Thursday, April 22, 2010

Balcony garden update — the Earth Day edition


From the Garden Center.
1 patio-sized Tomato
2 Sweet Red Peppers
2 Sweet Yellow Peppers
1 Anaheim Pepper
1 Garden Salsa Pepper
2 Basil
1 Cilantro

I seem to have lost a couple inches of soil in each planter over the winter. Maybe it leaked out the bottom? So, I also bought a bag of rich, hummus-y potting soil. It's thick, dark stuff. I'd be afraid of it compacting, except I'm mixing it into the used soil which is super light. It actually made an acceptable mix. Not an exactly scientific way to go about it...

Also bought a couple (2x6') wood trellises to put on either side of the sliding glass doors.

We had a couple cold nights, but everything lived with no apparent damage.


The tomato, basil + peppers are set out where they're sure to get lots of light, and be a bit more protected from the wind. I think part of the reason my peppers didn't do well last year was that they were in the railing planters and had to deal with a lot of wind. They grew very thick stems, didn't put out a lot of leaves, and a lot of flowers blew away. At least, I think the flowers blew away, because I'd notice them one day, and they'd be completely gone the next.


peas


more peas


black-seeded simpson lettuce, and stakes for more peas


a mix of lettuce and mesclun


3 comments:

  1. You should research Earthboxes, they are great for small area.
    www.earthbox.com

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  2. to keep soil from getting rinsed out the bottom of my pots I put a piece of coconut noir (basket mat) over the drain hole. It helps alot.

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  3. My guess would be that the potting soil didn't leak out but decompose - like any organic material, potting soil breaks down over time, and the smaller particles get packed together more tightly, taking up less space in the pot, and making it look like some of the soil "disappeared".
    I'm jealous of all the things you grow on your balcony. Sharing mine with my mother, I can't grow half of the things I want to grow.

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