My Mum’s Edible Balcony
Cath’s edible balcony garden in a high-rise apartment in Brisbane
Cath, AKA my Mum is one of the world’s most reluctant gardeners. But in an ironic twist, she happens to be very good at it. Last year I encouraged/begged her to grow some veggies in raised garden beds on her balcony and due to looming food shortages post-pandemic she finally agreed. She grew plentiful rocket, as well as amazing sage and parsley that are still going strong today.
Mum’s veggies from this year again have come up perfectly with barely any thought! What is going on here?! I thought I would check in about her current edible balcony garden and what’s behind this list of successes. Check out her veggie backstory below!
Mum’s balcony garden set up (above) - it produces lots of great veggies for a small space!
My Veggie Garden Story: 10 Questions with Cath Grealy
#1 Where do you live?
I live in an apartment on the water in Brisbane. My balcony has lots of great sun in winter, but is also very hot in summer.
#2 How long have you been growing veggies? How did you get into growing your own?
My daughter Phoebe got me into growing one when I moved into my new home! I also wanted to grow herbs for cooking.
#3 How did you learn to grow them?
Phoebe (AKA Salisbury Grange) helped me with the set up of the planters and the soil so it was very simple. I run on supervised neglect and just water my veggies every few days when they look like they need it!
#4 What’s your garden situation? How many veggies do you usually plant?
I started with 2 raised planter gardens and now I have 5. I put a mixture of seedlings in there including sage, basil and parsley, as well as rocket, spinach and silverbeet. I have enough greens for salads almost every day.
#5 Do you have any garden rituals?
I’m guided by what’s growing. When it runs out, I plant again and that’s my cycle.
Some of the spinach and greens straight from the balcony veggie patch #organic
Rapid Fire!
#6 New vegetable you want to grow? I' just repeat what I’ve got because I’m happy with it!
#7 Flower patch or veggie patch? Veggie patch.
#8 Any growing calamities? I had some dahlias growing in pots but I realised they were in a tough spot and the very hot sun killed them. I also poured some grey water into some pot plants (trying to be a good citizen) and instantly killed them. I remembered later that the water had magnesium in it eep!
#9 Who is your veggie garden inspo? Phoebe’s garden.
#10 What’s next for your garden in general? I’m working out how to make my garden sustainable while I go overseas for a number of weeks. I’m looking to set up a watering system.
Fresh healthy herbs and greens
Looking for more information? Check out My Veggie Garden Story: Phoebe + Banjo Take Brisbane and When To Plant Lettuce In Brisbane.