Category: Balcony

Back in March I asked you to share you spring gardening plans and ideas. I got some great responses from people saying what they were starting to or planning to do.

Katy said she was going to attempt to grow tomatoes in self-watering containers again.

Twinkle69 said she (I think it’s a she) was reading up a lot and planning to get started soon.

Barri and RootsandWingsCo had way too much going on for me to recap here.

Dan Polley said that he planned on transplanting a lot instead of starting from seeds.

Caitlin_Joe had learned a lot from working on an organic farm in Michigan and were hoping to apply some of that to their own venture.

Maren just moved into a new apartment in NYC and was figuring out what to grow.

Jes couldn’t wait to get her seedlings transplanted.

That was back in March, it’s now Mid-May and nearly everywhere around the country you can start getting things planted or pretty close to it.

All the ideas and planning don’t mean much without the actions behind them.

My balcony garden is far from perfect and I’ve had plenty of garden failures since I started my balcony garden from scratch. I’ve learned along the way and this is what I got planted this May

• Lemon balm
• Three kinds of basil (Italian, purple and lime)
• Jack Be Little pumpkins
• Green salad bowl lettuce
• Collard greens

So after all that talk and planning what you got going on for your May gardening?

I’ve talked about not having a perfect garden before, but I still get questions and comments about failing when gardening.

People will say that they are scared of failing or making a mistake. They want things to be perfect.

My sage advice to them is, “You will fail when you garden.”

It’s impossible to avoid. It doesn’t matter what you see on other blogs, read in books and magazines or watch on TV. It ain’t all perfect.

Once you get over and realize that, it makes it that much easier.

When making those mistakes the most important thing is that you learn something and continue on. You don’t want to keep repeating the same mistake over and over again. Pretty sure that’s the beginnings of insanity.

I’ve made plenty of mistakes on my fire escape and balcony gardens and will continue to. Since I’ve started my garden from scratch there are two important things that I’ve learned from failures.

The first is that you shouldn’t plant spinach in the warmer weather and the other is that mint needs space to grow outside of the container.

Lessons learned and I’ll move on.

Who cares how perfect and great everything seems on other blogs, magazines and the TV shows. Learn from your own experience and keep on going.

What are some gardening failures that you’ve learned from?

A few weeks ago, I posted about white clusters on the stems of a spinach plant. It turns out that the spinach plant is bolting and that it’s not insects.

There have a been some consecutive days of warm weather, which spinach doesn’t like. I assumed that greens could be grown year round here in LA, but I guess not all of them.

Previously I learned that basil does not like the cold weather and that kale can tolerate the cold. Now I’ve learned that spinach cannot tolerate much heat.

It’s all starting to come together.

What are some other plants and veggies that you know of that don’t like the warmer weather?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkB-mEjKahk

Mint is a pretty invasive plant. Just ask anyone who has ever grown it in their garden. It can take over pretty quickly. This is why most people recommend growing it solely in containers.

I’ve had my mint plant for a few months now. The leaves have remained pretty small. It’s not until I started my garden from scratch that I began paying more attention to it.

The roots of the plant have been spreading all through the container and without much room to grow. Since the soil line is about 2-3″ below the top of the container, they were growing within the container and not out of it.

I started to pull some of the roots out of the container and drape them over the side. In less than a week the mint plant started to produce bigger leaves.

When you plant mint in containers, I’d recommend keeping the soil line closer to the top of the container to allow it to grow or make sure that you place the newer roots over the lip of the container.

What other tips for growing mint in containers do you have?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzKmF_BvF7E

It’s been two-months since I’ve started my garden from scratch and for the most part it’s doing pretty well.

Though I did notice that there were some white clusters on the stems of the spinach plants. These clusters were forming around the part where the leaves are coming off of the stems.

I also noticed an insect on the plant as well around the clusters. At this point, it’s hard to tell whether it’s insect larvae or that the plant is attempting to go to seed. I had an aphid infestation last year, so it wouldn’t be totally out of the question.

When plants start to flower and go to seed, their leaves become bitter tasting, which the spinach was not. For now the top parts of the plants that have these white clusters have been picked off.

I’ll continue to monitor the plant to see what happens. What do you think these white clusters can be?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stPZfD24TFI

The one thing that I don’t say enough when writing these posts is “Thank You.” I’d like to thank all of you for taking the time out of your busy lives to read what I have to say.

The reason that this has come to mind right now is because in the past few weeks, I’ve been nominated for a few awards. While I’m pretty happy to be nominated, it wouldn’t be possible without any of you.

My reason for writing and keeping this site is to inspire you to reconnect with your food by growing your own and to encourage open discussion around it. Without you there would be no conversation or discussion going on. I might not say it enough, but I appreciate that.

Here are the two awards that I’ve been nominated for thanks to you:

The Daily Green: 2011 Heart of Green Awards Local Hero
Each year the Daily Green has its Heart of Green Awards. One of the categories is a local hero that is making a difference for the environment. They accept nominations from their audience.

What I’m most proud of about this nomination is that of the 25 nominees, I am one of the few (if not the only one) that wasn’t nominated by their mom or a co-worker. Jenn Berry (@Jenn_Berry) of Earth911.com nominated me. So much love and appreciation to Jenn for the nomination.

Voting for this award is open through March 27.

TreeHugger’s Best of Green 2011: Best Food Twitter Feed
TreeHugger decided the best of the best Twitter Feeds and I came out as one of them. This one I’m truly blown away by considering the other names that I’m going up against – The Atlantic Life, Ethicurean, Mark Bittman and Marion Nestle.

Voting for this award is open through April 1.

Without you none of this would be possible. To even be nominated for these awards is satisfaction enough. I ain’t gonna lie. Winning would be nice, but for real the nomination is plenty rewarding.

Your votes would be plenty appreciated, but not required or expected. You visiting the site, leaving comments and taking the time to interact is reward enough.

Thanks again!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1NMG2DLJLA

Since I’ve started my garden from scratch committed to eating off from my balcony more often, I am taking better care of the containers.

It’s been a few weeks and the seedlings are starting to grow, so now it’s time to thin them out. What that means is cutting out the extra ones.

When you planted your seeds, you likely scattered a few of them in the soil. Now that they’ve grown a little bit, there are a few of them that are really close to each other. You want to remove some of them. If you don’t they will be fighting for water, nutrients and space, which result in a crappy yield.

So where there are few really close, take a scissor and cut them at the soil line, leaving the healthiest looking one to continue growing. If you look at the back of your seed packet, you can see the recommended space between plants.

That’s the basics on how and why to thin your seedlings. You can also do this with the seedlings that you started indoors.

Any tips or tricks on thinning seedlings?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPJRVVbiiMM

About two weeks after I started my garden from scratch, I did some succession plantings. Since I’m gardening food to eat, not look at, this will help me to grow more on my balcony garden and eat from it more than twice in a year.

Succession planting is when you plant a new set of seeds about 2-3 weeks after your initial planting. The purpose of this is that it will keep you with a continual harvest. When you harvest the first set, the second set is growing right behind it. Make sense?

When I did the first round of plantings, there were two rows planted in each of the containers. For this succession planting, I added two more rows to each of the containers.

Now each container has four rows of seeds planted. This should allow me to grow more vegetables on my balcony and hold me accountable to my word.

Have you ever done succession planting? What other tips are there to grow more vegetables?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uzZaonv-5A

This is my second post for Rodale.com’s Plastic-Free February. Last week, I showed you my kitchen and how I do my best to avoid storing food in plastic containers and the challenges that I’m facing.

This week, I want to show a small tip that I’ve started to use in my balcony garden to reduce some of my plastic usage. I know that I’m growing food in plastic containers in and have already covered that issue.

This post is about using new or unnecessary plastics in the garden. What I’ve been doing is using a rock as a garden marker.

Marking what I’m planting and where has been something that I’ve done a horrible job at. By horrible I mean that I haven’t been doing it at all. I know that I’m planting lettuce, but not sure of the kind of lettuce. Total disrespect of the plant.

I actually got this idea from a friend of mine who was doing this. When I was riding my bike around my neighborhood, I collected the rocks.

It’s a simple (and stylish) way to create garden markers for your container garden without using any plastic.

What are your plastic free garden tips?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUV_tUEyovc

Since I’ve been called out on not being able to eat from my balcony garden, I’ve decided to start it from scratch.

To start, the plants that were left over from being harvested were pulled up from the roots. Using a trowel, the soil in the containers was loosened up and turned. Any big clumps of roots were taken out as well. The plants, roots and soil were tossed into the compost bin.

I also got rid of the shipping pallet herb garden because that space can be better utilized. It worked and I’d recommend it for others, but it wasn’t a great use of my space.

There is a total of 11 containers on my balcony. 10 self-watering containers and one regular container.

My plan is to plant less varieties, but more of them. I’m also going to stick to one variety of plant per container. Each container is planted with two rows of seeds, and in two weeks, I’ll plant another two rows. This will help to ensure continual harvests.

Here is what I now have planted:
• 1 container of mint
• 1 container of cilantro
• 2 containers of lettuce mesclun
• 2 containers of Fordhook Giant swiss chard
• 2 containers of red winter kale
• 2 containers of spinach avon
• 1 container of bunching green onions

I’ll also build some more self-watering containers as well. I’m hoping that by starting from scratch that I’ll be able to source more of my meals from the balcony.

What are your thoughts on this new strategy?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbXPyofCrkM

The main reason for me writing this blog and being active in the social media world is to encourage you to start growing your own food. I show that I could do it on my fire escape in NYC and now my balcony in LA.

It’s been 9-10 months since I’ve moved to LA from NYC. During that time I’ve had a total of one balcony salad. Yes, one. Uno.

The other day my girlfriend, Anita, called me out and asked when we were going to eat off of it. She is all for not supporting Whole Foods and supplementing our weekly trips to the farmers market in other ways, but the balcony wasn’t cutting it.

It’s hard to argue that. I mean it’s been one salad since I moved here.

The reason that I haven’t been able to eat more off of the balcony is because I’ve been focusing more on documenting everything instead of tending to the garden. I forgot the eating part.

I know what needs to be done. I need to do some succession planting, amend the soil and water the plants. Most importantly, I need to walk my talk. I’ve become one of those people that talks a lot and doesn’t back it up. I hate those people.

The containers have been harvested and a big salad was made. Now I’m going to come up with a better plan, so that Anita and I can eat more regularly off of the balcony.

The challenge for me has been laid out and I’ve accepted it. I hope that you will hold me accountable during this time.

I’m gardening food to eat. Please don’t let me forget that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sHkl4OnD6o

When I came back from my New Year break, I said that I was going to post twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Now that we are a few weeks into the new year, I can’t do it. There are too many things that I’d like to discuss and share with you.

On Monday, I’m starting to post four days a week. I already mentioned sharing seasonal recipes on a monthly basis, but can easily do that on a weekly basis.

So here is what the weekly schedule will look like:

Monday: Contests, book and movie reviews and other various topics.

Tuesday: Gardening. I’ll share an update on the latest project on my balcony garden or tip to help you grow your own food.

Wednesday: I’ll continue to provide my commentary on what’s going on in the food world.

Thursday: Seasonal recipe.

Are there any other topics that you’d like to see covered? What’s your feedback?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYggg67L6oU

A few weeks back when I posted a question on Facebook asking what posts people would like me to write, I was asked by Tim of Ecycler about a “hit list” for starting an urban garden.

I thought that it could be done in a short series, so here is the first part that includes what you will need to get started.

The list is short and pretty simple. It consists of:

Containers
Since I make my own self-watering containers, I need two containers to make one container. Got that?

There are many places that you can get the containers for your garden.

Once you have your containers there are four different ways that you can make the self-watering containers.

Potting Soil
If you want, you can make your own organic potting soil. When I was living in NYC, I made most of the potting soil for my fire escape garden.

Since moving to Los Angeles, I’ve bought nearly all of the organic potting soil for my balcony garden from Whole Foods. You could also check your local nursery, garden or hardware store.

Seeds and Plants
I usually get my seeds from Botanical Interests. There are many other seeds companies out there.

Other places that your can get your seeds from are from seed swapping groups that are local to you or are online. You can also reach out to other local gardeners and swap with them. I did that with Mary from Mary’s Gardening Endeavors.

For plants, you should check your local farmers markets or nurseries.

That’s about all you will need to start your urban container garden.

What else would you include?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiDjmI7_1fU

So here it is my first post of 2011. It’s been about a month since I lasted posted. It looks like the world continued to exist and get by, which is good.

Towards the end of last year I was starting to feel like I wasn’t bringing much value to the blog and internet world. I felt as if my posts and the information that I was providing was stagnant and blah. So I decided to unplug and take a break.

During the break I received a bunch of messages and comments from people, which was much appreciated. People were letting me know that I inspired them or that my message wasn’t falling on deaf ears.

The break was definitely good as it allowed me to rest up and refocus. Since I started the blog in 2009, I regularly posted three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Moving forward I am going to post twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday. The Tuesday post will be related to the importance of growing and knowing where your food comes from. The Thursday post will be about my latest projects and showing you what I’m doing.

I’ve shown that you can grow no matter where you are and your circumstances. It doesn’t matter if all you have is a fire escape or a balcony. You can grow something.

As always if there is anything that you’d like to see, hear or discuss, hit me up and we’ll make it happen.

I wish all of you all the best in 2011.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5cAd-XXr44

This is going to be my last post of 2010. I need to take a break from posting and promoting.

I’ve been feeling a bit stagnant lately. I think the posts and blog have suffered because of it.

It feels like I’m forcing content and just putting stuff out there. It feels like I’m saying the same things over and over again to the same people. I appreciate those people, but I think I need to take some time off to hopefully rest, refocus and re-energize.

Hope everyone has a good holiday and happy new year.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38ZmkCIZ-VM

It’s getting close to winter time here in the States. Last year during this time I was wrapping up my growing season on my fire escape garden. This now that I’m on the left coast I can grow on my balcony garden year round.

Not everyone is that fortunate when it comes to their growing season. For most of you the season has pretty much ended unless you’ve built a cold frame or hoop house to extend your season.

Just because the weather has dropped doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to grow or start to grow your own. If you have access to a windowsill that gets about 6-8 hours of sunlight a day, you can grow.

Here’s a list of some shallow rooted veggies and herbs that will do well in a small indoor garden:

• Lettuces & Leafy Green (order seeds)
• Spinach (order seeds)
• Kale (order seeds)
• Collard greens (order seeds)
• Parsley (order seeds)
• Cilantro (order seeds)

That’s a good starting point for veggies that can be grown indoors during the colder months.

Are there any other suggestions?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8ZZpf1Hu7E

There have been mysterious sprouts growing in the containers on my balcony garden for months now.

At first I thought they were old seeds that I had planted and never sprouted, but then I planted in new containers using new soil and the sprouts appeared again.

Some of the sprouts have finally started to mature to the point where they have full leaves. They are dark green in color and hearty like malabar spinach.

I cannot identify what they could possibly be. Are they a weed? Edible? Ornamental? I’ve pretty much thinned them out in most of the containers, but still have some stragglers.

As long as they are an edible, I’m cool. Does anyone have any ideas as to what they could be or how I would go about identifying them?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2psInWBa0Uw