How to turn your balcony into an insect paradise
27/3/2024
Translation: Elicia Payne
The majority of native insect species are endangered. They don’t have a habitat. With a few simple tricks, you can turn your balcony into a home for insects.
Hotels are all well and good. But it’s only when I enjoy the whole holiday experience that I can create positive memories of the guesthouse and want to return. Insects feel the same. They love all-inclusive stays and prefer to spend their holidays (and actually their whole lives) where all their needs are covered – no matter how demanding or individual they may be. Simply putting an insect hotel on a balcony won’t make it a holiday destination. Zoé Giacchetta from Veg and the City provided instructions at Giardina 2024 to help you set up your own insect paradise on your balcony.
Rooms and suites
The following rule applies to the habitats: the more diverse the offer on your balcony, the more variety of insects will look for a home with you. By providing some of the following nesting places, you can make a valuable contribution to preserving biodiversity.
Regular rooms: insect hotel
An insect hotel is an easy way to start your career in hotel management. Before you buy one, read up on what you should look out for. Because if you use the wrong materials, you can harm the insects. Provide a bowl or saucer with damp clay next to the insect hotel so that your guests can close their breeding burrows.
Source: Shutterstock
Beach suite: sandy floor
In addition to the insect hotel, your insects will enjoy a sandy area. Three quarters of native wild bees such as the Ivy bee (Colletes hederae) breed in sandy soils. You don’t have to plant them in a garden, you can also integrate them into your balcony holiday paradise in a flower pot or a [zinc tub](/search?q=zinc tub). Make sure the containers have a drainage hole and are ideally 35 centimetres high. According to the instructions from Pro natura, you can’t use play sand because it contains too little clay.
Source: Stefanie Lechthaler
Forest lounge: deadwood and pine cones
Insects such as the native Alpine longhorn beetle (Rosalia alpina) build their nests in dead trees and branches and spend the winter there. Experts are increasingly leaving dead wood in forests and gardens for insects like these. Is this also possible on a nine square metre balcony? Of course! For your own balcony, put small or large collections of dry branches or dry bark in various places. Or you can pop pieces of deadwood directly on top of the soil in your plant pots. According to pflanzmich.de (website in German), the branches of fruit trees, oaks and beeches are suitable deadwood. Avoid fast-sprouting woody plants. If you want to invite ladybirds over, create piles of pine cones.
Source: Stefanie Lechthaler
Wellness area: the watering hole
On warm summer days, insects are dependent on open waterholes. But because most surfaces in cities are sealed, access to water is often difficult. The little animals try to get to water in wells and drown if there’s no way out. If you want to add a spa to your wellness oasis, a deep bowl of water is perfect. But don’t forget to make the exit accessible with some sticks or twigs.
Source: Stefanie Lechthaler
À la carte menu
Your guests are just as diverse as their eating habits. With clever planning, you can make sure the plants on your balcony offer a varied buffet for everyone from spring to autumn.
Source: Shutterstock
Insects also eat with their eyes. They love flowers in all different kinds of colours and scents. In terms of shape, insects particularly prefer goblet-shaped flowers because their nectar is easily accessible. Whether flower beds, shrubs, woody plants, aromatic plants or herbs – as long as the plant is in bloom, the insects are happy. You can even offer them the flowers from your vegetables. So why not just let a lettuce or an aubergine bloom?
Seed mixtures are good for covering a wide range of flower species. In spring you should think about sunlight and wind conditions so that you can enjoy lush blooms and lots of little visitors on your balcony in summer. Don’t worry if you have a warm south-facing balcony or terrace without shade. You can plant Mediterranean plants such as rosemary or sun-loving flowers such as the coneflower.
Painting the walls just before handing over the flat? Making your own kimchi? Soldering a broken raclette oven? There's nothing you can't do yourself. Well, perhaps sometimes, but I'll definitely give it a try.