Part 2 of My Favourite Seasons: The Balcony Trial

Welcome to Part 2! Today, we are tackling the balcony. If you think you need a massive, acre-wide backyard to have a garden, I’m here to prove you wrong. I have a normal, everyday patio space that used to just hold some random plastic chairs and a lot of dust. I decided that if I couldn’t master a small container garden out here first, I had absolutely no business ripping up the grass in the actual yard.

But here’s the thing: walking into the garden center as a total newbie is completely overwhelming. There are rows and rows of pots made of clay, plastic, ceramic, and fabric. There are mountains of dirt bags, each claiming to do different things. I stood in the aisle for a good twenty minutes just staring at a bag of vermiculite, wondering if I was accidentally buying chemical weapons. I didn’t have a master strategy. I just picked out 2 palm trees, 2 dracaena plants, 4 simple black pots of the same size, and 1 cream-white pot for an indoor plant because I liked their look, grabbed the 5 biggest bags of soil labelled “For flowers,” and hoped for the best.

Time for the Great Dirt Scoop

When I got everything home, the real comedy began. I don’t have a fancy potting bench or special tools. I was literally kneeling on the balcony floor in my runners, using a plastic kitchen cup to scoop dirt out of the massive bag and dump it into my new pots. It was messy; I forgot to wear my gardening gloves, the wind kept blowing soil into my face, and my hands were immediately black with mud. But you know what? It felt amazing.

My Clumsy Container Rules:

1. Make sure the pot has holes at the bottom (apparently plants drown if the water just sits there).

2. Don’t use regular dirt from the yard; it gets hard as a brick in a pot.

3. Leave an inch of space at the top so the water doesn’t spill over when you feed them. Unfortunately, I “accidentally” filled the soil to the top of one of the pots. I realized this after two days while I was watering the plants.

I filled up three main pots and grouped them together in a corner. I didn’t measure the distances or use a level; I just pushed them around until it felt right.

Sowing the First Hopes

Once the dirt was ready, I planted my first round of stuff. I tucked in the palm trees and some starter pink petunias that were already a little bit blooming, then took a deep breath and sowed my first-ever seeds of sweet basil, cilantro, and parsley. I just poked my finger into the dirt, dropped the microscopic seeds in, and covered them back up.

Since I don’t like my neighbours seeing how clumsy I am with gardening, I rushed back into my kitchen after planting and stood by the window. Looking at my messy hands and my newly filled pots, the balcony felt completely different. It wasn’t just a boring outdoor platform anymore; it felt alive. It felt like my own little private escape where the house’s rules didn’t apply. I have no idea if these herbs will ever actually sprout or if the petunias will survive the windy Manitoba afternoons, but the process of just making a mess and trying was the exact reset my brain needed.

Your Turn to Vent

• Have you ever tried container gardening on a balcony or a small porch?
• Did your plants actually grow, or did you end up with a pot full of sad weeds?
• Tell me your worst container failures in the comments! Make me feel better about my skills.

Tune in for part three of my gardening adventure.

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