Enjoy the spring sunshine, distract yourself, recharge your batteries, look after your health or prepare your outdoor area for the summer – all possible with the help of DIY projects on the balcony or terrace. Garden centres and DIY stores may be closed, but their online services are still open and have everything you need to make a start. Flowers can turn a balcony and terrace into true showstoppers. Herbs, salad and tomato plants also give outdoor areas a fresh atmosphere and allow you to be self-sufficient. Balcony planters come in a variety of designs and materials, including plastic, wood, terracotta and natural stone.

Building and safety regulations must be taken into account by DIYers when attaching pots to a balcony’s exterior. Falling planters can cause injuries and damages, and residents could be liable. Secure installation is crucial to preventing this. The mount must be suitable in terms of load-bearing capacity, dimensions, materials, location and preferred method of installation. Different flower box variants are used depending on whether the railing is rounded or square and on whether it will be installed on walls or wide railings. The hooks or brackets that are usually used to install classic rectangle planters should be made of a corrosion-resistant material suitable for outdoors use, such as stainless steel.

Flowerpot mounts can be attached to walls and railings using drills, screws and plugs. The load that the bracket is subjected to should be taken into account when selecting a suitable fixing. The weight and dimension of the flower box is an important factor. A plastic planter will weigh less than a stone one, for instance. Add to this the weight of the plant, substrate, soil and water. The mount should also be able to withstand any wind pressure during a storm. The construction material of the anchor base also plays an important role. The fischer DUOPOWER with an eight- or ten-millimetre diameter is a suitable choice for anchoring the bracket in concrete or masonry and comes with corresponding stainless steel screws. The anchor can be used in almost any solid, perforated and board materials by activating the right product function, i.e. folding, expanding or knotting. The aircrete anchor GB is especially suitable for installing flower boxes in aircrete. It is also available as a GB GREEN version, which is made of 50 per cent biobased raw materials. Solutions for walls with external wall insulation systems are also available, in addition to many others.

Climbers can also be used for privacy and to provide shade or to give external walls and garden walls a third dimension while saving space. They grow along trellises that are attached to a wall or integrated into a flower box. Climbing roses, nasturtium, Virginia creeper and hops are particularly suitable for trellises. Once the plants have grown tall enough they provide thick greenery, offering protection from neighbours’ curious glances. The trellis should be made of a durable and corrosion-resistant material. The trellises or steel cables should be attached to the wall with spacers such as poles or brackets to stop the roots from damaging the plaster while giving the plant plenty of room. Distances should be kept between three to twenty centimetres depending on the plant.

Fully matured climbers can turn into real heavyweights and therefore need to be securely attached. The right solution depends on the load, anchor base, dimensions and type of the construction. fischer offers various anchors that are suitable for a variety of applications, such as the universal eyebolt GS, which can be used directly in wood, or fischer anchors for concrete, solid and perforated brick as well as aircrete. The expansion plug SX is ideal for installing trellises in multiple solid and perforated construction materials and board materials and is also available as an SX GREEN variant. The aircrete anchor GB and GB GREEN is also particularly suitable for aircrete.

Outdoor areas can turn into a personal summer oasis with secure fixings and a choice of flower planters.