Ber­lin bal­c­o­ny ambassa­dor Bir­git Schatt­ling reports on her web­site (www.bio- balkon.de), talks about her expe­ri­en­ces with orga­nic gar­dening in print and online media. Sin­ce 2017, she has been suc­cessful­ly orga­ni­zing the annu­al Online Orga­nic Bal­c­o­ny Con­gress as a pri­va­te initia­ti­ve and was award­ed the Media Pri­ze of the Ger­man Hor­ti­cul­tu­ral Socie­ty 1822 e.V.. In the 2017 Green League com­pe­ti­ti­on „Poi­son-free gar­dening — a look over the gar­den fence“ she recei­ved a Spe­cial pri­ze for gar­dening in the smal­lest of spaces. She was also nomi­na­ted for the „Euro­pean Award for Eco­lo­gi­cal Gar­dening 2017 and 2019“. Yours Hor­tus orga­nic bal­c­o­ny belongs to the „Hor­tus net­work. Diver­si­ty. Beau­ty. Bene­fit.“ — Month­ly pro­ject August 2019 of the UN Deca­de on Bio­di­ver­si­ty. Sin­ce 2019 she is Juror at the plan­ting com­pe­ti­ti­on „Ger­ma­ny is hum­ming! Plan­ting com­pe­ti­ti­on“. For the publi­shing house Grä­fe und Unzer she wro­te the gui­de­book „My bio­to­pe on the bal­c­o­ny. Expe­ri­ence natu­re and har­ve­st hap­pi­ness in the midd­le of the city“. Published by Ulmer Ver­lag in 2023 in the #mach­s­us­tainable-series „My inge­nious orga­nic bal­c­o­ny. With gre­at plant com­bos & DIY pro­jects for more bio­di­ver­si­ty and a deli­cious har­ve­st. 

Con­tents:

The orga­ni­zer of the 16 Online Orga­nic Bal­c­o­ny Con­gres­ses to date intro­du­ces hers­elf and explains what to look out for when plan­ning and start­ing a bal­c­o­ny: light con­di­ti­ons, load capa­ci­ty, plan­ters, sub­stra­te (inclu­ding spi­cing up), water, pro­cu­re­ment? She dis­cus­ses the cri­te­ria accor­ding to which plants can be sel­ec­ted, talks about har­ve­st quan­ti­ties, pro­cu­ra­bi­li­ty, savings and the degree of self-suf­fi­ci­en­cy.

Seeds can be sown in March:

• Let­tuce „May King“
• Asi­an salads, the­reof Asi­an let­tuce mix as a simp­le seed tape
• Bata­via let­tuce “Ame­ri­can brown” (par­ti­cu­lar­ly sui­ta­ble for baby leaf cul­ti­va­ti­on)
• Pars­ley
• Radishrecom­men­da­ti­ons for the tub: Sora, Rudi, Ici­c­le, French Break­fast
• PeaRecom­men­da­ti­on Sweet pea Ambro­siapige­on pea Mira­cle of Kel­ve­donpur­ple-flowe­ring sweet pea with blue pods Blau­w­schok­ker
• Kohl­ra­biblue recom­men­da­ti­on: Bla­ro, Azur Star, white: Orino­co, Lan­ro
• Spin­achRecom­men­da­ti­on Ver­dil, Tho­rin, But­ter­fly
• Topin­am­bur stick — sim­ply a sin­gle tuber from the orga­nic mar­ket in a bucket-sized bucket or lar­ger
• Toma­toes (pre­cul­tu­re). Recom­men­ded varie­ties for the bal­c­o­ny: pole toma­to (Sun­vi­va, Green Zebra) Cock­tail toma­to (Ruth­je, Sibe­ri­an pear, Fre­di, Yel­lo Sub­ma­ri­ne, Vesen­nij Mieur­ins­kij), bush tomato/balcony toma­to (Litt­le Red Riding Hood, Pau­li­ne, Bal­c­o­ny star­ling), han­ging toma­to (Tumb­ling Tom Red), wild toma­to (Gol­den Cur­rant, Red marb­le)
• Basil (pre­cul­tu­re)
• Cul­ti­va­ti­on of Micro­greens and sprouts on the kit­chen table and win­dows­ill