Installing an affordable and efficient balcony garden watering system may seem like a bit of a stretch if you’re a beginner. Still, I can assure you that having a watering system to rely on will make such a positive impact on a day-to-day basis. A watering system will specifically help balcony gardeners who are forgetful or busy, frequent travellers or shift workers, or people with limited mobility and/or accessibility needs. In addition, balcony gardeners who reside in hot and dry climates, gardeners growing thirsty crops which need watering every day, sometimes twice a day, or gardeners with a large number of plants will benefit from systemising their watering task before it becomes a chore.
Affordable self-watering containers
There are many affordable and efficient balcony garden watering systems that would be ideal for balcony gardens. An affordable option with many available varieties, even DIY, is the self-watering containers. What makes these efficient is their ability to reduce overwatering due to a built-in water reservoir that sits below the base of the platform, where your plants and roots are located. The water is then available to slowly feed the plant roots through wicking, which ends up saving the busiest or forgetful balcony gardeners’ time while keeping plants hydrated. To learn more, read more here (how self-watering containers save balcony gardeners time and havoc).
Efficient diy balcony garden watering system
Another affordable and efficient balcony garden watering system option is a gravity-fed drip system. These can be built with basic materials from your hardware store or purchased in-store or online. Small budget kits, perfect for balcony sized plants, start under $25 AUD or $16 USD. These innovative irrigation systems work by using the gravity from the water source, which could be any container holding water (bottle, bucket, or jerry can) that sits slightly above the height of the plant. This is to allow gravity to move the water from the water container placed at a higher level down to where the plant sits. If your plant is sitting above the water container, this system won’t work due to the lack of gravity. An important note: if the tube transporting the water from the container to the plant has any kinks or areas that are sitting higher than the level of the water container, this will also disrupt the gravity-fed water system. What makes these efficient is that, rather than tipping a large amount of water onto your plants, water runs off from the pots and leaves your plant roots with the small amount that is absorbed into the soil. This drip-fed method delivers a large portion of water directly to the plant’s roots, slowly keeping the plants sustained for a longer period.
easy peasy balcony garden watering system
A third balcony garden watering system option is capillary mats. These are affordable and efficient for balcony plants living in hot/dry climates and are perfect for thirsty plants too. Capillary mats are easy to install as they’re essentially water absorbent mats that you place your pots on. As the name suggests, capillary mat design includes small tubes, capillary like structures throughout the mat, while holding 6X of its own weight in water, providing access to enough water for plant roots over a longer duration. They come in a range of shapes and sizes, fitting for small and densely built balconies.
cute and efficient watering system
A similar balcony garden watering system to the gravity-fed drip system is watering globes or clay spikes. These are cute and aesthetic and are suitable for all plants. If you’re an eco-friendly gardener – like me – you will appreciate the purpose of upcycling bottles, as the bottle will act as a water tank while the opening of the bottle is fitted inside the opening of the clay spike. The clay spike is lodged into the soil, closer to the roots, and slowly releases water beneath the soil. While the watering globes adopt the same design concept, an upcycled bottle isn’t necessary, as the globe is what holds the water, and the narrow outlet at the bottom of the device slowly releases the water to the roots below the soil’s surface.
Whether you want to work smarter, not harder, are afraid of forgetting to care for your plants, live in an arid or tropical climate, or need assistance with maintaining your balcony garden, there are a range of affordable and efficient watering systems available. The watering systems mentioned offer a spectrum for balcony gardeners to decide how often, based on budget, effort and time they are willing to put in, with super easy and manageable capillary mats to DIY or, at a small price, a gravity-fed drip system.
