Well, Spring is in the air, and a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of mulch. Although there are many advantages to our new place (I believe I've mentioned to dishwasher already), the major disadvantage is the lack of a yard. It's true that we have a great balcony with a beautiful view of Griffith Park, but it's not exactly the same thing, and we've really wanted to grow some stuff lately, so we've been doing our best to move dirt into pots and make our balcony approximate a garden as much as possible.
Apparently the term for this sort of thing is "edge gardening", which is pretty slick. It makes it sound like we are some some of cyber-gardeners, cooly tending our exotic computer/plant hybrids in a post-apocalyptic wasteland instead of trying to get mint to grow next to a golf course. There are definitely drawbacks to this kind of gardening (i.e. no ground), but on the other hand, there are some good things as well. For one, you don't have to get that many plants. I remember, when I was renting a house in Highland Park, that I would go out and spend a fortune (for me) on plants, get home and plant them, and it would only cover about 1% of the available space. It's pretty easy to fill up a balcony. Actually, that's the only advantage I can think of, but it's still fun to plan it out and make it happen. So far, we've planted three jasmine vines that will hopefully cover the less attractive lower part of our view. We've also got a nice leafy ficus, rosemary, spearmint, thyme, and a rose bush that immediately lost its roses, but seems otherwise OK. I think that it could use a little more, but it's a pretty good start & looks nice already. By the way, it's a west-facing balcony that gets lots of sun, so if anyone has any suggestions, they would be appreciated.
Of course, the big problem with any gardening is that it takes patience. With some luck, it should look pretty good in a few months, but it's hard not to go out there every hour to see if the plants are any bigger. The Internet has been a big help with planning and planting. I especially like this site (it's where I heard about "edge gardening"), which is nicely done & is run by an Australian who is strangely obsessive about balcony 
gardens:
gardens:So here are some pictures of the first stages. Hopefully in a few days it will be a jungle paradise : )
6 comments:
:)
Wow, your view is so pretty!! I can't wait for green trees again, it's still dead winter trees here (even though it;s warm).
Good luck on the garden! I have a small one as well! Eric built it for me in the backyard last year. That was my first time ever doing anything like that, it produced SOME, but mostly it was a failure. Hopefully I can make it better this Spring! I'm gearing more towards veggies again... even though it didn't work last time! Keep us posted (with pictures) of the balcony!
Well, when it does become a jungle, at least we'll have the wild life all ready. Baxter looks like a panther in that picture. A dusty, chunky panther, but still a panther.
Thanks for all the hard work on our garden this weekend, love. Now we have a room with a view. Woo-woo!
I love it! I love container/balcony gardening - you get most of the benefits without the drawbacks. It's beautiful and it will just get nicer. Whoo hoo!
you and me on the same wave length bro. just potted some stuff in the front yard and am feeling very green. anytime you wanna go to a nursery let me know. sorry about grammar and here...just in that mood today.
Amy
You know, I bet that they were too tired to press the shift key in Rome too...IN 476 A.D.!!!
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