Spring in full swing

The balcony garden comes into bloom with oodles of container flowers, veg and herbs all springing to life.

The balcony really is swinging into spring now. It’s not just the lovely lawn that holds it all together, but the flowers, the leaves, the salads, and early morning spring sunshine that makes everything seem cheery and freshly-laundered.

This is the balcony at 6.30 this morning, looking rather perky and pleased with itself. And yes, that is a Christmas tree on the opposite balcony.

I love the stained-glass-window effect the sun has at this time of day when it is so low in the sky that it shines through leaves like the ones on these lilies of the valley:

The violas are so excited to see the sun that they crowd to the edge of their containers, peering over the edge to catch a better glimpse.

And the yellow kale flowers seem even more yellow than ever at this time of day.

There are other joyful things to peer at as the spring day gets underway.

I’ve planted two terracotta windowboxes up with young chard plants that I brought on indoors. I knew they were ready to transplant from their plug tray because a few roots were poking out of the bottom of the tray, and they slid happily from their plug, having formed a neat rootball. It’s important to harden plants off and plant them out relatively quickly when a good root system has formed, as you don’t want them to become rootbound within the pot and then fail to grow into their new container afterwards.

The kale plants look wonderful at the moment: four tall pyramids topped with gold.

And I planted out three different types of salad leaf in a box that I made from an old pallet tray a few years ago and painted with blackboard paint. That’s komatsuna, beetroot ‘Bull’s Blood’ and tatsoi that you can see in there.

I’ve also planted out a nice wicker hanging basket with pulmonaria from my old garden. It’s a lovely thing to look up to as I arrive at the front door under my balcony, the bees love it, and it says to my neighbours: “Hey! Look how many gorgeous plants you can grow on your balconies!” My neighbours currently remain indifferent to this.

Fortunately the bees love this early source of pollen. This pulmonaria has been flowering successively for over a month now. I do have to make sure that it gets enough water in the relatively small container, and that no-one is walking underneath when I poke my watering can over the edge of the parapet…

But what I love the most is just lounging, mug in hand, staring out at everything that’s growing and limbering up on the balcony. I love sitting on my beautiful cushions from Oily Rag and peering at another ladybird crawling over the pots, or the tight fists at the centre of my fern plants, waiting to burst into leaf. And the fresh buds on the clematis I thought had been killed by the snow. And the fresh leaves on the ornamental vine. And the mints, the violets, and the mangetout seedlings creeping out of the soil.

And the spectacular sunsets that push their way through these April cloudbursts.

4 Responses

Jacqueline April 24, 2012

Looks lovely. There is something magical about small space garden - allows you to notice every detail & whereas in bigger spaces you look at the overall effect & sometimes miss the detail. Have you seen the book “Window-box allotment” by Penelope Bennett??

Although I have an allotment & garden I still like to grow flowers, herbs & salads in pots outside the back door and actually that is my favourite bit of the garden.

PS Am sorely tempted by the oily rag cushions! I vist their site with lust & longing - only can’t decide on which ones to have.

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LINDA April 24, 2012

lovely post it ‘s a blessing to read

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- F&F April 27, 2012
  
  Thanks Linda and Jacqueline: it’s true that when you don’t have much space you really do notice every little detail!
  
  Reply
Sarah May 2, 2012

I love this! There is definitely something about creating a garden in a small space… We’ve recently moved from a Victorian end terrace, the tiny back yard of which I decided, as a complete non gardener and kind of on a whim, to cram with as many herbs, vegetables and flowers in pots and boxes as possible. I loved it. I could always seem to find space for something else…

It made for such a lovely space both despite and because of the lack of actual space!! Mind you, I thought I was being clever getting a seating area in my yard… those cushions are ace. And I have to say, that lawn is a stroke of genius and looks in better nick than most lawns I’ve seen for a long time. But where on Earth do you keep the Flymo? Or do you have a teeny tiny one in a miniscule shed just out of shot?

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