Catching up, part 1

The big project is finished. Hurrah!

I'm on vacation. Double hurrah!!

I awoke super early this morning. To the sound of rain beating against the window. Washing away my plans to prep the community plot for warm weather crops. {Sigh}

The sun tried really hard today, I could tell. But it couldn't break through the clouds.

So I stayed dry on my covered balcony, rearranged the pots (it's a jungle out there), and planned where to place the tomatoes, peppers, beets, carrots and beans in the 12 empty squares in my community garden plot.

And rather than mope any more about the weather, I'll consider it a reason to pay more attention to this blog, and finish one of three catch-up posts.

A few balcony garden highlights from mid-April through late May

Earth Dog on Earth Day (April 22nd)

Lewisia cotyledon forma alba, late April

Viola 'Lemon Royale' has been blooming since mid-March.

The purple bracts of Lavandula stoechas 'Anouk' stretch toward blue sky and sunshine in mid-May.

Wordless Wednesday

Other things I love on the balcony...

...pink tulips & a white Westie:

Herbs, vegetables, and glorious sunshine

Yesterday was green, blue & bright yellow from dawn to dusk. (And if there were a few clouds, I didn't notice them.)  A perfect summer Sunday for crops to grow & gardeners to weed, water, inspect, repot and of course, view brilliant colour & light through the camera's lens.

Though most of the excitement & growth is in my community garden plot, I'll begin with the balcony's stars, all highly recommended for culinary, olfactory & aesthetic reasons:

Left pot: four varieties of thyme: 'Doone Valley', 'Golden Lemon', Tabor', Thymus fastinoi
Centre pot: 'Alma Paprika' Pepper
Right pot: Basil ('Red Rubin', 'Genovese' ), French Tarragon, Italian Oregano

Rosemary officinalis 'Blue Spire'

'Sea of Red' Lettuce - for those of us who eat with our eyes as well as our mouths

Now, on to Plot 6A, which totally astounds me when I visit it daily. I did not know plants could grow this quickly. Because light is limited on my balcony, I'm used to a much, much slower growth rate.

Front row, left to right: chard, spinach, cucumber, eggplant, tomato
Middle row, left to right: chard, tomato, beets, eggplant, pepper, tomato
Back row, left to right: peas, beans, carrots, beets, eggplant, tomato

In a future post, I'll describe the specific vegetable varieties as well as my planting strategy & design. I've held off because my approach has been evolving to what is now a "mash-up" of square-foot gardening & crop rotation following Mark Diacono’s sequence outlined in Veg Patch: River Cottage Handbook No. 4 (i.e., legumes -> brassicas -> roots & onions -> potatoes/Solanaceae).

Balcony update

Sweet anticipation, flavour, scent & serenity*:

Tomato 'Glacier'

Tomato 'Kootenai'

Assorted green & red lettuces

Lettuce 'Sea of Red'

Assorted thymes: 'Doone Valley', 'Golden Lemon', Tabor', Thymus fastinoi

Compact oregano, Origanum vulgare 'Compactum'

Basil 'Genovese', Basil 'Red Rubin', Thymus x citriodorus 'Doone Valley', French Tarragon, Oregano 'Italian'

Addendum, June 10th: Oops -- forgot to explain the asterisk (*) after "serenity" in the first line. I wrote yesterday's post while roofers finished erecting scaffolding around our condo, floor-installers sawed new baseboards for the apartment in the building next door, heavy machines continued tearing up the side street for new Hydro pipes, and a recycling truck and moving van negotiated for space in the alley behind our building. Yes, my little balcony has become a green oasis that grounds, calms and nourishes me.