Want to keep your balcony vertical garden going through cold and dry conditions? Find out how to keep your plants happy even in adverse weather conditions.
If you’re in your first year of growing your balcony vertical garden, then you likely have a few questions about how to keep your garden healthy over the winter months.
Keeping outdoor plants alive through cold and dry conditions is a process called overwintering. Overwintering is tricky for first time balcony gardeners, especially those living in very cold climates.
That’s why we’re breaking down some of the best strategies to keep your plants going until the weather warms up. Let’s find out how you can successfully overwinter your balcony plants.
1. Cover Your Plants
Covering plants in your balcony vertical garden helps keep them safe from cold drafts.
Keep your plants safe from cold weather. One of the best ways to prevent your balcony vertical garden from facing cold winter gusts is to cover the plants up with either bubble wrap or burlap.
These will help protect your plants from freezing temperatures and powerful wind gusts that are common for high-rise balconies.
Be careful with bubble wrap, if you cover your plants too much you may end up suffocating them. If you don’t have burlap or bubble wrap, you can use any other type of breathable fabric to keep your plants safe for the winter.
2. Move Plants Indoors
For balcony vertical garden plants that require lots of heat to stay healthy, the best thing you can do for overwintering is bring them inside.
Any fruit tree needs to be brought inside for the winter.
Bringing your plants inside is the most obvious option to keep your balcony vertical garden alive during the winter.
Though not every plant needs to be brought inside, there are a few plants that you absolutely should bring inside. For example, any tropical plant or fruit bearing tree should be brought inside for overwintering.
3. Group Your Plants Together
Plants in your vertical balcony garden have a better chance of surviving the winter when grouped together.
Grouping plants together before the winter will help perennials survive to the next year.
Plants are a lot like people — they do better in groups. That’s why, in order to preserve your vertical balcony garden into the next season, you should try grouping your plants together and place them in an area that will receive minimal wind.
If you live in an especially snowy area, it is a good idea to group your plants somewhere where snow, ice, and sleet can’t reach.
4. Clean Up Your Balcony Vertical Garden
Before you start overwintering other plants in your balcony vertical garden, you should take the time to clean all containers.
Clear out any old plants before overwintering your surviving plants. If your garden has old, dead plants as the seasons change, you need to remove them before proceeding with overwintering.
Old plants are magnets for insects and diseases that will spread to your other plants if not taken care of properly.
To dispose of the old plants, place them in a separate container filled with soil to help fertilize the soil for the coming growing season.
How Do I Take Care of My Plants Over the Winter?
To maintain your balcony vertical garden into the next year, you need to pay close attention to lighting, watering, and acclimation.
Your plants require extra attention when they’re inside over the winter months. Now that you’ve taken the initial steps to overwinter your balcony vertical garden, let’s get into how to care for your plants during the cold and dry months.
The first thing you need to pay attention to is lighting. If you move your plants indoors, you need to make sure that your plants are getting as much sunlight as possible. During the winter daylight is extremely limited, so it is important to ensure your plants are getting enough light to stay healthy.
You also need to consider indoor humidity as a major factor. It is easy to forget how dry indoor air gets during the winter months since it happens so gradually. However, your plants — especially perennials, will notice the change in humidity. Take extra care to either spray your plants regularly or keep a humidifier in the area where you keep your plants.
And finally, to keep your plants happy over the winter, you need to make sure that they are getting the correct amount of water. During the winter months, plants do not require as much water as they do during the summer months, so it is best to only water them when the topsoil is completely dry.
Keeping plants for your balcony vertical garden happy and healthy all year long is no easy task. That’s why you need to keep a closer eye on your plants during the winter months than in the spring and summer months. Each garden is a bit different, so assess your climate and your plant types before making any definitive overwintering decisions.
