Balcony Life

Life on the balcony continues to be exciting...


The marigold plants (bush?) are still huge, and are proving to be extremely sensitive to watering. That pot sucks up a lot of water and if I don't fill it up again every morning the plant starts to wilt and droop... but with water, it perks up very quickly.

The rosemary plant is so aromatic I can smell it when I open the door. I used some of the dill yesterday, cutting up several leaves and stems and stirring them in with fat-free sour cream to make a veggie dip. It still needs a little something to be perfect, but the dill was awesome. I'm planning to use some of the basil and parsley in my next big pot of soup. I'd like to use some of the chives soon, too. Everything I've read says that starting to cut the herbs will help them grow more evenly and prolong their usefulness. So, that's the plan.

I'm not quite giving up on the cilantro, cuz the bigger pot is still fairly lush - I should use some of that soon, too. But the little pot of cilantro is totally dead. The thyme's not in great shape, either.

I have totally proven to be my father's daughter in the last few days, as I have spent several hours closely reading a big seed catalog that I sent away for. I'm already thinking about what I want to do on the balcony next year, changing out some of the herbs and probably getting a few bigger pots so I can attempt lettuce and maybe more (non-allergy-rific) flowers. I've also been using the catalog to help identify some of the mysterious things in Dad's garden, and I've sent Mom a copy of one of the pages that described those cool "walking onions" Dad has growing. Who knew that seed catalog would be such a resource?

Balcony Progress Report

My garden is still doing fairly well, and with one exception seems to have survived my nearly 2 weeks away. The petsitter was watering everything, and I'm grateful that I came back to a still green and thriving balcony.

Here are the little pots of parsley and thyme, still doing mostly okay but looking a little tired of the heat.

The sweet basil looks amazing, and there are still 2 little strawberry plants trying to grow.

These pots all still look good - clockwise from lower left, parsley, daisies, cilantro, chives, and marjoram.



Alas, my little cilantro pot is in bad shape. It was starting to look a little overwhelmed before I left, and I came back to an overtangled, browning mess. I have thinned out a lot of the dead and dying plants, but it's still not looking good. I think it's having a hard time holding up its own weight, and the stalks aren't strong enough to stand up thus they're getting tangled. Any suggestions?



Good news - there are now a few buds on the marigold plant. I can't wait to see these bloom.

Dad's Garden

Dad has always been the real gardener in the family. He grew up on a giant cattle farm in Indiana, and then we had a small farm in NY for 20+ years. When they moved to this house in Bloomington 2 1/2 years ago, Dad was really excited to put in a garden, vegetables on one side and flowers on the other. He spent lots of time out there nurturing his creation, and in many ways it provided both therapy and a creative outlet for him. We're all going to try to learn how to keep this up, and while Mom may change around some of the plantings - she's thinking of putting in sunflowers next year rather than some of the higher-maintenance veggies - this garden will continue to be one of the many ways in which we'll remember Dad every day.

Here we start with the herb garden. Look at these! Dad was able to grow things that I'm only dreaming of at this point - he's got Italian basil, mint, chives, dill, thyme, more stuff that I can't even recognize yet. It smells fantastic.

Tomatoes in the back, a row of eggplant, and some peppers that look like they'll take another year to really take hold.

Then Dad has a huge zucchini plant - look at those flowers!



These are a really rare onion that grows under the ground but also sprouts bulbs at the top. Dad got these from his father, who still farms, and he was so proud that these took hold so well.

Dad's shed, his little world out in the back yard. It's filled with gardening tools, fertilizer, and lots of birdseed. They love to watch the birds, and I spent a lot of hours watching the activity in the back yard in the early mornings, constantly amazed by the 3 bright red cardinals that come to visit every day.

And here we move into the flower side of the garden. Even with my parents being gone for a month, there was enough rain that it held up pretty well.



Our family mascot, since 1974.








Over the weekend, we hung Dad's Tibetan prayer flags in the garden. These are the flags I gave him for Christmas. Tradition holds that as the flags wear and disintegrate, the prayers are released into the world. They really look beautiful blowing in the breeze.

Everything But the Sage

Another week, a lot more rain, the summer heat, and the addition of 20 drops of MiracleGro in the watering can each morning seems to have done the trick. My balcony garden just keeps on getting bigger and greener!

Here's the whole picture... parsley, daisies, rosemary, sweet basil, cilantro, sweet marjoram, chives, dill, strawberries, marigolds, thyme, and parsley and cilantro again. And someday soon, catnip! That rosemary plant has gotten so big, I think this weekend is time... I will be clipping some of it to start using it in the kitchen! Hooray!



The parsley's been doing really well since transplanting. This started out in one of the tiny little Chia plots. It's still in the sponge, just now it's got a lot more room to grow and real dirt to get comfy in.



The sweet basil seems to be a slow grower, but this week all those new little leaves emerged, so it's twice the size it was and it's starting to get a little taller. Nice.



I've finally identified what it was I planted here, cuz it's starting to look like itself... it's thyme! And it's been growing a lot this week, too.



And, the crazy trio of power continues to grow - marigold explosion on the top, cilantro on the left, another parsley on the right, with the cute little strawberry plant in the background.

A Delicate Balance

Lots of exciting things happening on the balcony this week, some of it really demonstrating how much anything in nature is really in a delicate balance and that one change often brings on other changes.

I was able to transplant the little Chia herb pots into much bigger new pots. You can see them in here, the 4 big orange terra cotta pots. I put the whole little Chia sponges into the new pots with a mix of the older MiracleGro potting mix and a new organic potting mix I got at the store. I did a combo cuz I wanted to use up more of the MiracleGro, but as I mentioned with some of the other pots I thought it wasn't great as the entire base for a pot, since those plants are growing so slowly. (Odd, I know.) I did keep the little Chia herb pots going, this time with catnip (a perennial) planted in all of them. Poor Cleo has been so jealous of me spending time out on the balcony where she can't go, she deserves some little treat!


The transplanting went well and the plants seem to be taking to their new digs just fine. But, I do believe the organic potting mix brought along something extra.... gnats!!! I transplanted Monday night, and by Wednesday morning there were a ton of little black gnats flying around out there. Thanks to everyone who offered advice. I decided to try the simplest remedy first, letting the plants dry out for 2 days since gnats thrive in wet soil. That seemed to do the trick. There are still a few out there, but nothing like earlier in the week. Since the plants are outdoors, too, I think the gnats may have noticed that there's a whole wide world out there too and made for the trees that are just a few feet away.

Back to the usual progress report... check this out! Look how tall the marigold plants are getting! That's one pot of the crazy cilantro next to it, with a good-looking little pot of parsley behind it on the right.


About 6 weeks in, it looks like the marigolds, cilantro, parsley, dill, sweet basil, and daisies are all doing just great. Below, clockwise from the top left, that's another pot of parsley, the daisies, the rosemary plant, the sweet basil, another pot of cilantro, the chives on the bottom, and the sweet marjoram in the middle. The latter two are growing, just very slowly... maybe that's their way, though. I'm cheering them on, too!

Next week should be interesting, cuz as of this morning I'm now using plant food in the watering can. We'll see if it makes a difference.

Progress on All Fronts

Just look at my garden growing! I achieved a whole new level of awesomeness with the balcony garden this week, cuz I've now got something growing in *every single one* of those pots!

As the weeks go on, I am starting to see some real changes. And it's become a little clearer who the potential winners and, well, losers of summer 2009 might be out there. I've been doing a lot more reading and have found that potting soil actually may not be the best thing for container gardening, since it tends to get really compacted and holds a lot of moisture, which I'm seeing for myself. So those potting soil pots (the newer ones) don't seem to be growing as fast. At this point, I'm a little concerned about the chives since they seem so thin and fragile - but maybe that will just take time. And the one small pot in which I goofed, planting a new set of seeds on top of perennial chives from last year? Those chives look terrible, though the new herb (parsley, I think?) is doing well.

But the little kits that came with a different kind of mix for soil (or weirdo sponges) are just going gangbusters. Check this out -- over the last week, I've really started to see some differentiation in the new leaves that are growing, and the plant varieties are really starting to look like themselves. See the marigolds there on the top? Flowers really can't be all that far behind, can they?

And look at the cilantro. Those new leaves are starting to be very recognizable as cilantro itself, like the kind you'd buy in the store. I'm hoping that in another week or so I can start pulling those new leaves to use them. All the reading I've done says that once you start harvesting these herbs, they just start coming back stronger for the rest of the season.

And.... ta-dah!!! The great success of the week -- against my own cynicism on the matter, a tiny little strawberry plant has started to emerge! I was so happy when that peeked through the surface earlier this week!

So, for the most part, things are going very well out there. I'm really debating on whether I should transplant the little Chia herb guys into bigger pots with actual dirt (though they'd stay on the sponge, just now surrounded by dirt) and on whether I should start using plant food. Plant food, by the way, is not so easy to find - my CVS is all out and the grocery store's a bust. I may have to make it to an actual garden store soon, perhaps to buy more pots too.

My Green Thumb

I've just got a little green explosion goin' on out on the balcony these days! As of this week, all of the herbs and flowers have sprouted, and I bought a rosemary plant that's taking pretty well. The only thing I'm waiting for now is the result of the strawberry seeds - which take 4 weeks to germinate so I'll wait a little while longer.

The marigolds, on top, are starting to put out more little leaves.. I'm hoping the stems and actual flowers won't be far behind. And there's that crazy pot of cilantro, still going nuts. On the top left you can see that I goofed here - I replanted new seeds (I think parsley?) but didn't realize that the chives I planted in there last year that never took are perennials. So even though they didn't appear last year, they're emerging now - 2 herbs in one pot, by accident.

The little daisies are starting to grow a bit bigger, too, and I hope they'll start expanding and flower in the next few weeks. And that rosemary plant is just so pretty and aromatic. I should start using that soon!

Finally - I can take no credit for all this greenery - but here's a great view of my actual view from the balcony. Here's what I can sit and watch, with the leaves blowing in the breeze and the birds flying around. Peace.

Right In Front of My Eyes

It's been less than a week since my last update on the progress of my balcony garden, but there are just so many exciting things happening. I love my little planties!

Here we have the marigolds on top, growing away and multiplying daily. Then there are 4 little pots of herbs, and if you look close you can see little sprouts in all of them. This is an amazing comeback from last year, when I was only ever able to grow 2 kinds of herbs (cilantro and basil) that died very quickly. I'm getting better at the watering. I think that's in part because I bought a cute little watering can. :-)

Look at the cilantro! It's gone freakin' crazy this week, from just a tiny little green sprout sticking out to this.

And the weird little Chia sponge pots are starting to actually work - there are sprouts in all 4 of those. Basil, parsley, cilantro, and dill. It's still so strange to me that the seeds just sit on top of the sponge to germinate and then take root, I guess, but it's working.

And here's one of the newer pots - I planted all of the seeds at the top 2 weeks ago, but then there's another 4 pots that I planted just last week. Here, the first of the newbies are starting to make their appearance - daisies! I'm sure they'll grow pretty rapidly. At least they should, that's MiracleGro in there.

I can't wait to see what will happen out there next week!

Plant a Garden, Watch It Grow

The Great Balcony Garden Experiment of 2009 has begun. And this morning, 7 days into it, I saw my first little baby plants shoot up! :-)

Here it is, after watering at about 6:45 am today. I have a mix of 6 different varieties of herbs, marigolds, daisies, and a strawberry plant. I don't get much sun on my rather closed-in balcony, only about an hour a day, so I'm not sure how all of these different varieties will do. But it's sure going to be fun to try to nurture them all to life.

Lookee! The marigolds are starting to grow! I planted the marigolds (in the top pot on the little rack), the other 4 pots of herbs in that rack, and the 4 tiny pots of the Chia Herb Garden last Monday. The Chia Herb Garden was a Christmas gift from my parents, and it's strange - those are sponges, not dirt, in the pots. You are supposed to keep the sponges very wet, and the seeds rest on top until they take. So far, the basil and cilantro seem to be doing okay, but I'm very curious to see if those sponges will work. If not, I've got more potting soil and can start over if need be.

If you look close, you'll see a few little basil sprouts starting to come up. Note, this was before watering this morning - the plants were thirsty!


Here are all my happy plants enjoying their hour in the sun. I hope they keep growing - they make me so proud. :-)

It's Almost Time to Plant My Own Balcony Garden

The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden by William Alexander

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was really fun. The author is an IT professional by day, and obsessive, happy, addicted gardener by nights and weekends. The book tells the story of roughly 10 years of Alexander's adventures with his family in building his dream garden in the clay soil of the Hudson Valley, and his competition with woodchucks, deer, Japanese beetles, all kinds of grubs and worms and whatnot, and that darn clay soy itself, to bring his dream to life. He's got determination and a great sense of humor, and if you liked Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" you'll probably like this one too. Reading it outside on my balcony in these early days of spring has me thinking about my own, small-scale gardening adventures to come, as I'm going to attempt (for the 2nd time) to grow my own herbs and to try growing strawberries, too.


View all my reviews.