Posts Tagged ‘balcony’

Last year, my friend Shannen was raving about the Topsy Turvy, an “As-Seen-On-TV” product that grows tomatoes upside down – the idea being that you don’t need to stake the branches, and the roots grow upwards toward the water.  For those of you who know me, you know I can’t resist a good As-Seen-On-TV product (I have a coffee table book and I spend hours in the store at Pier Point when we’re on vacation in Florida).  So, when I saw this on sale while shopping yesterday, I thought I’d give it a try. Anyone have any experience with these things?  It will be interesting to see which grows the better tomatoes – this or my self-watering planters!

With wind gusts up to 45 mph yesterday, I had to think quickly to prevent damage to my garden.  When I looked out the window in the morning, the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant were bending and swaying violently in the wind.  At first I tried a tarp over all of the planters to break the wind, but the tarp ended up blowing off itself.  Then, I decided to break up a cardboard box and place it between the young plants in order to deflect some of the wind.  It seems to have worked. Does anyone have any better methods for breaking up the wind on a 6th floor balcony?

Several readers have asked me questions about how my garden is doing, and what’s growing in it.  Well, it’s been about 10 weeks, and I have some photos to show you! I started the plants from seed in late February, sowing some in seed starters and some directly in their self watering yogurt-cup planters.  The herbs have remained in their self-watering planters, though I had to thin them as they germinated.  I hate doing that, as the soft side of me likes to give every seedling a chance to grow. By mid-March, they were ready for bigger and better things.  I transplanted some of the hardier varieties, such as zuchinni and peas, to small pots to give the roots more room to grow.  The others I left in their seed starters.  This gave me the opportunity to move them outside during the day, and back inside during the cool nights.  The

As I mentioned yesterday, the garden is growing like crazy!  I think it has something to do with all the nitrogen from the thunderstorms we had this weekend.  I’ve noticed the snow peas are maturing.  They’re the most beautiful and delicate plants in the garden right now, and I’m training them to climb up the trellises.  To think they’re considered a weed!