When Oliver and his partner Marcus moved to their north-east London flat six years ago, the 5m by 1.5m balcony was just used to store bikes. But Oliver soon set about turning it into a relaxing haven, surrounded by greenery. His passion for gardening began with house plants, then expanded to propagation and trying out different plants.
First came the Malaga-inspired red pelargoniums. The couple then made a few aesthetic changes to the walls and floor. They also wanted foliage to cool the space, which gets sun for most of the day.
The many challenges of balcony gardening include keeping everything watered in summer, so they soon moved to larger pots to aid this, filling them with a range of perennials, annuals and succulents to create a colourful tutti-frutti effect. A natural ecosystem also evolved, regularly visited by birds and insects.
The balcony is now a hive of creativity and nature - a tiny but richly planted garden that's the perfect, patience-teaching, slow-living antidote to busy city life.
What inspired your garden?
Bu hikaye BBC Gardeners World dergisinin July 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye BBC Gardeners World dergisinin July 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
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A new plot for tasty crops
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We love July
July is an island floating between the joy of June and the slightly fatigued month of August. It's a grown-up month: the year has shrugged off its adolescent exuberances, the weather is (hopefully) warm enough for ice cream to be one of your five a day, the sea should be swimmable without (too much) danger of hypothermia and thoughts will be of holiday shenanigans and family barbecues. School's out this month, the next tranche of glorious summer colour is washing across our borders and it's my birthday. Lots of reasons to give three rousing cheers for July!
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