About

Hi there! I’m Fern. Yes, that is my real name, not some lame attempt at a pseudonym for a gardening blog.

Life on the Balcony is a blog about the container gardening tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the last few years of growing plants on tiny balconies and patios. From time to time you will also find great recipes best enjoyed or made outdoors and other outdoor living ideas for balconies, patios and small decks.

I have been gardening in small spaces for as long as I can remember. When I was about nine, I read a book about saving the environment (and you thought “green living” was new!) by planting habitats for endangered animals and insects. I faithfully brewed some “manure tea” and set to work cultivating plants in a small planter in my parents small suburban yard. My grandma Char caught wind of my new found interest in gardening and started giving me cuttings from her garden. There is a very pregnant onion in my parents’ backyard that is testament to my first garden, started with hand-me-down plants and some mosquito-infested “manure tea.”

Now I live in an urban Southern California apartment with my husband and four cats. I have no balcony, but I do have a couple sunny windowsills and a South facing front porch. I grow herbs, peaches, flowers and succulents and I still have cuttings from my Grandma’s ivy and philodendron (see this post about Remembering My Grandma).

Other random info about me:

If this is your first time stopping by, I suggest checking out this page to get a better sense of what you can expect from my posts here.