City Gardener

The situation with balconies facing west, in zone 5 We live in an apartment on the 13th floor in downtown Minneapolis, overlooking the Mississippi river. It is a dynamic place to live, but it does not have the backyard garden that I enjoyed for 25 years before moving to an apartment. However, there are ways to incorporate gardening into high-rise life. Although we don’t have a backyard anymore, we do have an outdoor balcony which is 25 feet in length and inset into the building by 8 feet. Over the past three years of growing plants on our balcony I’ve learned a few things. Mainly, the plants on our balcony suffer from west facing afternoon sun, and baking temperatures in the summer, often up to 125 degrees F. On the other extreme, we live in zone 5 where the roots of any plant left on the balcony over the winter will freeze solid in their pots (temps often -20F). Even in large pots, no plant will survive if their roots freeze. Therefore all plants on the balcony I consider to be annual...

In a sunny corner of the apartment, we installed floor tiles to resist water damage. In order to help keep the floors clean, we chose rolling wire rack, the type used in many kitchens, to corral the plants into manageable areas of the apartment. The racks also provide the opportunity to act as temporary room dividers, for example they could be stationed around the dining area to create a more green and intimate space. Onto the shelves we placed 2x4 foot black plant trays to act as disaster pans in the event the irrigation fails to stop, or the tubing begins to leak. Tile floor for easy cleaning, overhead fan for air circulation Beneath the lowest shelf, another shelf was added to hold trays for irrigation equipment: Eventually, the concept was expanded to include a mobile floor pallet to hold large plants, too tall for the plant racks: The pallet, too, was adapted for lighting and irrigation, using the gap between the upper and lower slats as a crawl-space to house the equipment and sp...