Balcony Garden 2013 was the year of trial and error on my balcony, and error mostly won out.
The wooden "pallet garden" my dad made for me was mostly a fail, except the violas did well on the top row. And I did get one salad's worth of mini radishes. But the cat grass, lettuce, swiss chard and spinach either got ruined by pests or never came up. Those were all on the bottom two rows, so maybe that had something to do with it. I think the main problem was it was so shallow - at only 2 inches deep. Too bad, it was a great climbing gym for the cats. It's bound for the recycling bin.
Though I thought it was dying after the June cold snap, my basil ended up coming back and flourishing. I got 28 servings of pesto out of it, so that actually was a win! I used almonds in the pesto because I'm too cheap to buy pine nuts, and I didn't use any parmesan, but it's delicious!
Basil pesto, ready to be frozen in single serving portions in ice cube trays.
Another win: my zucchinis did well for awhile, then it got rainy and the developed mildew, but I got my fill out of them on pizzas for sure. Other people ended up giving me some monster zucchinis so I've got a freezer full of future chocolate zucchini cake! Plus, I also had 6 little white onions grow well. The pots were the winners this year. Lesson learned. Next year I'm going to go back to just planting in pots.
My hardier succulents loved it outside. I hope a winter inside won't kill them!
I love succulents! And my new breakfast spot.
I also just bought a bistro set of two chairs and a table on an end of the season sale, so I fit those out there and will breakfast outdoors until the cold weather catches up with me! Wish I'd done this years ago!
The wooden "pallet garden" my dad made for me was mostly a fail, except the violas did well on the top row. And I did get one salad's worth of mini radishes. But the cat grass, lettuce, swiss chard and spinach either got ruined by pests or never came up. Those were all on the bottom two rows, so maybe that had something to do with it. I think the main problem was it was so shallow - at only 2 inches deep. Too bad, it was a great climbing gym for the cats. It's bound for the recycling bin.
Though I thought it was dying after the June cold snap, my basil ended up coming back and flourishing. I got 28 servings of pesto out of it, so that actually was a win! I used almonds in the pesto because I'm too cheap to buy pine nuts, and I didn't use any parmesan, but it's delicious!
Basil pesto, ready to be frozen in single serving portions in ice cube trays.
Another win: my zucchinis did well for awhile, then it got rainy and the developed mildew, but I got my fill out of them on pizzas for sure. Other people ended up giving me some monster zucchinis so I've got a freezer full of future chocolate zucchini cake! Plus, I also had 6 little white onions grow well. The pots were the winners this year. Lesson learned. Next year I'm going to go back to just planting in pots.
My hardier succulents loved it outside. I hope a winter inside won't kill them!
I love succulents! And my new breakfast spot.
I also just bought a bistro set of two chairs and a table on an end of the season sale, so I fit those out there and will breakfast outdoors until the cold weather catches up with me! Wish I'd done this years ago!
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