Turn Your Cheap Apartment Balcony Into a Private Garden

Any tall plants like tomatoes that grow in containers create privacy for you.

If there is one thing everyone hates about living in an apartment building it is the lack of privacy. You always hear your neighbors no matter how hard you try to mask their sounds. And if you are lucky enough to have a balcony it faces someone else's balcony. Or, worse, your balcony faces a busy road.

I had a friend once who was lucky enough to live in an apartment that was guarded by a tree. When you walked out onto his balcony all you saw was this big, beautiful tree. You could hear everything around you but you didn't have to look at the road or other people's apartments.

Trees are hard to come by on a managed property. It seems like any trees that are allowed to grow are kept far away from the buildings for safety and insurance reasons. But privacy is a value more apartment building architects would be wise to include in their blueprints.

I don't know why but most apartment buildings don't screen in their balconies. Maybe the maintenance on hundreds of screened patios is too expensive to consider. But they won't allow the residents to put up screens, either.

And yet some people find ways to gain their privacy. The coolest idea I have seen yet was a row of tall potted tomato plants lining a balcony on a second story apartment. Although the residents obviously gave up some square footage their balcony was large enough to accommodate the plants and leave room for a small table and two chairs. It was a clever use of space.

Those tomato plants served three purposes:

1. They created a privacy wall so the residents didn't have to look at their neighbors
2. They provided some fresh vegetables during the growing season
3. They created a "green wall" in the most important part of the home

I can think of other plants I'd rather have to look at but there are some downsides to using different plants. Potted evergreen trees take up more space and they don't provide any food. Flowery vines require a lot of care and they must hang on something. Tomato plants require support, too, but you can use green sticks that blend in with the plant stalks.

There are also the insects to consider. Bugs love plants and I know people struggle to keep their home gardens bug free. All I can say is if you know how to do that you can make living in the city a little more pleasant and endurable.