.
• Leonie also takes advantage of the cooling effect of water by adding a large pot filled with water lilies. She says, "Just looking at it makes me feel cooler and more relaxed." Water lilies also love full sun so are perfect for a balcony like this.
• Another important thing to keep in mind is weight. Pots and plants can collectively be very heavy. A good way to keep the weight down on your balcony is to use plastic, polystyrene or wood pots. Fill the bottom half of your pot with polystyrene chips to reduce the weight of potting mix.
• Combine a good potting mix with perlite. Mix the two fifty/fifty. It makes a beautiful, light, water holding soil. Leonie plants some crotons because they provide good colour and are tough and love the sun.
• For safety, make sure you have reasonable drainage. Some balconies have sloped floors and drains but you might also think about putting down some non-slip mats in case there's any overflow from the watering.
• Mulch is essential on balcony pots to reduce evaporation. Hay and leaves are going to blow around and make a mess, and rocks are fantastic but they will mix in with the top soil, especially when you want to re-pot. Leonie favours pebble tiles which are pebbles attached to fabric. All you do is cut them to size and lay them down on the surface of the pot.

The best thing about balcony gardens is that they are quite low maintenance. A bit of slow release fertiliser once a year, perhaps some re-potting in the future as the plants get bigger and the watering system will take care of the rest. Then all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the view.

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2660509.htm