In case you haven’t heard, I am now a vermicomposter (how could you have missed it, every other word out of my mouth is pretty much about worms! ). I have been feeding them some of my kitchen scraps and it is interesting to see what they like eating and what they don’t. And trust me, there is definitely a preference. Onion peels don’t seem to be very popular. Here is a list of what worms do seem to like eating:

• Coffee grounds, including coffee filters
• Tea bags
• Most fruits and vegetables (though potato skins, onions, garlic, ginger and banana peels seem to take a long time to get eaten)
• Pasta
• Grains like oatmeal (with no milk)
• Shredded paper
• Shredded cardboard
• Dead flowers
• Egg shells (I wash mine and then crush them into small pieces before feeding them to my worms)

Do not feed your worms these things:

• Meat, poultry, fish, dairy
• Potato chips, candy, and oily foods
• Any part of a citrus fruit
• Plastic
• Rubber bands
• Sponges
• Aluminum foil
• Glass
• Dog or cat feces

Would you like to give vermicomposting a try? The Worm Factory 360 is a great choice for small gardens (like balconies, patios, rooftop gardens, etc). You can get 10% off by ordering it here: http://www.naturesfootprint.com/lifeonthebalcony

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I received the Worm Factory 360 for free from the manufacturer. Here is more information about my review policy.

Since I’ve been talking about succulents a lot lately–Got a bunch of sempervivums all at once, gotta figure out projects for all those bad boys!–I thought I would keep up with the theme and share some photos from my recent trip to the Bay Area. One of my favorite things I did while up there was sneak in (they were all at the San Francisco Garden Show, so I got permission from the owner to let myself in) to Succulent Gardens nursery in Castroville and take photos of all of their fabulous plants!

I’m not sure if Aeonium decorum ‘Pinwheels’ always looks like this, or it is about to flower, but either way, I totally love the little pagoda.

Aeonium ‘Thunder Cloud’ is a very classy, elegant succulent.

I am pretty sure this is Aloe plicatilis (Fan Aloe), but there wasn’t a tag in the pot (it’s obviously a display plant and not for sale)

This is one of my favorite new (to me) plants: Senecio crassissimus ‘Lavender Steps.’ Supposedly it has yellow flowers in winter which I think must be such a nice compliment to the plum margins of the leaves (mine hasn’t flowered yet, so I’ll have to report back as to whether it is as nice as I imagine).

Can you spot the Lithops (Living Stones)?

Good thing there wasn’t any sales staff in the nursery when I was there, or I probably would have bought this Dudley britonii. How in the world I would have gotten it on a plane and safely home? But the frosty lemon flowers are such a beautiful compliment to the punch bowl sized plant. The leaves are so white-silver that if I had take a closeup you would have thought I had taken a black and white photograph.

I originally thought this was Sedum x adolphii (Golden Sedum), but now I’m not sure. Either way, it looks amazing against the teal blue mushroom.

p.s. I wonder what it says about me that my favorite thing to do is spend hours alone taking photos of plants? Please don’t say “anti-social!”

Hey guys! Gavin from UZPlanters.com contacted me and shared a discount code that LOTB readers can use to get 10% off any of the containers they sell. Simply type in LOTBPlanters at checkout.

I noticed that they sell many of the products I’ve featured here on Life on the Balcony, such as Woolly Pockets and Lechuza planters.

NOTE: I don’t have any affiliation with UZ Planters and receive no benefit if you decide to order from them.

I’m going to be shooting some video(s) with Mahalo later this week that will answer various gardening questions. If you have a burning question, ask it right here: Ask a Garden Blogger Anything. Curious what the video will be like? You can check out their other video answers on the Mahalo YouTube channel.

Hey Angelenos! Need something to do this Carmageddon weekend?! I will be speaking at Eat Real Fest on Saturday at 11 am! I will be showing off a new pallet garden with gorgeous butterfly and bee friendly plants, as well as talking about smart ideas for small-space edible gardens. I have free plants to give away. Please come! The festival will be an absolute blast, I promise!

Also of interest at Eat Real (I know I will be checking these out!) are:

• Shopping Cart Gardens
• Chickens with Mohawks (hey, this *is* LA! )
• Make Seed Starter Cups with Toilet Paper Rolls
• Honey Tasting from Backyard Bee Keepers
• Learn How to Forage for Food in So Cal

Did you have a chance to read my recent post on growing tomatoes? Did you like the black pot with pink fleur-de-lis? How about my neat purple cage to match my purple heirloom variety tomato? I sure liked all three quite a lot. But that didn’t stop someone from stealing them. Not to mention my patio tomato and three unusual marigold plants. Bastards. I hope they’re bitten by snakes in the eighth circle of hell.

This isn’t the first plant of mine to be stolen, so maybe I should have been prepared for these plants to be stolen too. Last year, someone stole this succulent planter that was near my front door. Of course, they waited until the echeveria was in full bloom and the aeonium’s color was just stunnin. I learned my lesson about my front patio area. Only pots that look too big and heavy to carry off are out there now. But I thought that my garage area was safer. I guess not.

And the flag in this pot was stolen shortly before Independence Day. Love the irony in that. “We want to celebrate our patriotism by stealing from a fellow American.”

Have any of your plants ever been stolen? Come commiserate with me.

After three years in law school and a lifetime of contrarian thinking, Mike Lieberman’s post about a building inspector suggesting his balcony garden violated LA City fire code (or possibly building codes) raised the hair on the back of my neck. Something similar happened to me when the woman who manages my condo’s home owners’ association (HOA) tried to suggest that my balcony garden was in violation of our community rules. Yeah right. Nice try lady. I’ve actually read our rules, and nothing on my balcony is in violation of them. Actually, my balcony railing planter is a violation, but I figure I can keep it so long as the president of the HOA is violating the same rule. But I digress.

I researched LA City Fire and Building Codes to see if it is possible that Mike’s balcony garden (and the thousands of other balcony gardens in LA) did in fact violate some sort of code. According to Section 57.12.03, “No person shall cause to be placed, stored, or maintained upon any roof or balcony… any material or object which may interfere with egress or Fire Department operations in case of fire or other emergency.” Considering that the local fire department stopped by and they said it was fine, I think Mike can rest assured that his plants are not violating city fire codes.

Whew. Balcony garden crisis averted.

While in Little Rock at Garden2Blog, I got to see many gorgeous containers that P. Allen Smith and his crew have designed for their clients, the Original Garden Home Retreat, and his home at Moss Mountain Farm. It’s no surprise that the containers were super gorgeous, so that was one part of the trip that I knew would just be awesome. I thought I’d share the container garden love by posting some of the pics of containers I saw and a list of the plants I think he used.

This photo doesn’t do the greatest job of showing off this container to it’s best advantage, but in case it’s not clear, the large plant that is at the top of the photo is a star jasmine trained as a topiary standard. It was very pretty and smelled amazing. The jasmine is underplanted with ‘Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Purple’ sweet potato vine and ‘Supertunia Bermuda Beach’ petunias.

The plant in front is a coleus. I’m not sure which exact variety, but ‘Chocolate Mint’ and ‘Chocolate Drop’ are both similar. Behind the coleus, Allen’s team planted a Fountain Grass called ‘Fireworks.’

I saw Allen doing the “pot-within-a-pot” thing several times, and quite frankly, his are among the nicest I’ve seen. On the right, those are strawberries. The photo on the left shows rosemary in the top, sage in the middle, and thyme and ‘Spicy Globe’ basil in the bottom.

The back left pot has lantana (maybe ‘Patriot Classic Parasol?’. The back right one has a blueberry bush of some sort, possibly ‘Top Hat’ which is a great variety for those of you in zones 4/5-7. The pot in front has ‘Superbells Blue’ calibrachoa, a variegated ivy (‘Gold Child?’), and some sort of spikey mystery plant. Any ideas on what it might be?

As many of you know, I am a big fan of gardening at work. It’s a great way for those of us with little space at home to expand our gardening opportunities. But gardening in urban areas always brings an element of…surprise isn’t the right word. Whimsy is more accurate, if you have a dark sense of humor. I’ve had pots stolen. I’ve had people put their cigarettes out in my pots. I’ve had a drunk man urinate in a beer bottle and stick the bottle in one of my containers. It’s never dull.

But I’ve never had one of my pots blown into the street thanks to a fire/explosion in the building next door!

When I came into work today, this metal pot was in the gutter, about 15 feet away from where I left it on Friday evening when I left for work. Today, Sunday, was supposed to be my last day of work at my current job. I had only come in today because it was the first of the month, and we needed to do payroll. Tomorrow, I start my new job as a marketing manager with Kellogg Garden Products.

Apparently, at around 3 am this morning, there was a large fire and possibly an explosion at the building next to my (soon to be) former office. The people over there have always been a little sketchy, and a couple of months ago there was a police/FBI raid of their building in which several people were hauled out and arrested. So I can’t say I am all that surprised that their building burned down. If it’s later deemed arson or a fire resulting from some sort of illegal activity (meth lab anyone?!), I wouldn’t be surprised.

So, anyone want to take bets on whether my plant will survive? It looks like it is covered in sludge from the fire/water used to put it out. Kudos to H. Potter though, the metal pot is completely unscathed.

Update: Here are photos of the other building, it is going to be torn down. All that is left is the outer shell and apparently it is unstable and already falling down.

In case you haven’t heard, author and TV show host P. Allen Smith has invited a bunch of bloggers to visit his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas for a whole bunch of gardening fun (airfare and hotel included)*. The event is called Garden2Blog, and yours truly is one of the bloggers he invited! I’m leaving (on a jet plane) tonight, and as you can imagine, I’m very excited!

P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm

While there, we’ll be touring the Governor’s Mansion, checking out some of Allen’s (I assume we’re now on a first name basis?) residential projects, touring the original Garden Home, as well as Moss Mountain Farm. Considering that Allen is quite the container garden guru, I am hoping to see lots of great ideas that I can share with you all in the coming weeks!

Also, I’m not sure exactly what Allen meant when he said this:

“Our Garden Home partners have got some great workshops and activities cooked up for everyone, and I think we’re going to have a lot of fun. I don’t want to give away too much, but let’s just say there’s nothing wrong with a little competition among friends!” (Right? They’re doing some container competitions and stuff like that?)

But game on buddy!

Oh, Allen also invited a bunch of folks from Proven Winners, Jobes, Corona Tools, Berry Family Plants, and Bonnie Plants, among others, so I’m looking forward to hearing from them about what is new and interesting in their worlds as well.

Some of the other bloggers attending Garden2Blog

• Teresa O’Conner Seasonal Wisdom
• Mike Lieberman Urban Organic Gardener
• Jenny Peterson J. Peterson Garden Design
• Kylee Baumle Our Little Acre
• Kerry Michaels About Container Gardener
• Andrew Keys Garden Smackdown
• Shawna Corondo The Casual Gardener
• Shirley Bovshow Eden Makers Blog
• Jean Ann Van Krevelan Garden to Farmer
• Helen Yoest with Gardening With Confidence
• Annie Haven Manure Tea
• Brenda Haas BG Garden
• Dee Nash Red Dirt Ramblings
• Laura Mathews Punk Rock Gardens
• Robin Plaskoff Horton Urban Garden Web

p.s. Let me know if there is anything about Allen’s gardens or techniques I can find out for you while I’m there.

*Green text was added on May 16, 2011 to make it clear that I received free airfare and hotel accommodations.