Inspiration 2009!

Ok so my return wasn't so quick, and I actually missed planting season- for a very good reason!


















I was in JAPAN- cool huh? Now that county's got gardening DOWN. I highly recommend anyone who's remotely interested in gardening to visit- we were lucky enough to catch the Cherry Blossom season when we were there, too. I'll post a few pics, but two dimensions just don't cut it. It's ethereal. Goodness I've never used that word before!



So the real inspiration for my post is this video- From what I can gather on his youtube channel he's in Toronto, like me, and loves to grow tomatoes, also like me.


But his is MUCH better- It's what I'd aspire to- lots of cherry tomatoes and great use of straw. The other thing that I love is his swing chair! I've been contemplating throwing my old cedar auction love seat out- it's awkward and the nails are pretty rusty, I'm just attached to it because it was such a fight to get at the auction at the time- 20 years ago, hmm- ok, i think it can go :)



Enough about me- Vlad also has lots of videos about the carrville community garden- located behind the Toronto Waldorf School- looks like a good group of folks- 106 litres of tomatoe sauce made from their gardens in 2005!!







So because I missed starting my own toms, I'm going to have to hunt for some come May. Which is kind of nice- no dirt in the dining room, no hustling plants in and out, rushing home on cold night to get the seedlings back in, no balancing precariously on chairs (which my other half is happy about) with trays.. but also no daily little joys of green. Ah well, at least there's the internet! Time to live vicariously through others for a while!

...and one last picture of cherry blossoms:

UPDATE!

I'm currently inside flicker posting this! Did ya know you could do this? Well, if you're like me, you didn't and now you know! Generally I'm like George Castanza where I don't like worlds colliding, but hey, it's all related content here.

So this should increase some posting & cut down on my time between the two sites, killing two snails with one rock ( or moving him elsewhere for you gentle folk).

The biggest thing I wanted to post about it the current status of the balcony. Sorry about the wait- I'll come clean..soon.

I dismantled the BBQ, and now have a wonderful plant stand. Most of the seedlings are transferred ( ...aaaand some are still waiting for their promised adoptees to take them home *ahem*).

Ikea seating was purchased, railing curtains, and pots got wired,
Dollar store mop buckets and feed cans aquired.

May direct-sew seedlings were sewn,
And well as new striped drapes,
But I need a body harness,
So I don't fall & break a bone.

..next- gardening confessional!

Weed & graass, man

No, this isn't about what you think it is. Or perhaps it is.

In todays Toronto Star there's a great article to celebrate Earth day (here on the balcony everyday is earth day..!) by Christina De Silva interviewing Evergreen about grasses you can grow on your balcony, and native plants that some call weeds, here

I myself have an urge to grow some grass, or shrubbery, but I never though about wild weeds such as milkweed, a great plant to attract Monarch butterflies- something I would love to do. At present I do get some of those lovely purple finches all the way up here, as I try to keep as much dead stuff with seeds as long as I can just for such visitors.

But imagine butterflies. I've been growing Morning Glories and the bees come for them, but seducing the orange & black darlings almost makes me drool like a spider spinning her web. ( not exactly an ideal analogy, but still theamatic, no?)

Jumping over to Wikipedia, it seems milkweed has quite a history of usage for humans- insulation, rubber, repellent, and of course a cure for warts.

I am also picturing the starry puffs alighting themselves from the balcony, and the possible grumblings from my neighbors about me proliferating weeds & contributing to their allergies- a condition from which I also suffer, but chose to generally ignore unless I am in need of a tissue-*sniff* anyone?

Think I'll just plant those free Black-eyed Susan seeds obtained at Canada Blooms from Acorus Restoration instead- but I may change my mind...

..next post-seedling & balcony redecor updates!

Oh, Zee pain

I made the unfortunate decision to leave my germinated seedlings beside the heater while I was away during Easter, which I had cranked up due to the recent cold snap. (.. we had all that SNOW)
(**edit edit-and they also didn't get moved to the fluorescent light in time)

Now i have 3 inch high tomatillo & bok choi seedlings.

This is apparently a bad thing. UGH.

Today I will decide their fate,
I cannot bear to see them in such a state
Be it to pot-up, or to re-sew,
I must decide, before it's too late!

(oh yes- did I mention rhymes as part of my writing style? I can't help it.)

from all good things..

^^How ominous that title sounds.


It was the first thing that popped into my head, so like many things that pop into my noggin, I thought I should catch it & keep it before it got away.

Anywho- due to the fact that I can barely find one good source on balcony gardening, especially the edible kind, I am starting this blog with the idea that it will be a compendium for all things balcony related, especially for condo & apartment dwellers, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, North America, planet earth, known universe, Alpha 4 Zero beta fifi 2.

What to expect/ what not to expect here:

No long winded, pointless posts.
Nothing technical-scientific, yes.
There will be updates. Why have a blog if you last post was 2002?
Lots & lots of links. I *heart* research.
A few slightly odd uses of language, but always with respect.
Really bad camera phone shots. Unless someone buys me *the digital camera of my dreams* I'm getting to lazy to use film anymore.
..and of course, my own trials & tribulations on the balcony- so you don't have to make the same mistakes I did ;)

For you the reader-I will help you where I can- I come from a farming background, and my family has always had a garden, and I seem to be able to make things grow.