Month: April 2025

Pottery Planters : installing the second set

Building the second set of planter rack shelving

Installing the new set of shelves:

  • I realised I could turn the shelving into 1 big shelf by screwing them together so I did
  • The installed shelves
  • Cable ties as a stopgap solution until I can get some gardening wire to secure the shelves

Last set of terracotta pots I will be setting up before spring they contain oregano and italian parsley

I have a heap of soil left over, 25L of cactus potting mix and around 15-20L of normal garden potting mix. Not sure what to do with them, I know from past experience I cant really hold onto them as the bags decay very quick even when stored inside a shed. I am probably going to give them away on FB market place or gumtree

Now all that remains is to wire up the shelves to stop the pots being able to be blown away by a strong gust, water the pots and hope/wait for the seeds to sprout. Usually I let rainwater do the effort for getting seeds to sprout, have found tap water to be pretty bad at doing that but with the way the balcony is these planter racks wont get much water anyway so tap water it is.

I also setup a thermometer on the planter racks it was 36C in the sun. for comparison inside the house it was only 20C. big difference. I think during spring I may have to attach a shadecloth to the front as like an overhang thing that I can place down during summer just to stop the plants overheating and burning up.

Thank you all for following along on this gardening adventure! I will post more after photos in 3-4 weeks as and if the seeds sprout.

Balcony update: Pottery Planter rack

So the pottery planter rack setup is coming along nicely, I have setup 4 terracotta pots on it, and sowed some herb and flower seeds. It is completely the wrong season for sowing the seeds, but so far the weather has been inclement and I think they may survive the frost and cold being that they are off the ground and on a balcony.

  • 60CM Pots full of soil ready for planting
  • Current setup of Balcony
  • Garden soil potting mix to use for the terracotta pots

I chose to sow 4 sets of seeds, Coriander, Nasturtiums, Chives and Mint. It is probably the worst season and time other than winter to sow them but oh well. It being autumn here.

17CM Terracotta pots with seeds sown (from left to right): Coriander, Nasturtiums, Chives, Mint.
Terracotta 17CM pots on the planter rack, watered with 2.5cups of water each seemed to wet the soil and not overspill the saucer while filling it quite well.

For now I am using a spare cactus and succulents potting mix bag as a weight on the bottom of the planter rack, I am really worried about strong wind knocking the planter rack around and maybe spilling the pots. I think in the future I will wire around the rack a little balcony thing to hold the pots in in case of wind.