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| Cornflower |
City gardening on a balcony has its small pleasures. A few years ago I decided that I wanted to grow flowers instead of spending money buying them from the supermarket. For years, I've tried seeds, bulbs and already grown plants, but my success levels have been variable.
I've had a small sunflower, a few cherry tomatoes, tulips and an oriental lily. They were mostly grown from luck. I knew little about gardening and my balcony mostly was just a wilderness of plants dying.
This year I've researched, diarised and dedicated time to caring for my plants. It might have made a difference.
Cornflowers
The cornflowers have bloomed and so all my efforts, hours and trips to Poundland have been rewarded.
At the end of April, I soaked the seeds overnight then planted them outside. They grew in one pot. When they were large enough, I gave them each their own pot. The four small pots are doing well. Even the one which is sharing the pot with several other plants and sits on a windy spot looks like it is about to bloom. Most of them grew in partial shade.
It's incredible how easy they were to grow and I'm considering doing another batch over the winter as apparently they grow bigger in the cold.
Mint and rosemary
Mint and rosemary which I regrew from supermarket plants. I cut 10cm branches from healthy plants. After weeks of changing the water in a small glass jar, new roots grew. They survived the move to soil and produce fresh herbs.
The mint was planted in soil at the end of April and seems like it is doing well. The rosemary has only just been planted. I had it in water for weeks because I didn't have tine to plant it. The roots kept growing longer each week.
I also managed to do it with basil, but didn't take enough care of them when they were potted into soil. I've always struggled to grow basil. Coriander and parsley both refused to grow new roots. I'm not sure what the secret is yet, because I've had a few stems of basil, rosemary and mint which didn't grow new roots.
It is fun having a small herb garden. I have a little window which faces east. It has been great for growing herbs indoors and all of my seeds which needed an indoor growing stretch before they went outdoors.
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| Red delicious (left) & granny smith (right) apple saplings |
My apple saplings from supermarket fruit seeds are struggling. I took a bunch of granny smith and red delicious apple seeds from their core, soaked them and then left them with damp paper towels in a sealed container in darkness.
The ones that sprouted were planted indoors in compost and I used a plastic bag to maintain temperature and humidity like a mini greenhouse. When they were large enough, I acclimatised them outside. It was mid April when I planted the granny smith seeds into soil. One green apple died and the other, I've just added mulch today and moved it to a sunnier spot. The red delicious was planted in soil in mid May and is still indoors.
I know apple trees are hard to grow and I won't see fruit for over a decade. I just thought it would be cool to grow a tree from a supermarket seed. It's proving to be very difficult and I'm not sure these little sapling will make it through the summer.
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| Kiwi (top), lemon indoors (bottom left) & lemon outdoors (bottom right) |
Lemon and kiwifruit
So I tried growing lemon and kiwifruit from supermarket fruit seeds using the same process as the apple seeds. One lemon seed went from paper towel to an outdoor container of soil. The other was indoors in my mini greenhouse. It is exciting seeing them grow from seeds and I haven't yet had the heart break like I've experienced with the apple seeds. Very few seeds actually grew a root from the paper towel.
The kiwifruit germinated from the paper towel in mid May. It's still in the mini greenhouse. The indoor lemon is in a mini greenhouse and it grew on a paper towel for weeks, even sprouting some green. The outdoor lemon has been growing for two weeks and seems happy.
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| Lavender |
Progress
I'm growing giant russian sunflowers. The largest of the five is 1.5m tall. The pot might not be big enough and it might need to be transplanted. I managed to transplant two 60cm tall ones on the weekend which were in 20cm dia pots.
My cherry tomatoes have just started flowering and I'm hopeful I'll see some fruit soon. In previous years, I've never given them much space and it has never been that hot. This year they each have their own decent sized pot.
Morning glory keeps dying on me. This is the third one now. I read they are meant to grow like weeds. I seem to grow plenty of weeds but somehow, not morning glory. Echinops too also has veen a challenge. It won't grow beyond a root from a paper towel. Lavendar also is mission impossible. All I see are empty pots of soil with not a seedling in sight. I gave up and bought a lavendar plant, though in the past they die on me. We'll see if this balcony is better as these failures were all in my last flat which was west facing and had much less sun.
The raspberry plant might be growing now after adding mulch and watering it alot more. Thanks to Erik's advice on IG after he posted about his success with growing raspberries, I might actually get a small plant.
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| Horseradish |
The horseradish leftover from a supermarket bought root looks healthy. I haven't yet had a chance to try eating the leaves. Apparently they can be eaten.
I feel like I'm doing my bit for the environment by growing plants and using food waste to make compost. It is a fun little hobby when I'm not worrying about drooping, browning or yellowing leaves.
Gardening is a great way to learn about how important sunlight, water and nutrients help plants flourish. It reminds us how we need to take care of ourselves and make sure we receive the right mix to fuel and sustain our lives.
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| Mushroom |
To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow ~ Audrey Hepburn (from Patsy's IG post from thyme.at.plot.68). Gardening offers hope, peace and spontaneous surprises, whether they be a flower bud bursting open with a pretty blue flower or a mushroom peeping out from the soil.
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