A New Blog About Travel Literature

First, I want to apologize for not responding to comments and emails as quickly as I normally do. I do have an excuse. As the title of this post suggests, I’ve been busy preparing to launch a new blog about travel literature, one of my favorite genres of books. The new blog is called Paperback Traveler.

Since container gardening and travel literature rarely cross paths, I don’t intend to bombard you with links and talk of my other blog. But, on the off chance that any of you like books about foreign countries, I thought I would mention it. I hope to see you guys over there!

/talk of travel lit

Stay tuned for another master gardener tip later this afternoon. Also, check out the first installment of an interesting series about seeds over at InvisibleBees.com.

January 5, 2009 | Filed Under General | 2 Comments

Best of 2008

I started this blog back in July and I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a lot of fun talking about container gardening with fellow plant lovers (and future plant lovers). Thank you very much for visiting Life on the Balcony, it would have really sucked to just talk to myself.

I’d like to especially thank regular visitors like Gen of Northcoast Gardening, Louise of Buddy Garden Blog, Jen of Muddy Boot Dreams, Nancy of Soliloquy, Cindy of A Walk Down the Garden Path, TC of The Write Gardener, Alexa of Invisible Bees, Julie from A Succulent Life, Prue of Totally Inept Balcony Gardener (which isn’t true!) and Adriana of A Victory Home Garden. If I forgot someone, please accept my apologies! Thank you all for your tips, advice, encouragement and commiseration! Blogging has been a whole heck of a lot of fun for me, and I hope for you too.

If you’re bored and looking for something to read before you head off to a New Year’s party, here are the top five posts according to unique page views:

Need a little natural mosquito repellant? (35,134)
Container farming for beginners. (31,412)
Cats should eat cat food; keep your cats away from your plants with these simple tips. (1,275)
Balcony privacy was pretty popular. Part one. (1,237)
Part two. (883)

p.s. To all you lurkers out there, I hope you’ll pop in from time to time and leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

December 31, 2008 | Filed Under General | 6 Comments

What Rain Does to a Balcony Gardener

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about protecting a balcony garden from the rain? I thought I would share some photos of the pots I couldn’t move or otherwise protect.

Before:

Note the pot in front and how nice the variegated aeonium looks.

Note the lush leaves in beautiful shades of chartreuse and plum.

After:

The aeonium rotted and the other succulents in this pot aren’t far behind.

Rain ripped all the leaves off my potato vine.

Yeah, it would be nice if my landlord installed some rain gutters.

December 29, 2008 | Filed Under General | 8 Comments

Gardening Resolutions

What are you resolving to do differently this year, in regards to your garden?

I’m going on the record as having the following goals this year:

Do a better job of sticking to my fertilizing schedule.
Improve my gardening records kept on My Folia.
Eat/preserve/freeze everything I grow (this year I was unprepared for the size of my harvest at times and couldn’t eat all of food before it went bad).
Put pot feet under the rest of my pots (a few of them are missing their feet).

December 26, 2008 | Filed Under General | 10 Comments

Do You Plan on Starting Seeds Indoors?

It seems hard to believe, but in about a month or so (depending on where you live), it will be time to start seeds indoors.

Photo by joaobambu

Seed starting, for the uninitiated, is pretty simple. By sowing seeds inside, in the warmth of your home, you can get a month or two head start on the growing season, which also means you have more time to garden. When your neighbors are just starting to toss a few seeds into the ground, your plants will already be 4-6 weeks old.

I plan on starting one set of edible plants inside, and then another set of the same edibles a month or so afterwards so that I can have “waves” of veggies coming ripe at different times. Or at least that’s my plan. I’ve purchased cucumbers and eggplants made for container gardening, Green Zebra and cherry tomatoes, peppers, chard, fennel, herbs…

I’m interested to hear your plans. What seeds have you already purchased? Which do you have your eye on? When do you plan to start? Are you going to do anything different this year or trying any new techniques or products?

December 16, 2008 | Filed Under Container Gardening, General, Winter Gardening | 9 Comments

Using a Colorwheel to Create a Beautiful Balcony Garden

Backyard Living Magazine recently asked 100 Master Gardeners to give their best gardening tip, and I thought I would share a few of them in the coming weeks.

Master Gardener tip #2 is to use a color wheel if you need help figuring out a color scheme for your garden. I thought this was a great tip for people who feel a bit paralyzed when it comes to making color choices, but many people don’t know how to use a color wheel, so the tip is kind of incomplete. It’s too bad, because in such a small space, such as the typical balcony garden, a color plan can really help the entire garden look put together.

Photo by Claire L. Evans

In college I had to take a whole class on color theory. I won’t bore you with all the things some scientist thought worthy of putting in a textbook (did you know you can literally torture people with colors?), but using a color wheel is pretty easy once someone sits you down and explains how it works. You probably even know some of this already…

First, and perhaps easiest, you could pick colors right next to each other on the wheel. These are called analogous colors. For example, yellow, yellow-orange, and orange. Chosing analogous colors often is a more subtle approach, and can look sophisticated or modern.

Another easy way to pick harmonious colors would be to chose complimentary colors, which are directly opposite each other on the color wheel. For example, yellow and purple (technically called “violet” by color experts/scientists) or orange and blue. Choosing complimentary colors usually brings out the best in each color making them both “pop.”

A third way to chose colors would be to imagine an equilateral triangle connecting three colors on the color wheel (i.e. every fourth color on the wheel). When you go this route, you’re either selecting primary colors (red, blue and yellow), secondary colors (purple, green and orange) or tertiary colors (Yellow-orange, red-orange, and red-purple or blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green). These color combinations tend to be the most intense and often seem “energetic” or “fun.”

Finally, remember with container gardening, you’re not just chosing the colors of the flower and foliage, but the pot and possibly the wall color behind your pots.

What are your favorite color combinations? See some flower color combos in action below the jump…
Read more

December 15, 2008 | Filed Under General | 8 Comments

Holiday Cheer And Indoor Greenery, Win-Win

I’m not Christian, so I wouldn’t exactly be the best source for innovative ideas for Christmas decorating, but I really liked Rachel’s idea, and it’s perfect for my fellow small apartment dwellers.

December 14, 2008 | Filed Under General | 2 Comments

Buy Gardening Books for Less

Barnes and Noble just emailed me with a coupon code you can use to get 10% off: D9E4E3T. This would be a great way to get some gardening books to ponder during the short dark days of winter, or to use to buy a gift for a friend.

December 10, 2008 | Filed Under General | 4 Comments

The Ten Commandments of Container Gardening

Drainage is king. Or queen if you want to be PC. The point is, if you’re gardening outside, you need drainage holes in your pots, pot feet to raise your pot off the ground, and good draining soil.
Do not neglect your pots. Containers can dry out quickly, especially small pots. Water until you see it draining out of the bottom of the pot.
Do not plant a full sun plant in part shade. Know how much sunlight your balcony, patio or porch gets and choose plants accordingly. If you get full sun (more than 6 hours of direct sun a day), you’ll have the most options, but you’ll also have to be careful that your pots don’t dry out too quickly. If you have dappled light, part-shade or full-shade, there are still plenty of options for you.
Remember to take a break from time to time. Too much water can be as bad as too little. Unless you know for sure that a plant likes constantly moist soil, only water your plants when the top two inches of soil feels dry.
Respect your plants’ needs. Since there is a limited amount of dirt in your pot from which to nourish your plants, and some nutrients will wash out of your pot each time you water, you need to fertilize more often than you would an in-ground garden.

Almost any plant can be grown in a container, you just need to match the right sized container to your plant’s needs. However, don’t plant perennials in containers that are too big for them, it could cause their roots to rot.
Containers look better in groups. Just like man needed woman, your pots need friends.
Multiple pots look good, and multiple plants in a pot look even better. A simple way to put together a great looking pot is to use the “spiller, filler, thriller” philosophy.
When planting more than one plant in a pot, mix up foliage colors, textures and sizes for more visual interest. Be sure to pick some plants with interesting leaves, because flowers are fleeting, leaves are forever.
Do not covet your neighbor’s garden, do your own thing! Anything that can hold dirt can be used to grow plants. Plastic pots can be dressed up and personalized with paint. And if you’re converting something into a pot, make sure to drill some drainage holes in the bottom.

My husband keeps on telling me that there were originally 15 commandments, but he watches too many Mel Brooks movies. Anyway, let’s just pretend that there are 15 commandments. What would you add? Think I got anything wrong? Feel free to let me know, I’ll only track you down and smite you…
Just kidding.

p.s. Don’t forget, today is your last chance to submit your entry to the indoor plant contest.

December 9, 2008 | Filed Under Container Gardening, General | 8 Comments

Banish Hum Drum Hummingbird Feeders!

Have you seen the “high end” hummingbird feeders out there? Hummingbird feeders have come a long way from those red and yellow plastic feeders. Some of the feeders out there now that are truly works of art!

It is really easy to incorporate a hummingbird feeder into a balcony garden. Simply hang the feeder from a shepherd’s hook (found at most garden centers) stuck into a large pot filled with dirt (and plants, no reason wasting gardening space!). You could even train a vine that attracts hummingbirds to grow on the shepherd’s hook, maximizing the attractiveness of your garden to hummingbirds (and humans!).

Looking Glass Hummingbird Feeder