Raised bed on the balcony: fill and plant correctly

Cheers to the balcony bed!

If you don't have a garden, but you do have a balcony, you can just as easily go to the hobby gardener with a raised bed. Growing vegetables works great there too! If that's not enough reason, here are even more advantages:

  • You can use your compost wisely.
  • Your plants get more light and heat.
  • Snails have little chance of thinking about your vegetables.
  • You save yourself the hassle of bending over and kneeling on the floor.
  • Less weeds, more yields – yes!

On Raised bed are available in smaller versions so that they easily fit on a balcony. You can choose between raised beds made of wood, metal, plastic or stone – and if you are skilled in craftsmanship, you can even build one yourself. The raised bed ideally has a height of 80 or 90 cm and has feet so that it is not too close to the ground and frost has no chance. A raised bed on wheels could also make sense under certain circumstances, so it can be moved quickly.

Even if you have a large balcony you should keep an eye on the load and avoid a too large bed! Here we explain what you should pay attention to when filling and planting.

Fill the raised bed on the balcony properly

For the optimal growing conditions, the raised bed is layered in four layers (from bottom to top):

  1. Drainage: pruning, e.g. B. branches and twigs
  2. Filling layer of leaves and garden / kitchen waste
  3. Compost layer with semi-ripe compost, straw or animal bedding
  4. Planting layer: Plant substrate

A loft bed on the balcony will not be as deep as one in a large garden. The bottom two layers should be a little thickerthan the top two. However, the substrate should not be scattered too thinly so that the plants get enough nutrients.

Filling is ideal in autumn, the lower layers rot over winter, which causes the bed to sink. So the plants would sink in, too, but not everyone can take it! But spring can also be used for filling.

Over the years, the loft bed will continue to sink, but you can compensate for this by filling it with compost. It happens every four to five years Raised bed renewed.

Plant the bed

If you now think that you are simply planting a huge amount of radishes because you like to eat them, the disappointment comes now: Even with a raised bed, the crop rotation should be adhered to. H. Plant strong feeders in the first year, in the second middle feeders and in the third weak feeders (then the radishes will finally come into play!).

A selection of suitable heavy feeders

Heavily draining plants need a lot of water!

A seed set with 16 vegetables can be found here.

Suitable middle-eaters

Possible weak teachers for your raised bed

Tip: You should know about planting radishes, planting herbs and planting garlic.

There is a seed set here with ten different herbs.

Flowers in the raised bed

Growing vegetables is just one way of planting flowers, of course.

  • Heavy feeders are e.g. B. sunflowers, Tulips or chrysanthemums
  • Mittelzehrer z. B. Dahlias or snapdragons
  • Weak teachers such as Azaleas or begonias

A colorful feast for the eyes on your balcony is certain deinem.

There are even more suggestions on how to design your balcony, information on the balcony covering or what a worm box is and does.

In the BRIGITTE Community you can exchange ideas about plants.