Creating an Apartment Garden

Even the tiniest of urban flats has enough space to accommodate a pocket-sized garden.  Apartment dwellers of the world, cast off your shackles. It's time for a Green Revolution - without leaving the confines of your urban condominium. Obviously, a 1,000 sq. ft flat in a congested metro doesn't leave too much space for a garden. But with imagination, patience and a green thumb, people have stretched this space to its limits.

The most under-used space in a flat is perhaps the balcony, and it is this space that is most precious for wannabe gardeners. While those living on top floors of apartments with almost exclusive access to the rooftop have more than adequate space to give their imagination a free run, those on lower floors often have to make do with the little squares and rectangles that make up the balcony area.

Yet, this space is adequate to support a huge number of potted plants, trellises and creepers. In flats with a long balcony running across the front half of the house, there's quite a bit of horizontal space available that can accommodate a number of pots and planters strewn around. A balcony like this can also have a climber such as a bougainvillea creeper draped over the railing. But there should be some order in the way the planters are arranged, or the overall space could end up looking cluttered. One could also hang a few pots from the balcony roof and walls, but don't go overboard and make the balcony look like a tropical jungle.