The Delhi NCR balcony calendar: what to do in each season

Most balcony plants in Delhi NCR do not die of neglect. They die of the wrong thing done in the wrong month: feeding at 45°C, repotting in July, watering a dormant plant through January fog. The year on an NCR balcony has five distinct seasons, and each one has a short list of things to do and a shorter list of things not to. Here is the version our Care crew works from.

October–November: planting season

The best six weeks of the year. Nights cool, days warm, no rain, and everything planted now has four months to root before the heat. If you are starting a balcony or rebuilding one, do it now.

• Plant winter flowers: petunia, marigold, dianthus, pansy, calendula, salvia, chrysanthemum.
• Sow the kitchen trough: methi, spinach, coriander, lettuce, radish, spring onion.
• Repot anything root-bound; this is the one safe window for it.
• Feed everything: a slow-release pellet now carries plants to February.
• Check for mealybugs and scale after the monsoon; wipe with neem oil before they spread.
• Rinse the Diwali dust and smoke off the leaves in the first week of November.

December–January: fog and cold

Nights touch 5°C, days are short and the fog keeps soil wet for days. Plants slow right down. The mistake is treating them as if they were still growing.

• Water less, and only in the morning. Wet soil on a cold night rots roots.
• Move tropicals (money plant, areca, aglaonema, adenium) against the back wall or inside on fog nights.
• Do not feed. Do not repot. Do not prune hard.
• Deadhead the winter flowers every week to keep them blooming to March.
• Keep sowing greens every three weeks for a continuous harvest.

February–March: the spring flush

The best-looking month on the balcony. Everything flowers at once, the roses peak, and new growth appears on plants that looked dead in January.

• Feed fortnightly with a liquid feed from mid-February.
• Prune bougainvillea, jasmine and hibiscus after their first flush to shape them before the heat.
• Plant summer flowers now, not in April: portulaca, vinca, zinnia, sunflower, gomphrena.
• Watch for aphids on the roses and new growth; a strong jet of water deals with most.
• Holi: cover the plants closest to the railing or move them in for the day.

April–June: the heat

The season that kills balconies. Temperatures pass 40°C by late April and 45°C in June, with dust storms and a hot west wind. Nothing grows; everything survives, or not. Your job is to keep things alive, not to improve them.

• Water every day, early morning and again at dusk for anything in a small pot. Drip on a timer earns its keep now.
• Mulch every planter with pebbles or coco chips to slow evaporation.
• Put up shade cloth or a bamboo screen on the west and south sides from mid-April.
• Stop feeding at 40°C; fertiliser burns stressed roots.
• Do not repot, do not transplant, do not buy new plants to put straight into the sun.
• Going away? Group the planters in the shadiest corner, water deeply, mulch, and ask a neighbour or book a visit. A week unwatered in June is fatal.

July–September: the monsoon

The relief, and a new set of problems. Humidity brings fungus, mealybugs and mosquitoes; storms bring wind; the rain does the watering and then keeps doing it.

• Stop watering on rainy days and check that every planter drains; empty trays after rain so they are not mosquito nurseries.
• Raise planters on feet so roots are not sitting in water.
• Trim leggy growth and remove yellow leaves so air moves through the foliage; fungus starts where it is still.
• Spray neem oil fortnightly for mealybugs, which arrive with the humidity.
• Bring tall, light planters in from the railing before a storm warning.
• Sow monsoon flowers if you like them: balsam, cosmos, cockscomb.

If you only do one thing a month