Last week the sun came out properly for the first time in months, and suddenly everyone remembered they have a balcony. Me too. Mine survived the winter with two dead plants, a wet cardboard box, and a rubber tree that, against all expectations, is still alive.
Today I started cleaning it up — and at the same time the yearly cycle is kicking off: people buy balcony furniture, grills, pots, plants. A lot of it ends up on the curb again in autumn because nobody has room to store it. Which means right now is the best moment to put the whole setup together for free.
What's Being Given Away Right Now
I checked PIKITUP this morning to see what's available within 5 km. A quick snapshot:
- Two folding chairs and a small bistro table (Zurich Wiedikon)
- A Weber charcoal grill, a bit patinated but airtight (Altstetten)
- A hammock with a frame (Höngg, ground-floor pickup)
- Various pots and planters, often as sets
- Half-used bags of potting soil
That's a normal Thursday in May. The number of these listings explodes from April through June, because that's the season when flatshares dissolve, people move at the end of April, and spring cleaning peaks.
Plants: The Open Secret
The one thing where free is almost better than bought is plants. Anyone with a few houseplants ends up with too many cuttings. Monstera, pothos, spider plants, aloe — they multiply on their own, and people give them away in batches simply because they don't know where to put them.
Same on the balcony side: herbs (mint, chives, sometimes rosemary), strawberry runners, tomato seedlings someone over-sowed on a windowsill. If you don't know where to start, read my guide to free plant cuttings. The short version: filter for "cuttings," "seedlings," or "Ableger," and bring one of your own plants if you have something to swap.
Grills: Some Judgement Required
A bit of common sense helps with grills. Charcoal grills survive almost anything — if the grate is still there and the bottom isn't rusted through, they're fine. Gas grills are trickier: check that all the burner ports are clean and the hose isn't porous. The latter is a few francs at a hardware store to replace, so not a dealbreaker.
The one thing I'd skip: electric grills that have spent a few seasons outdoors. Odds are high the heating element is dead or the cable is shot. Pass.
What You Can Do Today
Save a search. Go to the map and look for "balcony," "garden," "grill," "plant," or "bistro." Bookmark it. Listings often disappear within hours, so it's worth a quick check once a day.
Put out what you no longer need. If you bought a planter last year that you never used, or replaced the old bistro set, now's the moment. Listing takes less than two minutes. By July people want holiday gear instead — nobody will care about your balcony set then.
Watch the Sperrgut calendar. In most Swiss cities, May and June are peak bulk-waste season. If you know the date for your neighborhood, cycle through the evening before and you'll regularly find perfectly usable stuff that hasn't been picked up yet. Less curated than PIKITUP, but free and often with better stories.
The Honest Bit
My balcony this year will be roughly 90% things someone else didn't want. A folding chair from a neighbour who moved out. A hammock I grabbed off the curb for a beer. Tomato seedlings from a friend who over-planted.
It doesn't look like a Westwing ad. It looks like a balcony. But it cost roughly zero francs, and that feels like the right energy for a season that's going to be expensive enough on its own.
Enough writing. It's 22 degrees out. Go outside.