Sloth's vegetable garden on the terrace or balcony

[marionbil]

Hello everybody

I would like to go into a vegetable garden in a container because the piece of garden that we have is rather little sunny, full of moss and close to thuja.
What materials can we fill the bins with and what can we add over time to continue to provide nutrients to this 'artificial' soil?

Thank you in advance and have a nice day

[Rajqawee]

Hello everybody

I would like to go into a vegetable garden in a container because the piece of garden that we have is rather little sunny, full of moss and close to thuja.
What materials can we fill the bins with and what can we add over time to continue to provide nutrients to this 'artificial' soil?

Thank you in advance and have a nice day

Hello !

It's complicated to provide such a simple answer.

Growing on a terrace or balcony means growing in containers with funds. Necessarily, this means a transport of materials rather monstrous, in volume and in weight.
Even "only" 3m² of containers with a height of 50cm is 1,5m3 of materials. If we talk about earth, we will reach more than 2 tons ...

We can of course bring either soil or make "lasagna" (find thousands of videos on youtube for that). It works, but in reality it's a deployment of resources that is not really worth the effort. Not to mention that watering will have to be even more frequent than in the ground.

On the other hand (and this is what I am doing myself at this time of transitional period without land), it is quite possible to cultivate, on a balcony, the following things:
-aromatics such as mint, thyme, basil or other verbenas (self-sufficient with a few feet, requires little water)
-one or two feet of cherry tomatoes (produces a lot for little space, requires less water than "normal" tomatoes)
-freshers (interesting production in view of their price, on a small surface and requiring little "depth")

It hardly occupies a few square meters, it sprinkles quickly, it produces interesting things.

[Moindreffor]

Even "only" 3m² of containers with a height of 50cm is 1,5m3 of materials. If we talk about earth, we will reach more than 2 tons ...

attention the balconies or terrace are not made to support infinite loads

So you really have to take it easy so you are right to make the choices that you present, and therefore to speak of living soil is a little illusory

[GuyGadeboisTheBack]

Even "only" 3m² of containers with a height of 50cm is 1,5m3 of materials. If we talk about earth, we will reach more than 2 tons ...

attention the balconies or terrace are not made to support infinite loads

So you really have to take it easy so you are right to make the choices that you present, and therefore to speak of living soil is a little illusory

In fact it depends a lot on the configuration. A terrace is rarely a cantilevered construction; heavy loads can be placed around and all along the load-bearing structures. For a cantilevered balcony we will be content with angles close to the facade for "heavy". In the latter case, I think that cultivation "in a bag" and / or on the facade (wall vegetable garden) can give results.