The Radishes are Near Ready

The first radish out of my first balcony radish container garden

I saw the red tops poking through the soil and I just couldn't help myself - I had to pull one. And here it is! And it tasted absolutely delicious! These were planted on April 14th so a month and a half later, they're pretty much ready.

Here's the radish container with the radish laying on top. I LOVE the color of red it is.

I am going to give them another few days and then harvest. It's so satisfying to grow one's own food especially when it's in the middle of the big city.

Begonias on a 19th floor west facing balcony? Yes!

Finding a nice shady spot, Tiffie enjoys our hottest day yet, on the balcony

I am not usually a big fan of begonias BUT I found these (on the far left and right of the photo) about 3 weeks ago and they just looked so beautiful I nabbed them. I did wonder though, how they were going to handle both the heat (when it came) and the wind (sure to come).

Well, I am happy to report that they are really doing quite well! I need to make sure to remember to feed them on schedule (and yes, I will be using the Better World plant food and not cheaping out and using the petroleum based fertilizer). 

So, I would say, if you find a healthy beautiful begonia and want to bring it home to your balcony why not? As long as you do have some shade for them and here on my balcony, the wall is opaque and that does limit their sun time. Even though that dark blue wall is uuuuugly, it does allow for begonias at least. I have an idea on how to hide that wall but that will take some work (if you are curious about that just check back in a few weeks and I hope to have the solution for you to see!). If you have a glass wall, and you face south, east or west, they make get a little scorched. North facing balconies should be fine though. Enjoy your balcony!

Enjoying the Fruits of My Labor

Who? Me? 

The cat does, that is. Sharing a space with our Balcony Buddha, she has found a lovely spot to admire all that grows around her. This is one of the sweet benefits of all the effort put in to make the balcony safe for her and using planters, plants, objects to add interest to an otherwise completely sterile and rather boring and depressing space.

Tiffie ponders the wide open skies as swallows dart by

Even if you can only afford a container or two, start there and it will make a world of difference if you are nature inclined. It did and does for me.

For the Love of Lilacs

This is the Syringa Tinkerbelle lilac bush that blooms mid spring and can grow up to 5 feet high and 4 feet wide

My lilacs are just starting to open now. They smell incredible! Nothing makes me feel more like being alive then the heavenly scent of lilacs (okay, maybe peonies but lilacs are neck and neck with them). 

I purchased two little lilac trees in their temporary containers two years ago and they are still going strong today. They managed to survive two winters up here, on the 19th floor, and were kept tucked away in the northern corner, against the apartment wall with no cover. I am amazed they are doing so well. This fall I intend to transplant them into larger containers and give them a little more tlc.

Even the cat can't help but be drawn by the heavenly scent of lilacs! The one on the far left is the Tinkerbell variety and
the one my cat is indulging in is Sugar Plum. The Sugar Plum is the more fragrant and smaller of the two.

So, after two years, I can say that these two different lilac trees are a keeper for balconies for if they can do so well 19 floors up when the cold winter winds blow, then that is proof enough to me. I check them daily when spring is here and don't let them ever get too dry. I will be repotting them in the fall as it is too late to do so now. 

I don't think you can go wrong with lilacs for your balcony, if you are so inclined. Just make sure you get a variety that is on the small side or of the dwarf variety. I had Sugar Plum in my back yard back in my house-owning days and it only grew to about 4 feet.

So enjoy your lilacs apartment and condo balconeers!

Better Plant Food for a Better World

So I've been looking for a better plant food, one that is not made of petroleum and other nasty chemicals and feeds the soil so the plant gets fed properly and this is what I found. It's called "Better World Plant Food" and it's home office is here in Toronto. Carla, one of the owners at Davenport Garden Centre also in Toronto suggested it as it's the first time she has carried it and wants to know how I do with it. At $19.99 for 500 ml it's a little pricey BUT if it works, it's well worth it.

What is it made of you ask? Answer - bug excrement. Yep, that's right. I had the good fortune of catching one of the owners, Nick Chilikoff, at his home office and he explained, in detail, what it was, how it was produced (more or less as he could not tell me exactly understandably in order to protect their their trade secrets) and how it works. I include information direct from the pamphlet to pass on some of that info. Here it is below.

the front of the brochure
lovely illustration and design by the way

top of the back of the brochure

bottom of the back of the brochure

The reason I called the company is I didn't know if it was safe to just pour the tea I had made from the dry solution right onto the soil of the plant or if I had to wet it first, like you normally have to do with the regular chemical fertilizers or you run the risk of burning the plant. He told me that I could pour it directly onto the dry soil. I loved hearing that. It seems that with this product you don't run that type of risk and if you do over feed it, it won't harm the plant. 

So I added the recommended 4 teaspoons of dry plant food to one litre of water. I used an old 4 litre water container so I added 16 teaspoons in total. This is what it looked like about 22 hours later of steeping.

steeped Better World plant food granules in water

And this is what it looked like poured into a cup. I was to use one cup full of tea to one square foot, or litre, of soil. I had to eyeball it with my containers. It felt relieved that if I did too much that I wouldn't harm the plant. For the larger containers it was easier to judge, but the little ones, I may have over-fed just a wee bit.

one cup of plant food tea

I fed my peonies and my lilacs first as I have had them for a few years now and really, I don't think I have fed them properly since I got them. We'll see how they like it. It seems, a few hours later my peonies are standing straight up! Maybe it's just wishful thinking but I think they may just be happier. I also fed the regular peas and spinach as the rest of my containers were still wet or very damp. It hasn't been that warm here today and it's been overcast. You can use the dregs of the tea, just mix it into the soil of the plant. 

I am looking very much forward to use more of this product on the rest of my balcony garden. I will let you know how it goes!

Cats and Balconies? Yes but...

Here's my cat, stalking the first visitor to my balcony garden that was out there while she was - a fly. Notice her stealth moves. Not bad for just three legs! The cat that is, not the fly.

And being that flies have wings, it's here then gone but she enjoyed the chase and that's one of the reasons that I have decided to build this balcony garden - it gives her something to look at while she is in the house looking out the window and something to interact with when she is out on the balcony with me. I NEVER let her out on the balcony unattended. I don't want her to eat anything she shouldn't AND cats being cats, I don't want her to somehow jump up (even though she only has three pins and is missing one of her back legs, if a pigeon or something else equally tantalizing landed on the net I would not put it past her to jump on it and then down 19 floors). Oh yes, it could happen, with this cat, that's for sure. She's a real hunter, back from her alley cat days (she was a humane society kitty). 

So for her safety and to keep the pigeons out of my lettuce (last year I awoke and looked out my window to see my beautiful basket of full grown lettuce being used as a nest by a pigeon!) I threw out the basket and the lettuce and that was that - a net was implemented! I had a pigeon net professionally installed. Best money I ever spent.

So even though she cannot sit on the ledges of the balcony, she quite likes just looking through the space between the railing wall and the concrete floor where she stays cool in the humid heat of summer as she enjoys watching the doggies and people walk on by nineteen floors below.

West Side Railing Balcony Container - Dhalias, Coleus and White Bacopa

This planter overlooks due west

Here's the first container planted for the west side railing balcony container. I used Dahlias (a larger dark pink flower dahlia as the central piece, two lighter pink, smaller flower headed dahlias planted on either side of the larger one) 

close up of light and darker pink Dahlias

and white bacopa on the far left and right of the planter. Bacopa did very well last year on the railing where it gets VERY windy at times. 

looking south west from the balcony
lake Ontario is off in the distance

There are still planters to be added and filled. Note the coconut husk planters further along the railing. A trip to my local gardening center is in store and I can hardly wait! I checked out Forest Hill Loblaws again but there isn't very much left of interest. It seems this year the selection wasn't as good as last year, but I am on a mission to create a beautiful balcony garden!