How to cultivate an urban garden on a terrace: Complete guide

Good friends Agrohuerters! We return to write a new article for AGROHUERTO.COM in which we want to talk about how to cultivate a garden on a terrace. In recent years, the number of times we ask ourselves what we consume, where what we eat comes from or how this food will make me feel, has increased.

This has led to a greater concern for our food, which is why consumer groups are currently on the rise or self-consumption and self-management of food is little by little more present in everyday life. For this reason, the cultivation of small gardens in houses is becoming a common practice in cities.

We are going to see a little more of these topics that we have raised in the introduction

Why have a garden at home?

In the first paragraph of this article I have raised several ideas that perhaps I could explain in a better way. The idea that above all I would like to develop further is the concern that exists among the population with the food that we consume daily.

Why should I have to eat what the supermarket brand? Why, if my friend Juan brings me a tomato from his garden, does it taste different? What will they have used to grow this tomato?

These are examples of questions that you often hear in conversations in the cities when talking about food. From questions of this style the idea of ​​why not plant a pepper or some aromatic plants in a small space on my balcony or on my roof terrace is born. All this is also affected by the momentum of the » green and responsible movement « that is being established in large cities. For this reason, I previously related consumption groups to the creation of orchards on a terrace. But better, I’m going to leave the consumption groups for another article

Garden on a terrace: Needs

Urban horticulture is a practice that is gaining its space and respect in Spanish cities, so much so that in Madrid 10% of the population already cultivates in their own home. But it is a movement that started in other countries during the industrial revolution in the 19th century. It was a way of softening the social conflict created by migrations from the countryside to the city. We are talking about countries like England, the United States, Germany or Canada.

Leaving aside the pollution and harsh working conditions that remind us of the industrial revolution, we have to admit that nowadays people’s mentality is changing and people are more interested in how they grow what they eat and what they eat. Therefore, it is normal that courses such as those offered in many orchards of the Network of Orchards of Madrid, have a good number of participants. An example, on September 27 in the garden of El Retiro there is going to be a course on how to make a garden in a container and three weeks in advance there are no places.

How to grow a garden on a terrace?

First of all, I would like to tell you that you must be careful. You must make sure that the location of the garden must be:

1. Accessible
2. On a resistant surface, which supports loads greater than 300 kg/m2
3. Safe, both for assembly and maintenance
4. Light and wind, choose the area where there is more direct light and where it is more protected from the wind
5. Access to water, which is in the same location

To answer the question that I had posed in the title of this section, I am going to help myself from a colleague. Rodri is a person who lives on the outskirts of Madrid and who has an orchard on his terrace. Last week he let us visit it and from now on I’m going to give you some insights on how you can plant it. If you have any questions, you know, the forum is at your disposal.

As you can see, you need a space between 5-10 square meters. The plants that Rodri has used have been plants that need a good number of hours of sunlight but not excessive heat, such as lettuce, broccoli or arugula (as you can see in the bottom of the photo) and raspberry and the strawberry (as you can see in the first part of the snapshot).

Installation of an irrigation system

Irrigation is done with the help of a programmer, which varies depending on the season in which it is found. If it is in the middle of the growing season, irrigation is done early in the morning and in the evening, to avoid burning the crop. Out of season irrigation was done only in the morning. As you read, depending on the needs of the crop.

From the programmer comes a hose that branched out for each pot and in each of them there are two sprinklers like the ones in the photo.

The support he uses are some wooden pots that you can find in any store and inside he placed earthworm humus. As Rodri told us, she has not had any pest problems and the only thing she had to use sporadically was an ecological insecticide known as NEEM. It also has aromatics but decided to place them in a different spot even though it has a good harvest.

Well, nothing chic@s, I hope you are encouraged to plant a vegetable garden on your balcony or terrace and send us photos to be able to share it with the rest of the agrohuerters.

Have fun in the garden