The opening picture was taken earlier today (26 August 2010.) As you can see from the second picture, this area was empty and is of what the balcony looked like back in March and April when I was planning and building the wooden containers. The first images are the left side of the balcony in which the plan was to create a chicken wire, jute and wood frame which would support vines.
There are also pictures of the right side of the balcony which has a more complex raised bed with different levels. This side has a number of plants and the backdrop is a stuf (reed) panel that helps to reduce the intensity of the sun in the later part of the day. This picture was taken in early July 2010. It is much fuller now.
The right side with the stuf panel now has the following plants – tomatoes, red cabbage, nicotinia, hydrangea, sage, basil, peppers, dicentra, clematis, black eyed susan vine, yellow coneflower, white daisy and coleus. The overall size of the container is 215 cm width by 120 cm depth and is tiered to provide for plants. This container was made from some new wood, but the majority of wood used was left over from a previous years project.
On the left side the width of the box is also a little over 215 cm and the depth is 85 cm. Plants on the left side include budleia (butterfly bush), 3 vines (morning glory, sweet pea vines, clematis,) lantana, dahlia, paper flowers (unknown name), delphinium, peony and one of my favorite garden delights – the fountain.
Before the frost in late October or early November there will be another photo update of the growth on the balcony. For now, hope you are enjoying your balcony!
UPDATE 30 AUGUST
For several weeks now the plants have been producing quite a few delicious and very meaty tomatoes. The plants continue to increase in size and flower.
I had a few extra plants and planted them behind my bloc in sand and while I do not have a pic here of those, they have produced fruit as well. Although they are much smaller and green. Really it is a miracle they survived at all.
My little tomatoes are poppin! There are lots and lots – yipee! Also included a closer look at my red cabbage.
Some of my favorite winged friends are bees. Bees are cute, scary and an integral part of the life cycle. Where would we be without them? They pollinate the worlds plants thus being symbolic of fertility and many make delicious honey too. Even life itself is likened to their honey as a metaphor – how sweet it is! On a personal note, they just make me happy when I see them. So in honour of the bee, this post touches on the subject of their symbolism in hindu culture, their current dilemma in the world and some of my own opinions about them.
Rich in symbolism, bees throughout many cultures and human history are used as symbols to help us to understand the intricacies of life. In hinduism the bee is a very powerful symbol. For instance, Vishnu who is known in hinduism as the preserver ofthe universe is sometimes depicted as a bee on a lotus flower and Krishna who is known to be the 9th descent of or avatar of Vishnu has a blue bee in the middle of his forehead. Plus a quite stirring image is Kama who with a bow-string of bees is the god of love - oh the sting of love!
Not only in visual imagery are bees in Hindu culture, they are found in the words ofsome very old texts The Upanishadsdating back to 5000 – 7000 years ago. In the CHANDOGYA upanishad the metaphor of the bee and its honey explain the concept of THAT ARE THOU to the student.
„As the bees make honey by gathering juices from many flowering plants and trees,and as these juices reduced to one honey do not know from what flowers they severallycome…”
In the BRIHADARANYAKA the earth itself, its beings and even the elements are explained as the honey of life -
”This earth is honey for all beings, all beings are honey for this earth. The intelligent, immortal being, the soul of this earth, and the intelligent, immortal being, the soul in the individual being – each is honey to the other.”
It continues on with this symbolism and is found in other examples as well. How beautiful the metaphor that these teachings make clear in imagery our relationship to each other, to the whole of life on earth and our relationship with the earth itself.
Our relationship with the bee is critical to life and sadly largely due to our influence they are themselves in a crisis worldwide. What seems even sadder but perhaps necessary to stir people into action is relating their crisis (which is our crisis) in economicals terms. An article entitled World Relies on Endangered Bees for153 Billion Euroswritten on 28 May 2009 equates this crisis in the loss of currency. Nonetheless it is informativeand additionally there are many, many links to interesting articles about bees and their future on the article page itself. For further reading on the bees dilemma, as well as other plants and insects, you can find many of the ”red lists” as PDFs available for download from the internet. Searching the internet with the phrase – bees redlist pdf (add your country or continent to narrow results.)
So that brings us to the question – What can we do for the bees?
First what comes to mind is to of course plant a simple garden. It does not need tobe large and their are so many plants that do not require a great amount of effort since they are drought resistant and hardy that attract bees specifically caryopteris, echinecea and sunflowers for starters. Another great bee attractor that may require a little more watering on your part are a few of the salvia varieties, especially Salvia East Friesland and Salvia Patens. (Specific plant info requires a more detailed post…its on my list now )
Just imagine that everyone on this earth planted 1 plant each in their city environment multiply that by the world population and voila! That equals a lot of plants – thats right A LOT A LOT A LOT! The other thing you can do is to make use of organic methods when caring for them. Also talking about this subject with your friends and family will spread awareness and sensitivity on this subject. You can even keep bees in a city environment, read about the effects this is having in Paris here.
Finally, we can all take simple actions that will make a difference. For instance picking up litter you see and throw it in the bin is a nice way to show your thanks to the earth that you care for her. Live by example. In fact after writing this I came across a book by Michael Schacker that thinks we literally need „Plan Bee” his book is about the crisis and what we can do about (have not read it yet since I just found it now!) anyway it is A Spring without Bees: How Colony Collapse Disorder Has Endangered Our Food Supply.
Have any suggestions of what we can do to help the bees? Please share them by commenting.
Remember that in this dance of life on earth, bees play an integral role. Here is a beautiful video shared by Stella G on vimeo entitled Dancing Bees set to music.
In closing, look for a new [bee] pagein the next few days [was created] with the goal to collect and share some of the interesting information and media about bees worth having access to is here. Again feel free to submit related materials through the comments section.
Latyrus odoratus – sweet pea – A slow start from seed and a few were planted in different areas as an experiment. One in particular the one that has its first flowers has grown the tallest, a couple alongside it are doing ok. They have a bit more shade from some other neighboring plants. They easily have taken to the chicken wire on the balcony divider.
Dahlia – One of my favorite flowering plants my favorite colors for them are their pinks, purples and white. Only one tuber was planted this year, although I am tempted to pick up a couple more in the next day or two. They are always showy and beautiful.
Thunbergia alata – black eyed susan vine – Like the sweet pea it has had a slow start from seed and now in the last few days taking off like wild fire. Never before has this vining plant been in my garden and already thinking it may become a mainstay. This also has easily taken to the chicken wire which was placed on the exterior wall.
Buddleia – butterfly bush – It is planted infront of a large drainpipe that climbs down from the roof (nearby morning glory vine will hopefully obscure the pipe as the season continues as a lovely backdrop to the rich purple scented flowers of the butterfly bush) was susceptible to some insects – over a few days I plucked infested areas and washed areas around them with some soapy water. Seems better now although it is necessary to be vigilant in keeping any reoccurence in check. Check out the natural pesticide recipes pdf, you can download the pdf and learn more on natural remedies for bothersome insects.
Of note also are the plants that have been struggling -
BEFORE
AFTER
Osteospermum- south african daisy – Of the two planted, 1 died and another is hanging on. They were displaying an incredible colorful bouquet non-stop for a couple of months. Then it seemed pretty sudden (there were some signs) as they both took a turn for the worse. It seems to have been weather related – there were several consecutive days of rain with little light. That is not really normal here, as it can rain a lot in periods – we normally have at least a few hours of sunshine between showers. I have now transplanted the remaining and what seems to be survivor to a pot in hopes that maybe its own space will allow it to revive itself. This seems to be working.
BEFORE
AFTER
Hydrangea macrophylla – it seemed to have gotten a slight burn but has continued on. As the area where it finds its home is changing with surrounding plants providing some additional shade it seems too to be determined to continue on. There is new growth and that looks quite healthy. Hopefully it will make it through this period and be strong enough to face even the more difficult period of heat that is to come.
Sempervivum – hens & chicks – Most are thriving in the large beds and reproducing quite well and a cluster that was in a separate pot even appeared to be doing extrodinary. Yet the one that appeared to be extrodinary took a turn for worse in just one day. It was moved to a different location next to a jade plant that is doing magnificently well and in just one day poof – so prehaps it was the move or maybe there is even some truth to an old superstition.
BEFORE
AFTER
Truth or fiction?
It is said that if you plant sempervivum on the roof of a house that neither lightning nor fire will harm it. As chance would have it, just yesterday we had a lightning storm and in the morning before the storm all was well with this plant and today, post-storm, as I was checking on the garden this is what it looked like…
By the way sempervivum means live forever and many varieties are great for zone 5.
Here is a list of more suggested companion plants and my own comments about placement or not in my balcony garden this year. If you try these, please report back with a comment with what your experience has been or how the plants are progressing. Thanks!
Petunia/Beans
Waiting for the next batch of seedlings to get a little stronger and then will plant these together.
Sunflowers/Cucumbers
I planted some sunflower seeds inbetween my cukes but no popping yet. Maybe the birds got the sunflower seeds? After I started to write this a little break from work brought me out to the garden in a matter of hours – there was nothing this morning in their spots – some sprouts have appeared – yipee! Amazing after several days of rain and a couple of warmer days how things progress.
Cucumbers/Lettuce
Have not tried this yet but it certainly makes sense since they taste soooo good together!
Cilantro (a/k/a coriander)/ALL VEGGIES
Even my dogs want to eat coriander and they are picky eaters!
Sage/Cabbage
It works! Actually read about this after having planted seeds next to each other and they are doing great.
Cabbage/Dill
Decided against growing dill since while I like to use it, it is easy to get at the piata and due to space limits have other more important herbs to grow.
Squash/Nasturtium
In one of the garden containers are cukes and nasturtium and they seem to be doing well together. Planted a few more nasturtium seeds and will try an experiment in a pot with a ”blue” pumpkin plant (an heirloom variety – how lucky I am to have recd some seeds!) which I expect will spill over and crawl along a large space along with a nasturtium plant. They are not ready to meet yet as they are in their coconut fiber seed bin right now.
Nasturtium/Radish
Holding off on the radish until august when a dark variety is scheduled for planting.
Tomatoes/Parsley
The tomatoes are in their own little cubicle section of the big box on the right -they are going absolutely crazy in the last couple of days without any companions!
The last few days have been an increasing number of roses in bloom….going to take some photos today of those on my street. You can even grow roses on your balcony. Climbers are a great choice for a balcony since they are vertical. Many varities will bloom throughout the season – only a little pruning necessary.
Please comment and share your insights and experiences so we can all benefit from our shared gardening experiences. Looking forward to our discussions!
Need a gift for your favorite urban gardener? You can personalize the text on this mug with a name or maybe you want to declare you are strictly a balcony gardener - personalize it if you like.
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