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Can You Feed Your Family From Your Balcony?

Can You Feed Your Family From Your Balcony?

Long-term urban survival presents it’s own unique challenges. Lack of land and space to work with presents limitations on what you can do that having access to a rural area for off-the-grid living does not deal with.

Take, for example, food. In a rural area, hunting is so much easier, both in terms of available game to hunt, but also in terms of places where you can safely shoot game without the danger of injuring another human being.

Then, there is the issue of growing your own food. Rural areas, obviously, have more space in which to start a garden or a farm. But, urban areas, where are you going to cultivate and grow food? It’s true that some cities are starting to set aside vacant lots for community gardens, but do you really think that this can supply the total food need of everyone in that area in a disaster? No. It’s just not realistic to think that. You need to be able to grow your oven food. But how?

One solution is balcony gardens. Now, to be fair, this isn’t technically always on a balcony. You can use grow boxes handing from windows, too, but, if you have a balcony, you have some great opportunities to use that space to grow food for your family.

From your balcony, you can use rail planters, which, as the name implies, sit atop your balcony rail. You can also use hanging planters, depending on the available hooks or the option of installing hooks to hold hanging plants. Of course, standard planters for the ground can work beautifully, and vertical planters, which allow you to plant plants in a “stacked” fashion vertically like a wall, are becoming more common.

If you plan and use your space wisely, you can grow a surprising amount of food..

You still have to take into consideration issues such as the amount of sunlight which your growing space receives and the climate in which you live. Both of these issues will impact the types of crops which you can successfully grow. Also, you may want to consider planting specific herbs to attract pollinating insects to encourage continued fruit and vegetable production in your garden.

With a little planning, you may very well be able to feed your family from what you can grow from your own balcony.

What suggestions do you have for balcony gardening? Tell us below.

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