Balcony garden in June … shaping up …

The past two days have been very sunny and very warm. I had hoped to get more work done on my balcony garden today. But it was just sooo hot on the balcony this afternoon that I decided to take a break and do something indoor, instead … like writing a quick entry on the balcony garden! 😀

Although delayed by the lousy weather … by nearly two months (compared with last year) … I am happy that my balcony garden is finally shaping up and roaring to go. I have removed all the seedlings from the windowsills as well as that near the balcony door … but a good number of them are still in the greenhouse outside.

By next week … at the very latest … I hope to dismantle the greenhouse shelf so that we can then set up the balcony table … and then the balcony will look more presentable. Right now … the balcony is in a mess … well, almost!

Okay … let me show you a quick tour of my balcony garden, for now.

As seen through the door of the living room … this afternoon. It is shaping up quite nicely … I would say …

… but only if one ignores the mess on one side of the balcony! hehehe … 😀 First thing, first lah … and the plants definitely come first, because of the delay in planting out as a result of the lousy spring weather! The tidying will have to come second.

The group of plants just outside the living room door (for now) … potatoes, strawberries, raspberries, peppers and hot chillies, tomatillos, a few varieties of beans, lemongrass, zucchini, sweet potatoes, sunflowers, wild garlic, beetroot, violas as well as pandan and curry.

Followed by more plants along the railing … lemon cucumbers, several varieties of radishes (including a pot of rat-tailed radish), sweet basil, pattypan squash, eggplant, more chillies, a few varieties of tomatoes, broad beans, Tom thumb peas, pandan as well as jicamas in the orange grow bag (which do not seem as if they will survive for long after having to sit and wait inside the living room for so long!)

Oh well … I  have tried, but there is not much that I can do if the weather refuses to cooperate! If the jicamas die on me, I shall just use their spot to grow something else lah! After all, I still have to find spots to grow several more greens … hopefully before end of spring.

Three varieties of carrots, golden beetroot, Tom Thumb peas as well as a small pot of strawberry … growing outside of the living room door. Unfortunately, the round parmex and the demi-longue carrots are not sprouting well. The golden beetroot is even worse. Only 3 seeds of the many that I sowed have sprouted! Haizz … I shall have to sow them again, it seems.

The top of the garden shed outside the kitchen partly covered (for now, as it will grow more stuff, rest assured! ;)) … with several pots of salads, herbs (thyme, oregano and greek basil), rat’s tail radish, Spanish lavender, nasturtium hanging from the pole and a flowering chinese cabbage (grown from the bottom of supermarket-bought Chinese cabbage).

Instead of sprouting delicious leaves for me to harvest, the Chinese cabbage immediately started bolting as soon as I transplanted it into a pot. But I decided to let it bloom so that I would be able to collect the seeds. It has not stopped blooming since April!

And a pot of alpine strawberries next to the shed.

The group opposite the kitchen door … sugar snap and golden sweet peas growing up the frame of a greenhouse shelf, and pots of rosemary, mints, pepper, zucchini, white onions, ulam raja  (Cosmos caudatus), Tom thumb peas and red radishes.

Followed by three varieties of cucumbers, more radishes of various varieties, more chillies, two varieties of eggplants, garlic, cape gooseberry, woodland strawberries, pandan as well as five dustbins of different tomatoes grown together with chards.

And so as not to waste some of the available space outside the railing …

…  I decided to place pots of marigolds, lavender as well as several pots of flowering chives there. I cannot put anything too big here … so as not to block the sunshine … but I should be able to use the space to grow most of the flowering plants that I have to help attract the bees!

You cannot imagine the frequent shifting that had to be done to fit in the various pots and containers on the balcony. And once the greenhouse shelf has been dismantled and the balcony table set up, I know that I will have to do another major shifting again to accommodate the balcony table and several more pots of plants!

I am not looking forward to the shifting … but I am definitely looking forward to be able to relax a little once all the seedlings have been re-potted … and to be able to enjoy my garden (and the harvesting) more! 🙂

Related entries on balcony garden in June:

• Balcony garden in June … peas, peas and more peas … !
• Balcony garden in June … potatoes …
• Balcony garden in June … little berries …
• Balcony garden in June … salad greens …