Until this past weekend, our 2nd story balcony had a very short and pitiful resume:
- place where I take self-portraits of finished knitwear
- place where I stand to shake out the floor rugs
- place where the cats crouch to spy on birds and neighbors
It takes a couple oblivious sparrows for Edith to venture beyond the windowsill
My new plan to give the balcony self-confidence and purpose is to turn it into a container garden. It faces west, so there’s a ton of sunlight, and I found a stack of abandoned pots in the basement to get us started. On Saturday we went to Mahoney’s Garden Center and stocked up on soil, seeds, and a fabric Smart Pot that looked very intriguing (it’s behind Read in the photo below).
(front-back) Lettuce, Arugula, Peas, Collards, Peas, Read, Carrots & Radishes
Our big puzzle is going to be watering. I’m either going to rig up some sort of pulley system for the hose in the yard, or run a piece of tubing from the bathroom sink. I dunno…we’ve gotta do something. Read claims he didn’t mind watering it with bowl after bowl of water but that doesn’t seem like something I want to do all summer while he’s in Mexico.
In launching the balcony garden experiment, I’ve found a lot of tips, ideas, and inspiration on a blog called Life on the Balcony. The blog’s related Flickr group is also fun. Based on my lunchtime meanderings there, here’s what I’m planning for “Phase 2″:
- Find and revamp discarded junk (like this old metal BBQ) into more cheap planters
- Plant potatoes in a trashcan
- Plant strawberries and cucumbers vertically using old wooden pallets
Oregon radishes circa 2008
If all goes well, or even mediocre, hopefully I’ll have photos of Boston-balcony-garden-edibles in a couple months. What are you planting this time of year? If you have any tips for container growing, please share!
