Patti recently found a raised-bed gardening frame for a really good price and decided to get it. Later, we realized that it wouldn't work on our balcony because of lack of sunlight and water drainage, so we decided to turn it into balcony flower boxes.

We assembled the frame the way it was meant to be, but then just sawed off the three boxes :) In this picture the top level is already off.

We found some metal flower box hangers at the local DIY store and they turned out to be almost a perfect fit.

In order to keep the dirt from washing out of the boxes, I bought some permeable fleece to line the insides (forgot to take a picture of that, though). That way, excess water can drain, but it will only be clean water, no dirt.

So now, in addition to our main raised-bed plot, we also have three flower boxes hanging from our balcony. Good Swiss style would require filling them with flowers, but we may focus more on herbs and produce for now.

Bonus: Another small project that's visible in this picture: in our main plot on the left you can see the tomatoes growing up two black support rods. These rods are actually the handles from an old suitcase and it's a pretty handy support because you can adjust their height telescopically to the desired position.

Apart from having more gardening area, these boxes will also give us some additional privacy on our balcony. We are hoping to find some bigger plants to add here so that one specific neighbor will start looking in different directions from his balcony. If you look closely, you can see him and his wife out on the balcony in the background right now.