My Winter Balcony Garden

My tulips have started blooming! I bought these bulbs late last year from Poundland and feel so pleased they have grown.

My balcony garden has been so much fun. A few plants have survived the winter and I'm starting to figure out what can grow.

Next year I'll try growing more evening stock since they continued to bloom over the last few months. 

Some of the herbs have done well too. The rosemary and mint I regrew from cuttings from a supermarket rosemary. I've found rosemary is the hardiest and easiest to grow. The mint does better in smaller pots. Some of my mint has done well and others have struggled. 

I'm so pleased that my lavender plants, both indoors and outdoors, survived. I watered them sparingly and trimmed some branches down to about 1/4 of the height. Going forward I will trim all the branches. After many failures with lavender, this was my last effort. I'd tried growing plants and from seeds and failed spectacularly consistently. 

I grew an apple, lemon and kiwi from seeds. At this stage the lemon might make it. 

I've found that every so often my garden needs a boost with some ready grown plants added in. A few weeks ago I bought two primrose plants from Lidl for 69p each and a gerbera. The primrose is still blooming and I am tempted to buy more. 

I've replanted a mini rose plant from the supermarket. It's still blooming and so I ended up buying a second one. I've been wanting to grow roses but haven't been able to do it before. I picked up an established plant from B&Q and little green leaves are popping up. This time I've bought some rose plant food and kept them in smaller pots. My fingers and toes are crossed that they will do well. 

Next winter I'd like to buy a few more plants and flowers.

It is exciting seeing some success and figuring out what works. Spring is nearly here and it will be time to start all my seed growing again.

You may also be interested in reading:

• City gardening - growing, regrowing and small successes