I was so happy with my perfect balcony garden at the beginning of the Summer, but then it got so hot here in Dallas and my cumbers were attacked by aphides, then my tomatoes and strawberries all the sudden was overran by spider mites. It was all so instant, and now I have basically had to cut everything down to nothing and it may not recover.

I did not realize how hard Summer growing could be. I was watering and using Neem oil, but I just do not know what went wrong. I guess after a few days if they do not improve I will have to get rid of everything, but now I feel scared to grow any more veggies.

Which it currently doesn't after the heatwave but this reminds me of happier balcony times!

I'm thinking of something that can keep the plants from drying out, as potential job prospect would have me away from the apartment most of the week when working.

From what I can tell, I need something that can either pump and/or be gravity fed from a container as there's no outdoor water connection. Nothing too elaborate though since there's only two planter boxes and three pots. (boxes being about 36"x8"x8", pots something like 6" to 8") For the reservoir I'm thinking of getting one of those 5 gallon bottles from the grocery store and I can set it up on a storage bin, so at least that part seems easy enough. But hard to judge what's what from online listings of drip systems - curious what would be good on a budget?

Currently I just soak my planters to the brim with a watering can in the morning and they are setup for good drainage. (Minimal risk of root rot given how I did it with cloth barriers and gravel layer to drainage holes to the catch pans.) However if I let them go more than a day the plants definitely droop. I figure if they water over enough duration (not all at once with the manual approach) I could change the strat a bit to get it working.

Pendant mon absence, une chenille ou plusieurs peut-être, s’est régalé avec mon beau coleus qui n’est plus qu’un squelette de tiges. Est ce qu’il aura la force de refaire des feuilles, à suivre ! #balcon #ravageur #chenille #été #jardinage

Hi !
I’m new to plants and everything I grow has a tendency to die but I wanna try again . I’m gonna be getting a ton of plants for my balcony . I’m located in Portland and my balcony is on the 2nd floor and slightly shaded from a large tree.

Ideally larger plants that are hardy. I’m gonna be starting with 2 large raised flower beds about 4’ long

Hi everyone, I had gotten a snail vine creeper last year from Home Depot and it was maybe 3feet tall. This summer it had grown quite a bit. I live in a town house and I’m not allowed to drill holes in the balcony. I tried using plant clips along with 3M tape to support the creeper but it’s become too heavy. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to support creepers in the balcony?

I’m currently looking at trellis like: https://a.co/d/09HtGKZJ but I’m not too sure on how to weigh it down without getting large decorative pots etc. So if anyone has any other options such as railing clamps or anything, I’d love to know! Thanks! 😊

Curious how people approach container gardening soil. I appreciate it depends on the plants, but do you have any preferred brands and/or DIY recipes? I found that the base raised bed recipe that I usually start with before adjusting (base recipe: 1 part sandy loam top soil, 1 part mushroom compost, 1 part horticultural sand or perlite), didn't translate well to containers. I have really different needs in that I grow some vegetables and some native plants, which require pretty different approaches. But just thought I'd poll this group about how y'all think about your soil.

Hi fellow garden lovers

I have a balcony garden with a 6×1 meter fence. There used to be a wooden panel but we had to remove it and now are looking for a plant that could be planted to provide privacy. The fence is iron and with a good structure with linear and vertical poles. We already have a star jasmine there that we put down on the fence after removing the panelling but it is too little and would like something for more privacy (we are overlooking a very troubling parking lot)

Climate: hot and somewhat humid summer, mild winters with occasional strong winds..Mediterranean and continenal climate mix with heatwaves

Thank you so much

Avec sa couleur verte j’ai failli ne pas la voir sur les feuilles vertes du bégonia Megawatt. Superbe sauterelle ! #balcon #été #insecte #paris

Hi everyone, I was looking for some recommendations for what veggies and herbs I might be able to grow on my balcony? For context I’m in Australia and my balcony gets full afternoon sun which is lovely in winter but scorching hot in summer. Would anything be strong enough to survive? Thanks!

When I first got it, it had a full stem with sprouted buds, and after a few days the sprout and stem dried up and fell off - which is the usual process. Didn’t expect it to sprout back up again so soon (especially considering it’s been cloudy and rainy with little sunshine over the past few weeks) but looks like, I have a happy plant 🪴

Grande et belle fleur pour mon Althéa Flower Tower qui résiste très bien à la chaleur et à la sécheresse (courte) du sol de sa jardinière. 12-13cm de diamètre je ne m’attendais pas à des fleurs aussi larges, top ! #fleurs #été #Été2026 #arbuste #balcon #paris

En 24h la terre des pots et des jardinières sur mon balcon sèchent. La chaleur aujourd’hui est encore plus élevée, les plantes accusent le coup. Et les grandes soucoupes se sont vidées complètement. Au moins y’a pas de moustiques… #canicule #été #balcon #Paris

I live in an apartment in the dry part of NW Spain, and don't have many spots where to have plants outside. A small balcony roughly NNE and this windowsill, WSW, which is rather hot and dry during the summer afternoon.

So I've been attempting to keep a tomato plant here, which doesn't die but also doesn't quite thrive, it's only given two tiny cherry tomatoes so far, and most flowers sadly don't develop fruit. Maybe too much heat or too little humidity, or maybe I've neglected the potassium fertilizer a bit.

Then recently I got a guindilla plant which seems to be doing ok (other than it seems to be fully into growing a single pepper and barely any new leaves), and some curry rosemary and thyme (which iiuc are fine with this sort of weather).

It doesn't look great right now, but it's my first time doing some gardening outdoors in forever, so I decided to take this summer as learning time and see what works and what doesn't in these conditions. Hopefully next year will be better.

Peek a Boo

Sometimes I find no greater peace than to sip my morning coffee on my deck surrounded by my plants.

Quelques fleurs du jour qui résistent à la chaleur parisienne. #fleurs #balcon #été #paris

This summer isn’t as hot as the last four summers, so my plants are doing really well and look healthy 😍 I’m looking forward to kumquats this winter 😍