My garden is growing, changing, and sharing its fruits generously daily, which is all so exciting. Since my last post in March, I’ve made a few new additions to my garden, including the compact greenhouse, proudly set up on the balcony to protect my lovely plants from the fumes (my balcony faces the parking lot for our buildings), the pigeons, which often sit above our balcony, and recently also against neighbour’s careless balcony cleaning rituals.
I have invested in two different kinds of tomatoes (Alicante & Roma), one pepper, chilli pepper and the bay leaf tree. We often use the bay leaves for cooking and buy tomatoes and peppers on a weekly basis.
My daughter was very keen on buying the strawberry and I’m happy to say that we did, and it already has a few tiny green fruits growing. Only a week or so ago, I planted flowers that are recommended as bee-friendly, but baby M. has been drowning them in water. She still hasn’t figured out the watering business but definitely displays gardeners’ qualities in her approach to our plants.
At home, my spring onions are doing very well, and I’m happy to report that we don’t have to buy them from the shops any longer. Rockets and basil, which I grew from seeds, started emerging from the darkness of the soil. However, even though the seeds took roots, the spinach and radishes didn’t grow to their full glory. I used the leaves in my salad and planted new seeds in different soil, so we’ll see how that will go.
The mint had struggled for a few weeks, but it has picked up recently. I was slightly worried about the mint’s well-being, but luckily it is on the mend and generous and plentiful again.
Thyme has also been slowly picking up after my husband literally butchered it off for his cooking. Leaving it outside the flat has proven to be healing for my thyme. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that my marjoram isn’t going to survive. I re-planted it, but I’m not too sure if it’s not too late already.
It looks to me that the large tomato cans, which I adapted into pots, aren’t great at helping plants thrive. The plants I planted in those (thyme, marjoram) haven’t made much progress and, in both cases, declined. The beetroot and garlic that grow in smaller cans have been growing nicely.
Since I love watching the plants grow and I do want to know where I make mistakes (this is the best way for me to learn), I decided to replant carrots and broccoli. Both grew some leaves but apart from that, nothing else happened.
One of my tomatoes, Roma, is also growing in the can, but I don’t think it was enjoying that at all. So, I got my Roma another pot; hopefully, that will help its growth.
In the spirit of re-using, I’m not going to dispose of the cans. Instead, I’ll use them for growing bees’ friendly flowers. Baby M. has already planted one pack in two cans. I’ll have to keep her away from her over eager watering.
Since the gardening, growing, and planting season is in full swing, I have to sheepishly admit that each time I pop over to the garden centre, I come back with yet another plant. I think I developed an addiction to buying plants, which was not something I anticipated. Alas, what can I do… it is so hard to resist! 😊
I used to be one of those people who didn’t think much of gardening and considered the activity “silly” at best. How do things change, right?
When I started my garden project, I wanted to see if I could grow enough food to replace some of the foods that I buy in supermarkets. In the process and during my research, I got really interested in permaculture and growing food forests, which use permaculture practice to cultivate crops.
As my life and interests are drastically changing and moving in a completely unknown direction, learning about growing permaculture gardens and forests will be the next step on my journey. I would like to see how those practices can help families thrive and not depend on the traditional/conventional way of living and earning income. Food accessibility and stability have been on my mind for some time now and creating financial freedom through living minimalistically, while growing personal gardens have become part of my own personal quest.
If you would like to read my newest article about early retirement, which mainly focuses on self-sufficiency through food and housing, check out this article.
And now … I’m very excited to share with you a trailer of my new artistic documentary, “Another Way…” Enjoy 🙂
The documentary will be available to watch on YouTube in June/July.
My garden is growing, changing, and sharing its fruits generously daily, which is all so exciting. Since my last post in March, I’ve made a few new additions to my garden, including the compact greenhouse, proudly set up on the balcony to protect my lovely plants from the fumes (my balcony faces the parking lot for our buildings), the pigeons, which often sit above our balcony, and recently also against neighbour’s careless balcony cleaning rituals.
I have invested in two different kinds of tomatoes (Alicante & Roma), one pepper, chilli pepper and the bay leaf tree. We often use the bay leaves for cooking and buy tomatoes and peppers on a weekly basis.
My daughter was very keen on buying the strawberry and I’m happy to say that we did, and it already has a few tiny green fruits growing. Only a week or so ago, I planted flowers that are recommended as bee-friendly, but baby M. has been drowning them in water. She still hasn’t figured out the watering business but definitely displays gardeners’ qualities in her approach to our plants.
At home, my spring onions are doing very well, and I’m happy to report that we don’t have to buy them from the shops any longer. Rockets and basil, which I grew from seeds, started emerging from the darkness of the soil. However, even though the seeds took roots, the spinach and radishes didn’t grow to their full glory. I used the leaves in my salad and planted new seeds in different soil, so we’ll see how that will go.
The mint had struggled for a few weeks, but it has picked up recently. I was slightly worried about the mint’s well-being, but luckily it is on the mend and generous and plentiful again.
Thyme has also been slowly picking up after my husband literally butchered it off for his cooking. Leaving it outside the flat has proven to be healing for my thyme. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that my marjoram isn’t going to survive. I re-planted it, but I’m not too sure if it’s not too late already.
It looks to me that the large tomato cans, which I adapted into pots, aren’t great at helping plants thrive. The plants I planted in those (thyme, marjoram) haven’t made much progress and, in both cases, declined. The beetroot and garlic that grow in smaller cans have been growing nicely.
Since I love watching the plants grow and I do want to know where I make mistakes (this is the best way for me to learn), I decided to replant carrots and broccoli. Both grew some leaves but apart from that, nothing else happened.
One of my tomatoes, Roma, is also growing in the can, but I don’t think it was enjoying that at all. So, I got my Roma another pot; hopefully, that will help its growth.
In the spirit of re-using, I’m not going to dispose of the cans. Instead, I’ll use them for growing bees’ friendly flowers. Baby M. has already planted one pack in two cans. I’ll have to keep her away from her over eager watering.
Since the gardening, growing, and planting season is in full swing, I have to sheepishly admit that each time I pop over to the garden centre, I come back with yet another plant. I think I developed an addiction to buying plants, which was not something I anticipated. Alas, what can I do… it is so hard to resist! 😊
I used to be one of those people who didn’t think much of gardening and considered the activity “silly” at best. How do things change, right?
When I started my garden project, I wanted to see if I could grow enough food to replace some of the foods that I buy in supermarkets. In the process and during my research, I got really interested in permaculture and growing food forests, which use permaculture practice to cultivate crops.
As my life and interests are drastically changing and moving in a completely unknown direction, learning about growing permaculture gardens and forests will be the next step on my journey. I would like to see how those practices can help families thrive and not depend on the traditional/conventional way of living and earning income. Food accessibility and stability have been on my mind for some time now and creating financial freedom through living minimalistically, while growing personal gardens have become part of my own personal quest.
If you would like to read my newest article about early retirement, which mainly focuses on self-sufficiency through food and housing, check out this article.
And now … I’m very excited to share with you a trailer of my new artistic documentary, “Another Way…” Enjoy 🙂
The documentary will be available to watch on YouTube in June/July.