Urban Gardening: The best vegetables for balcony & windowsill

To make sure that your vegetables are 100% pesticide-free and regional, it's best to cultivate it yourself. At home. "Urban Gardening" is the name of the new trend. We show you well suitable vegetables for home-grown in the apartment or on the balcony.

1. herbs

Above all, basil & Co. need a sufficiently large pot that has several drainage holes. Terracotta pots are perfect here. The soil should be loose and well drained. After regular watering, always let it dry out slightly before watering again. Fertilize once a week and every now and then a radical cut to a few leaves leaves the herbs grow better.

In addition, sufficient sunlight is the alpha and omega for your own herbalism. Therefore put her in a sunny, sheltered place. So you have something from them for a long time.

2. Spring onions

The next time you buy spring or spring onions, simply cut off the leek and keep the onion bulb. Place the tuber with the roots down in a glass vase or a glass of water on the windowsill. The tuber should always be covered with water.

Once the green shoots are ten to 15 centimeters long, you can cut off the fresh green or use the whole onion. Overall, you can reap from one onion two to three times. Do not forget to change the water regularly, otherwise the onions will rot.

3. Radishes

Radishes are short and grow fast. Therefore, they do not need a deep, rather a broad pot. Here, a balcony box is ideal. The short ripening period allows you to reap the first time four to six weeks after sowing. If you sow every four weeks, you can always eat your own fresh radishes from May to October.

Important for the successful breeding is on the one hand a sunny, half-shady place on the windowsill or the balcony. On the other hand, the seeds in the fine soil should not be too close to each other. With a certain distance, the tubers do not hinder each other when growing and can form better. Two seed rows in a box are ideal.

4. seedlings

Seedlings are currently the stars of the food scene. From cress to salad? Seedlings can be anything that has set the first fresh leaves and has not yet grown to full plant. Seed the seeds best in a shallow dish and put them on the windowsill or on the balcony in the light. The earth should always be moist but never watered. As soon as the first shoots are visible, you can reap.

5. Mushrooms

For the local cultivation of mushrooms above all a high air humidity, high CO2 concentration and uniform temperatures are important.

You create these conditions, e.g. with a room greenhouse or in the basement. Under ideal conditions mushrooms are reliably productive, even in winter. Special lighting conditions play no role in the mushroom harvest.

6. salad

Easy picking salads such as the Lollo Rosso or oak leaf salad are also suitable for window sill or balcony gardeners who are still a little inexperienced. Salads are light germs and should therefore be in a bright place.

When sowing, you press the seeds just a little to the ground and keep them well moist. Again, do not sown the seeds too close to each other in the pot or in the balcony box, so that the lettuce plants can develop in their full size.

7. Eggplants

If you would like to harvest your own mini eggplant, you must start sowing in the greenhouse at the end of February on the windowsill. To do this, place the seeds at a certain distance in a pot or seed bowl and lightly cover them with soil. Then you water the earth and keep it constantly moist. Seeds are best grown at a steady temperature of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius (even at night). After about 14 days, the pupils can be transplanted into a larger container.

At the end of April and beginning of May, the plants are strong enough to place them in a large bucket (at least 15 to 20 liters) on the balcony in a bright, warm and sheltered place. In the summer can be harvested.

8. tomatoes

Tomatoes are among the classic "Urban Gardening" vegetables. Whether rod, shrub, cherry, egg or beef tomatoes - they grow on the windowsill as well as on the balcony. You can either grow the plants yourself from seeds. Or you can buy young plants in the nursery or in the hardware store in the spring.

When moving forward you should sow the seeds in the room greenhouse from March, April. Young plants should be planted in ten to twenty liter pots of nutritious soil. Window boxes are not suitable for breeding. Because the tomato plants are susceptible to frost, they better avoid high temperature drops.

Tomatoes need a lot of direct sunlight. A bright, weather-protected space on the wall is ideal. Important for breeding is also a trellis (for example, a wooden stick that is put into the ground) for the tomato plants. The stem is tied to it. Thus, the tomato plant can grow in height and does not break off by the heavy fruits. The best way to do it is in the morning and in the evening. With ideal care, the first own fruits can be harvested from June. Tomato plants are annual and die after the first frost.

9. Sugar peas

Sugar peas are ideal for balcony cultivation. Because they grow vertically, they do not need much floor space. For this they need, like the tomato plants, a climbing aid for climbing. Willow sticks, ribbons or rabbit wire are best suited here.

From the beginning of April you can sow the seeds with a little distance in the balcony box. A sunny to partially shaded place as a location is ideal. Caution: Sugar peas should not be together with tomatoes. But they are better with radishes and salad so much the better.

10. Chili and Pepperoni

Chili and pepperoni are among the pepper plants. They do not tolerate frost. Therefore, you should prefer them in the apartment at room temperature and enough light. As soon as the temperatures do not fall below five degrees Celsius and the plants have reached a height of about ten centimeters, you can repot them in a planter and put them on the balcony.

The chili or pepperoni plants should also be supported by a wooden stick and tied to it. For a high-yield crop, a nutrient-rich soil and regular fertilization with phosphate fertilizer is important.

Note: The earlier the harvest, the milder the chillies. In deep red color they are mature and have reached their full sharpness.

11. Spinach

Already in March you can sow the relatively large spinach seeds in the flower box. Also pay attention to a certain distance between the seeds, so that the leaves can develop their full size. Pour and fertilize the soil regularly with normal plant fertilizer. After about six weeks you can harvest fresh spinach from your balcony for the first time!

12. Zucchini

Plenty of space, lots of light, lots of moisture and many nutrients - these are ideal conditions for the zucchini. So that the zucchini plant on the balcony can develop properly, a bucket of at least 15 to 20 liters, filled with nutrient-rich soil, is recommended. Ripe compost is ideal. Or a mixture of earth and horn shavings. In addition, the zucchini needs a lot of light (even the midday sun will not hurt you) and should always be well watered.

Those who prefer their zucchini plant should start in April. However, one can also buy young plants in the nursery or in the hardware store. After the Eisheiligen the plants can be used in the provided bucket and grown on the balcony.