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?

Comments

[libellum.livejournal.com]

I LOVE this post. Your balcony garden is beautiful! Congrats on being so successful; if you're short of space have you considered repotting stuff you want to keep in hanging baskets?

I would love some lavender and coriander, but am unlikely to see you soon. On the other hand, we could work on fixing that?

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I've thought about baskets, but am rather reluctant since there's only one decent hook and we have a nice lantern hanging from that - but you have a point.

Would be good to have a proper chat with you some time! But I don't know when I'll be in London next, being very skint and up to my eyes in all sorts of things...

[juliet]

Or you can skip-dive for bricks & bits of wood & other suchlike & make things happen on multiple levels!

(I wrote an article for Permaculture Magazine about this :) I think we have a copy kicking around if you want to have a look sometime when you're down?)

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

That'd be fab, thank you!