Jul

16

2011

Summer 2011 Garden

Posted by amanda | Comments (0)

Category : gardening

Tags: ,

I really, really wanted to garden again this year. Last summer’s balcony garden wasn’t so great…you can read about it here. I started out strong and floundered as the summer went on. This year I had a tiny start and planned to expand and that never happened.

I’ve thought about it and I think it’s because it’s a balcony garden, in containers. I just don’t enjoy it the same way I do digging around in the dirt. I’ll happily weed and water if I have a nice size plot of earth, but it’s just not the same doing it out of pots from the 3rd floor. I’m not giving up on gardening, I just wish there was a community garden or some sort of space available for me locally.

the start of this year's garden, in May

my lone tomato, in July!

Aug

17

2010

Container Gardening ~ Week 11

Posted by amanda | Comments (0)

Category : gardening

Tags:

I haven’t been writing about my container garden because I haven’t been working on it much. It’s not in the best shape and I’m embarrassed about that, and I feel guilty. I didn’t expand as I wanted to, I skipped waterings on hot days and I ended up with not much of a harvest at all.

The good news is that I’ve gotten a few tiny tomatoes and enough sage and rosemary to dry for the winter. I transplanted most of the tomatoes too late and they now don’t have enough time to grow big and delicious. My roma’s are green but I haven’t had any red ones, I’m still hoping, or I will just fry them green or let them sit on the counter until they eventually ripen. All of the tomatoes have stem primordia and I never bothered to try to fix them. If I’m in an apartment next year I may use big pots instead of the hanging containers, even though that doesn’t look nearly as cool. Honestly, I’m not sure if it was so much of the containers or that I was more focused on work, my daughter and doing fun stuff that doesn’t involve chores. This experiment was unscientific and did not turn out as well as I hoped. So, it’s a loss but I’m okay with it, kind of.

no tomatoes! at least the basil is fine...

green romas

the few I've gotten are delicious!

poor calendula

my falling in love poppy is heartbroken

my evening primrose at least looks okay!

Jul

05

2010

Container Gardening ~ Week 5

Posted by amanda | Comments (0)

Category : Uncategorized, gardening

Tags:

There was a big upheaval in the garden a few weeks ago. My landlord stopped by recently and told me they were replacing the carpet on my balcony, because apparently water was leaking down and getting into my downstairs neighbors house. I said that was fine, and a few days later he came back with the guys that were going to do it. We brought the big stuff inside but they said it would be okay to leave the plants outside, they could work around them. Well, it turns out that they weren’t just putting a new carpet down, they built a roof over it!

I really like it. It makes my tiny outdoor space more comfortable. They did also put a new carpet down, a nice tan one instead of the green astro-turf kinda stuff that was there. If I put a little more work into it I can turn it into an oasis (okay, maybe not an oasis, but it does have great potential ♥).

There are downsides. There were nails in some of my plants! They didn’t hurt them, but they are my precious! One of my hanging cucumbers was damaged, it seems like it was knocked around a bit, but I’m nursing it tenderly and hoping for the best. The main thing that bothers me is that the landlord didn’t tell me the extend of what was being done. I had construction going on for two days and he had acted like it was a simple thing. This isn’t the first time they have had really bad communication with me. The first time made me incredibly angry and I actually considered moving out over it. I feel awful complaining about something that benefits me, but the point is that I should have been informed about the extent of what they were doing. This is my home.

I have all of my homemade hanging gardens hanging on hangers over the railings. Before the roof was built there were hooks on the outside wall, but they took those down. I want to put hooks hanging from the roof, because my plants are going to get too big and hang too low. Plus I think it would look really pretty and private, like I have a plant wall.

The damaged hanging cucumber died. It was more hurt than I originally suspected and it shriveled up. Everything else is still thriving though. I feel like I was a bit neglectful while my family was in. I didn’t do any extra work out there, I just watered as needed. I had wanted to clean up and rearrange, and put all my tomato seedlings into hanging planters. It’s on the agenda for this week.


lettuce


tiny tomatoes


my poor dead cucumber

Jun

06

2010

Container Gardening

Posted by amanda | Comments (0)

Category : Featured, Uncategorized, diy, gardening

Tags: ,

Last summer we lived in a rented house shared with my sister. We had a decent yard space, with a little area fenced off behind the garage that was perfect for a garden. It was my first time gardening, and it was a lot of fun. It was also a lot of work! I loved it though, and it provided much fresh produce and herbs throughout the season, plus some food to preserve for the winter.

Corn in my first garden

I grew a sexy lady carrot! I pickled her with some cucumbers and she was delicious!

Heirloom tomatoes and romano beans

This summer me and Ve live in an apartment, but I didn’t want to give up on gardening. All winter long I missed being able to go outside and pick dinner. I missed the fresh tomatoes, I missed snips of fresh, organic herbs in most of our meals, so I decided that I would grow what I could on my balcony.

The balcony is fairly large, for an apartment, and faces south. We live on the third floor with no other buildings close by blocking the sun. I’m starting some from seeds, and I bought some seedlings. To save space, I made these hanging upside-down planters for tomatoes and cucumbers and some herbs.

Empty upside-down planter

Basil

Mexican Midget tomatoes and basil

I ran out of small planters to start seeds in, so I decided to keep going with the idea of reusing empty plastic bottles by cutting them in half and using each piece as a planter. I’m not sure how it’s going to work, but I’m hoping for the best. These are flowers, but I have a few with herbs and tomato seeds too. I found some left-over seeds from last year, and I put those in empty egg cartons.

White Rose Campion

Herb seeds in an egg carton

Growing directly in the ground, I didn’t need to use fertilizer. I had prepared the soil for planting last year, turning it and mulching it, so the plants could take what they needed from the soil. Plants growing in containers need to be fed so I’m using fish emulsion. The stuff really stinks, but from what I’ve read it’s a great organic option, the smell doesn’t linger and they only need to eat twice a month.

Wish me luck! I plan on writing about my garden all season long, so check back in to see how it’s doing ♥