The Balcony Garden: Day 1

Today was epic. 3 loaves of bread (2 banana, 1 honey wheat), church, picnic at Love Circle, sanding/painting all the bathroom cabinets, and planting a balcony garden.

There’s a pint of peanut-butter-chocolate ice cream in the freezer and I really want to reward myself, but I’m too tired to get up. So I’ll blog instead!

I’ve been wanting and researching a balcony garden for several months now, and I decided that surely I’ll have time this summer since I am not starting a new job/planning a wedding/moving into a new place. (Last summer, my parents gifted me with a cherry tomato plant that I watered probably 5 times. Amazingly, it still produced a few tomatoes. I’m taking this as a sign that I have a magical green thumb … )

I did my research. I waited patiently for our tax credit. I talked to gardening friends. I balked ever time I paid $1.99 for a tiny pack of fresh basil, knowing that soon I would be harvesting my own. Yesterday, we went to All Seasons, a fantastic nursery not a block from our house, and picked out some herbs, tomatoes, and flowers to adorn our little balcony. Then to Lowes, where I picked out pots (at Price’s urging, we went with the less-expensive-but-not-as-cute pots until I prove my gardening genius) and potting mix.

6 herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary, mint, cilantro, oregano), 2 cherry tomatoes, and 2 geraniums:

Lots of pots:

Then came the fun part! Sometimes, it’s just lovely to dig in the dirt. I filled each pot part of the way with potting mix, then sprinkled in (too liberally, as I came to find out upon re-reading the package) some plant food (which is IMPERATIVE when container gardening, because container plants don’t have access to all the nutrients that soil provides). Stick in the plant, pack the dirt all around, and voila! My herbs were done before I knew it!

Basil:

Mint, Thyme, Rosemary:

Basil, Cilantro, Oregano:

Then I planted the tiniest of sprouts that promise to become great big tomato plants one day. They are so tiny:

Finally, my pretty geraniums. There is absolutely nothing practical (or food-related) about them, but they are lovely and I adore fresh flowers:

So here’s to a summer of fresh herbs and cherry tomatoes grown right on our little balcony … It will be so wonderful to make pesto with the basil, or mojitos with the mint, salsa with the cilantro, and pasta sauce with fresh thyme and oregano. Oh, the possibilities!