Growing my Own Food with a Raised Garden Bed on the Balcony

Growing my Own Food with a Raised Garden Bed on the Balcony

Article by Kimble Berry

A good friend of mine dared me to put my money where my mouth was last year and to prove that you can grow your own food in the city with the right kind of planter. It took me a little bit to find the one I wanted to use for my project and while doing the research, I decided that I would grow organically as well.

I chose a tiered urban garden and bought the base cedar to place underneath the garden out on my balcony. I also invested in organic “light” soil that can be found at your local nurseries and is a lighter in weight soil. I used this to make sure I was within the weight limits for the balcony, which took me almost two weeks to run down between the building manager and the builder.

Once I got the bed set up to get good sun, I started planting the things I knew I would eat; tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, basil, rosemary, squash and a few other assorted things like lettuce and spinach. While it took more than a few weeks for most of the plants to produce, I knew I had a winner when I was eating fresh salads with my lettuce almost every day.

So now that I have proven to all my friends and won the bet, I have bought a small portable greenhouse to place over the raised bed for the winter. I have talked to several people in town that have done something similar and they love being able to grow their own food year round, or at least some of their own food.

What I have found out by doing this is there is something cathartic about working in the dirt and growing things that I had really never known before. Then to harvest and prepare what you have grown and to taste the fresh vegetables that cannot be beaten is amazing. It has made me a better cook and someone who now appreciates where my food comes from; my balcony!

About the Author

You can find some wonderful raised organic bed kits as well as recycled kits that are perfect for your vegetable garden and a wonderful urban raised bed that is great if you are limited to a small space.

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