What is the cheapest way to green a Dubai balcony?

Balcony planting gets expensive when it is bought one pot at a time. The cheapest square metre of green on a UAE balcony comes from multi-plant trays: six portulaca or vinca plants fill a rail planter for the price of one medium shrub, and they establish faster because they are small.

Timing is the other lever, and it is free. Plant in October and a tray of winter annuals runs until April — five months. The same tray bought in March gives you six weeks. Autumn planting also means less water, which matters if your building meters it.

Where the money should go is the container. A pot too small for this climate is a plant you will replace, so one 40cm pot beats three 20cm ones for the same spend. After that, one structural plant for height — an ornamental grass or a dwarf bougainvillea — gives a small balcony a shape that a row of equal-sized pots never does.

What not to spend on early: decorative pots for plants that may not suit your aspect, self-watering systems before you know your watering rhythm, and fertiliser for annuals that will be finished in five months. A bag of decent substrate and a gravel top-dressing return more than any of those.