From tiny seeds...

...fabulous balcony gardens grow! Well, maybe not fabulous yet, but there is definitely potential for fabulousness!



I thought I'd give an update on my green-fingered efforts. All is well and my potatoes in particular are going crazy! It's very exciting to see so much foliage - I just hope that means there are lots of yummy new potatoes lurking below the surface. Inside my pretend glasshouse I have a courgette (which is small but I think will be a winner), a tomato (which I'm less hopeful about), a pot with nasturtiums and rhubarb swiss chard, a pot with swiss chard, regular spinach and miniature curly kale as well as a pot full of oregano. Outside the 'glasshouse' is my rosemary (which actually is looking a wee bit disgruntled at having been repotted a few months back. It was for its own good, but you can't tell plants that!), my thyme, mint and garlic. There are three potato bags and the one in the middle only got its tubers yesterday (a later cropping variety) while the outer two have been growing for about a month. Oh, and there's a pot with some rather spindly alpine strawberries in it too.

It's all very exciting, and even more exciting is the fact that we'll be shifting in about 6 weeks, to a place with a lovely wee garden. I plan to plant a bunch of other bits and pieces there once we shift and yesterday I sowed 2 varieties of french bean (a dwarf green variety and a pretty pink and brown speckled Italian variety), some red peppers (I live in hope that it will be a warm summer!) and some really pretty Italian beetroot which is all pink and white striped. Fingers crossed for a delicious summer bounty!

On a related note, as you might know, I have a pigeon problem on my balcony and recently set up a sad little attempt at a pigeon deterrent. I thought you might get a laugh out of this, so here 'tis. Apologies for the blurriness. It's quite hard to get a shot which shows this in all its deranged glory.



The pigeons just mock my festive-looking effort and practically land on top of it. I'm sure I saw one of them eyeing up a piece of the silver ribbon as a jaunty wee addition to her nest. I race out onto the balcony every wee while to scary them away from my seedlings and - according to Andrew - yesterday I officially became 'crazy pigeon lady' when I wielded a broom and stood on the balcony yelling and waving it around. Sad to become so eccentric so young...what ever will I do when I get old!?