a common treasury for all

[devi]

balcony garden
Originally uploaded by bluedevi

Since February I've been growing stuff on my balcony. Windowsills full of seedling trays to begin with, gradually moving outside. I'd kind of wanted to grow things for a while but there didn't seem much point while I was all weird and vegetable-phobic. Then, last summer, something shifted, and I found out you could grow veg and flowers in containers, and... well. The picture is from three weeks ago. Now the tulips are all gone but everything else is burgeoning. Peas, lettuce, strawberries, spinach, various herbs, all bursting out of their pots. The little green bastards, much as I love them, are taking over the balcony and looking appraisingly at the house. It's an entirely commonplace thing, of course, but if you've never done it before it's like magic.

On the other hand, it'd be nice if we could both sit on the balcony at the same time again. So. Would any Oxford people like some plants? Many of them are in small pots and easy to transport - I've delivered some already on my bike and on the bus. I've got chives, coriander, lavender (sprouting so fast I think they want to be triffids when they grow up. They have flower buds and everything), lettuce (the kind without hearts), a few marigolds and - if anyone wants a charity case - some yellowish basil which I think would be doing much better if it were somewhere with more sunshine. Everything else is disgustingly healthy. Let me know if you want to take some.

I've spent hours and hours sitting on the balcony doorstep staring at them as they grew. Seedlings all look the same at first and get more complex and different every day. Who knew?