Balcony gardening

Have you been down to the Don Valley Brickworks, Tico?

Interesting stuff ... click going on there. This weekend they've got some Doors Open things on - in mid-June they'll have



The farmer's market down there ... click opens for the season this weekend.

ehBeth! You're amazing. I vote you the new ambassador for our city.

I'm going to try really hard to get to that native plants container garden thing, and I'd be happy to find an easy place for me to get to organic foods, too.

(I haven't been to the brickworks since it was ... uh ... brickworks. I used to go hiking around there.)

Tico,

If there a source for water on your balcony? If so, have you considered drip irrigation on a timer?

I too have a balcony. The conditions aren't as harsh as yours, but I installed drip irrigation a couple years ago and it made a huge difference in the plants and the watering chore. You would probably have to remove it for winter if your area gets cold enough to freeze. Once done, the task of installing and removing is a breeze.

I did mine with a kit and a few add-ons for under $50.

The drip irrigation would help overcome the drying effect of the wind as well as keep things cooler for the plants and the kitties. You could even do what I did with my birdbath and put a drip nozzle in the cat's water bowl so they'll always have fresh water too.

BBB
Delosperma (iceplant), achillea (yarrow), ornamental grasses, Rose of Sharon, gaillardia, echinacea, Russian sage, agastache, iris, kniphofia, nepeta, salvia, daffodils.

A very interesting list of plants, BBB -- and I've grown most of them in my previous garden, although I had to look up Delosperma. My problem is scale -- because the balcony is quite small, I think the season-long colour of annuals is needed. Perennials (which I used almost exclusively in the terrestial garden), flower briefly and would need to be changed out constantly for any kind of display -- which would be quite a waste. In a large garden, you can mass plant for continuously changing display throughout the season, but on this balcony it's just not feasible. However, the Delosperma led me to think of sempervivum (hens and chicks) and then to escheveria -- hmmm ....

Butrflynet -- that's a great idea. No, I don't have a water source, but I wonder if I could rig up something with 2-litre soft drink bottles gravity feeding water through a drip hose (and somehow make it look good) -- hmmm....

Tico, lemme know if you need some hen and chicks. We could meet at the Brickworks sometime and I could bring you some (mulling that there's some other succulent hamburger gave me that should be easily carried over).