Featured on Toronto Balconies Bloom!

I would like to thank Toronto Balconies Bloom for featuring this blog on their website. Toronto Balconies Bloom is a volunteer project that inspires and supports residents with balconies to build successful urban gardens in the city. Thanks the great work you are doing to promote balcony gardening!

A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust. - Gertrude Jekyll - 

Inspiring Quote on Urban Gardening

Inspirational quote for those of you contemplating to start an urban garden:

No matter where you are you can grow something to eat. Shift your thinking and you'd be surprised at the places your food can be grown! Window sill, fire escape and rooftop gardens have the same potential to provide impressive harvests as backyard gardens, greenhouses and community spaces. Greg Peterson, Grow Wherever You Go! Discovering the Place Where Your Garden Lives, 2009, www.urbanfarm.org

Preparing for the Fall & Winter Months

The weather is changing; it's getting cooler and we are contemplating moving the planters indoors. The plants are no longer thriving and it's time for our little garden to "hibernate" until the next season...we will keep you updated in Spring, 2015...Please share this blog with other avid gardeners (those starting out or already experienced).

Harvesting the Seeds

A number of our vegetable including cilantro and tomatoes produced seeds that we stored for the next season. Seeds were washed and sun dried on the window sill, then stored in little containers until time to plant.

Tomato and pepper seedlings dried from our last harvest

Fresh Salad Anyone?

We harvested carrots, tomatoes and peppers in September and used the herbs and greens throughout the summer. We prepared salads with the lettuce, tomatoes and peppers and steamed the carrots. We hope that 2015 brings in a better yield for our little garden! Stay tuned....

Part of our garden harvest

Entertaining Bugs Bunny?..Serve Carrots

My household enjoys carrots...steamed, roasted, stir fried, in a salad, with dips.. The bright orange vegetable can be grown on any container 12" deep. I obtained seeds for miniature carrots that would not take up too much space. The thrift store had the perfect container for the carrots. The carrots were transplanted in late May as they prefer cooler spring weather. I cannot wait to harvest them in 75 days!!

Yonge carrots growing on the box

Bring on the Harvest!!

The little garden produced a bounty of fresh, delicious vegetables and the freshest strawberries from the hanging planter! My next door neighbor (share a balcony) could not believe that we had a garden thriving in that little balcony! We shared our garden-harvested tomatoes and vegetables.

Tomatoes ready for harvesting

Spinach and salad mix thriving

Little Garden loving Summer in the Sun!

In the months of July, August and September, the vegetables, fruits and flowers loved the outdoors and the sun!! I made sure to water the plants daily in the evenings to reduce water evaporation. With companion planting, I did not face any problems with the pests and diseases. Unfortunately, the cucumber plant flowered, but we did not get any fruits (quite a mystery).

The vertical shelf allowed me to grow more plants with less space (an excellent investment). I has so much plants that I shared some with friends and family! It was certainly a success story! My family could enjoy the fresh vegetable steps from the kitchen and save us money.

Small pepper plants, tomatoes and flowers thriving in the balcony!

Transplanting Seedlings to Containers

Sooner or later your seedlings overgrow their little containers. My Tumbling Tom seedlings were already outgrowing their starter containers and they were moved to large container to ensure that they had space to grow. I used a trellis from the Dollar Store with twines to hold the seedlings in place. I mixed sheep manure and potting soil (1:1) prior to transplanting, then watered the seedlings thereafter.  Basil and Nasturtium flower seedlings were added to the planter to act as companion plants for the tomatoes to deter pests and diseases and keep the plants healthy.

Spinach, coriander, small peppers, Mescuin salad mix and all the other seedlings were moved into larger containers. Herbs such as basil, thyme and oregano requires smaller containers.

Garden Centres open...feels like Christmas in May!

I remember going to a hardware store and garden centre in March to inquire on planter holders and strawberry seedlings! Got some strange looks from floor staff who mentioned how early it was in the season for the stores to stock up on garden supplies. Over-enthusiastic much?! Probably had a nasty case of the "green itchy fingers."

Later in the month, I was so thrilled to visit Plant World, a nearby large garden centre in the West end of Toronto, and see all those plants out on display. My partner and I picked up June bearing strawberries and annual flowers (Calendula, Celosia, Petunia, Geranium) that make great companion plants for fruits and vegetable seedlings. 

Photo Credit: Plant World (They have some amazing displays and plant varieties)

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Hand in the cookie jar?!

Ok, I will admit…I have not been patient enough to wait for my rosemary seedlings to grow! I just cannot roast beef and chicken without the delicious aroma of fresh rosemary. I was at Kensington Market in downtown Toronto and I saw rosemary and Spanish lavender potted plants on display outside a fruit and vegetable grocer. Price was good and I could use the rosemary plants much faster :) At home I transplanted the rosemary plants to a bigger container and so far they are loving their new home!

I only realized after reaching home that the lovely lavender plant I had was for ornamental use only! My fellow gardeners, should you desire a lavender for aromatic reasons, DO NOT (emphasis) get the Spanish lavender!!

Lavender with bloom at the back and rosemary plants at the front

Seed Starting Pots and Kits

There are a variety of seed starter kits, from cowpots that are biodegradable to greenhouse kits that are suitable for growing seedlings indoors. I bought a seed starting tray from Canadian Tire, filled it up with potting soil (with a sprinkle of sheep manure)  and sowed the seeds. To avoid confusion, I labelled each row with a label on a toothpick. 

After sowing, I watered and covered the kit with its lid and put it in a warm and sunny place (window sill). I watered every day, and made sure that I used a spritz bottle to avoid disturbing the seeds and water logging the soil. I also re-used containers around the house including yogurt container, tins, disposable food containers; it's cheaper and reduces waste. 

Seed starter kit with a variety of vegetables

Egg carton used to sprout vegetables

Wondering what cowpots look like? Here's a picture from gardeners.com (a gardeners dream shop)

Photo Credit: Gardeners.com

Update on Rosemary

I promised to keep you updated on the progress the rosemary seedling. It has been growing for sure. Many gardeners suggest using cuttings or more mature seedlings from the garden store. I wanted to experiment and track the growth the rosemary. Here's a picture:

Tiny rosemary growing..avoid overwatering it

Growing Garden!!

The warm May weather has really helped the container vegetables to grow! I had to take the plants indoors on only one night when the temperature was 4 degrees centigrade.  I used the cell phone camera to photograph the plants (not the best resolution).

Cucumber growing fast, with green bean on the trellis and flower seedlings compatible with the vegetables 

Brief Warm Weather....

For the last few days the temperature in Toronto has been over 15 degrees centigrade. On the weekend, I moved the cucumber outdoors briefly to allow the plant to acclimatize. Today, it snowed heavily..what a sudden change! It's Canada after all, eh! Temperatures should rise by the end of the week and I will then be able to take the plants outside briefly.

It’s important to watch the weather because some plants do very poorly in the cold, and many seedlings won’t be able to survive a frost. Once the warmer weather is here to stay (looking like mid-May), my plants should be able to live permanently on the balcony!

Strawberry planter lined with burlap and filled with potting soil; ready for the strawberry seedlings

Container-Loving Tomato Seedlings

As the container is made up of coconut husk fibre and study metal frame (found it at a liquidation store), I layered its interior with burlap to better support the soil. Potting mix and composted sheep manure were mixed together and poured on the planter. So far the tomatoes are thriving…the third tomato on the container will be transplanted to another pot as I prefer only two on the container.

I chose"Tumbling Tom" tomatoes for their bright red and yellow cherry-like tomatoes that are suitable for planting in a hanging basket or planters. The tomato seedlings had grown so much that I had little choice, but to transplant them to their planter indoors. As soon as the temperature outside was conducive, I took the tomatoes out and tied the frame to the neighbor's balcony rail for support (he was ok with that after I asked). 

Reuse: Wine Box Planter

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle..the mantra of eco-conscious people everywhere. I intended my balcony garden to be eco-efficient by using local resources. I visited a local liquor store to inquire on wine boxes. My husband assisted me to paint the box with linseed oil, to make it water-proof. Be warned, it has a very strong smell and needs to be used outdoors! The linseed oil smells like a skunk that has just moved into your house and will not leave. Users beware!

The wooden crate was treated to two coats of linseed oil and left 3 days out to dry. My hubby drilled holes at the bottom of the box 1” - 2” apart and laid out a piece of burlap on the container bottom to contain the soil. I then filled the box with a mixture (1:1) of potting soil and composted sheep manure (advised that it's great for the plants) and planted the Mesclun salad mix that had been sprouting in my re-used Swiss Chalet restaurant container (I love re-using containers...does good for our environment!). I left some space on the box to grow spinach.

Low Bush Blueberries

Did you know that Nova Scotia is the wild blueberry capital of Canada? I love blueberries especially on smoothies, muffins and yogurt! It’s a very healthy treat and packed with antioxidants. I read about the berries online and found out that low bush blueberries can be planted on containers. However, they require acidic soil; so the acidic potting mix suited to flowers like azaleas and camellias and large containers.  It also takes a few years to get a bumper harvest. I’m still deliberating whether to plant a blueberry plant with the limited space on my balcony. Strawberries are definitely an option as I am planning to have them grow in a hanging planter.

Photo Credit; Wikipedia

Rosemary...Patience, Patience!!

Have you ever walked to a local garden centre or local grocer and admired the thriving bushy rosemary plants? I know I have! I set out on an ambitious project to grow rosemary from seed. The seeds were planted early March (total of 6 seeds). However, only 3 sprouted!! The seedlings grow very slowly…so patience is a virtue here :) I found this cute watering can planter at the local thrift store for only $2. See the tiny rosemary growing in there? I will keep you posted on its progress.

Thrift store planter with tiny rosemary seedlings

Planting Calendar...No Guessing Again

Following a planting calendar is very important to ensure that the plants are ready for the outdoors after frost. My husband (hail king of the spreadsheets) and I created an Ms. Excel document with details of the planting season as instructed by the seed packages. The You Grow Girl blog has a very insightful planting calendar for starting seeds! 

Collection of containers used to grow the seedlings: those tall green stalks are green onions i tried to regrow!

I started planting the seeds in late February/early March. Some of the older seeds I had from many years ago had expired but I tried to grow them anyways. Behold, the expired cucumber seeds sprouted and grew so fast that I had to give away the extra seedlings to family and friends! Currently, I have young seedlings (carrots, kale, salad mix, green onions, cilantro, thyme, rosemary, tomatoes, mini sweet bell peppers).

Cucumber seedlings grew so fast!