Gardening guidelines that can help you to liven up the balcony ledge or window sill of your residence.

Plan the layout of your garden, even if it’s just along the window sill or balcony ledge. Design your garden keeping in mind the ultimate height and width that the plants will grow to. Ensure that you leave adequate space for even all round growth, otherwise it might result in over-crowded, deformed and weak plants.

While designing your window garden try not to mix the cacti and succulents with the rest of your plants as their water and fertilizers requirements would be different from most of the other plants. You could plant them in decorative pots and place them at prominent positions around the garden.

If cacti and succulents need to be incorporated within the planting scheme, then ideally you should try to isolate them and plant them in raised beds, this would help facilitate drainage. Most fruiting plants prefer soil rich in organic matter, low salt content and adequate water.

Cover the ground around the base of the fruit tree with organic matter like mulch. This would help retain moisture and prevent it from drying out especially during hot summer months and during the important flowering and fruit formation stages of the plant.



Fertilizer

Fertilizer like urea should be used only as recommended. Using excess of it would in no way make the plant grow faster but might actually cause your plants to burn. Most fertilizers would mention N P K N = nitrogen which helps produce leaves P = phosphate help with healthy root formation and K = potassium is used for production of fruits and flowers.

Water your plant a little after fertilizing them. This removes any excess fertilizer from the leaves and prevents them from burning. Liquid fertilizers are extremely effective when sprayed on the leaves of the plant as they tend to get more quickly absorbed by the plant.

Fertilizers have a tendency to leach out of the soil. Hence, we recommend that you use less fertilizer but spray the plants more frequently instead.
Containers

Most planters are selected on the basis of the esthetic value, rather than keeping in mind their functionality. Along with the colour and design, we also need to consider the shape, material, size, weight in relation to the plant which requires to be potted in it.

·    The color should complement the plant.

·  The recommended size of the planter is generally 1/3rd the size of the plant. Planters with a narrow base are not recommended in windy areas as they can easily topple over. It is always advisable to place either bricks or garden tile pieces under very large pots. This ensures that drainage holes do not get clogged.


Connect with birds

Bird feeders and bird houses are an interesting way to attract different types of birds into your garden and connect with nature. The single most important factor would be a bird friendly environment and habitat that encourages other wild life as well. The best way to do this is to install different types of feeders at various heights so as to simulate the way birds would feed out in nature on their own. Different birds have varied feeding patterns and habits.

·        There are 3 basic types of feeders.

·        The clinging variety.

·        The platforms.

·        The perching variety.

A window feeder is ideal. It provides the luxury of observing birds at close proximity barely a few inches away.

This is a great source of excitement and enjoyment especially for small children. Fruiting plants are a sure shot way of inviting birds into your garden. Various cherries, berries, honeysuckles etc would be ideal to achieve this.

Thought should be placed when deciding on the location of your birdhouses. Make sure that there is a clean flight path for the birds.


Also make sure that your feeder bird box is at least 5 ft height. This would ensure that your birds are safe and away from rodents and cats. Once birds find a relatively safe habitat, they would visit your garden and bird feeder regularly.