Beginner Balcony Gardening in a Small Apartment

Started With 6 Lettuce Seedlings

A head of lettuce at the grocery store was $2.90. "Wouldn't growing my own be cheaper?" That was the entire thought process. Grabbed 3 pots from Daiso (Korea's dollar store equivalent, about $1.50 each), a bag of potting soil ($2.20), and 6 seedlings ($3.50 total). Initial investment: $9.40.

The conclusion up front: the economics don't work. Total lettuce harvested over 4 months was worth roughly $20 at store prices. That's $10.60 profit before accounting for water and, more importantly, my time. (At a developer's hourly rate, it's deeply in the red.)

But I realized within a month that money isn't the point.

I Killed Half the Lettuce in Month One

Planted the seedlings and watered them every day. Once before work, once after. Two weeks later, 3 of the 6 started wilting. Searched around and discovered it was overwatering. Lettuce likes moisture but rots if water doesn't drain properly.

The pots only had one tiny drainage hole at the bottom, so water was pooling. I drilled 3 more holes. The surviving 3 thrived after that. (Borrowed a drill from a coworker, who gave me a look that said "you're drilling holes in a flowerpot?")

Month Two: The Bugs Arrived

Aphids. I went to the balcony one morning and the undersides of the lettuce leaves were covered in tiny green dots. At first I thought "this is just nature." Three days later the leaves had holes in them.

I didn't want to use pesticides since I was going to eat this stuff. Found a method online: soapy water spray. One drop of dish soap in 500ml of water, spray on the leaves. It worked, but I had to reapply every 3 days. A month of that routine. Tedious, but better than chemicals.

Month Three: Added Tomatoes and Peppers

Once the lettuce was established, ambition kicked in. Added 2 cherry tomato seedlings and 2 Korean hot pepper seedlings. Here's where I messed up. Tomatoes need deep pots, and I planted them in shallow ones. Roots had nowhere to go, so growth stalled.

Ended up ordering 10-liter pots online, about $6.30 each. Transplanted the tomatoes and within 2 weeks the difference was obvious. Peppers too. Should have bought the right pots from the start. Buying small pots then big pots meant paying twice.

Month Four: Harvest

Cherry tomatoes ripened. I picked a red one off the plant in the morning and ate it right there on the balcony. It tasted different from store-bought... is what I want to say, but honestly it wasn't that different. (Managing expectations is good for mental health.)

But the experience of eating something I grew was oddly satisfying. It's a cycle similar to software development. Plant seeds (write code), tend the garden (debug), harvest (deploy). Except it happens in the physical world.

The peppers yielded 8 total. They were hot. I put them in ramen and they were significantly spicier than store-bought Korean hot peppers. (That part is true.)

For Anyone Interested in Balcony Gardening

If you're a beginner, start with lettuce. Failure costs almost nothing. Buy pots bigger than you think you need from the start. Drainage holes are non-negotiable. Water only when the top soil is dry. Follow those four rules and you'll make it to your first harvest. Don't expect to save money. This is a hobby. Think of it as a $7/month hobby and the value proposition is fine.