Three Ways to Make the Most of the Apartment Balcony

Spring is finally here! My balcony looks on to a beautiful view of ... a parking garage. As grateful as I am to have a balcony in a city of few or no balconies, I have lately been thinking of ways to jazz up my little piece of concrete yard.

Here are three ideas:

• Attract nature to come to me.... maw haha! - Just kidding, I was actually thinking of making a bird feeder. Check  out this cool idea of converting an old bike (I think..) into a device that attracts flying critters. http://www.instructables.com/id/Bird-feeder-1/#step1

• Add some green. - I will have to get a little creative with this one, as I have a cat that thinks that plants are for his chewing enjoyment. I have always liked the idea of container gardening, but the aforementioned cat has created quite the obstacle, leaving me with the options of hanging plants or the newer idea of vertical gardening. The "Recycle, eh?" blog has some great reuse ideas; one using rain gutters and another using an old wood pallet 
•  http://www.recycle-eh.com/apps/blog/show/6888775-vertical-gardening
• http://www.recycle-eh.com/apps/blog/show/6724623-more-wood-pallet-recycling

• Hi-light the night! Sorry... I got a little excited there about some super cool DIY glow-in-the-dark jars. OK, I know that description doesn't sound super cool, but when you check it out, you too will want to make a few. 
• http://frompankawithlove.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/glowing-jar-project-varazslat-a-lakasban-enhu/