Pictures at last!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay but a gardeners work is never done. Here are some pictures of the lower garden at the beginning of June & as it appeared at the end of June. The key to any gardening is patience. As you can see from the pictures in early June it didn't look like much. But what a difference a month makes! Despite the terrible weather, & although the rain & cool temperatures have delayed some flowering, my garden is growing apace. Please note that many of the plants are annual reseeds or perennials & that the tomatoes are seedlings that I get from a wonderful woman for a $1. The potatoes are both seed potatoes I purchased (do NOT skimp on your veggies) & seed potatoes I have left over from last years' harvest. I splurged a little this year as a squirrel had destroyed 2 of my balcony boxes. I bought a large pot with a number of different plants in it (on sale in late June) & split them up to fill in the gaps. I also use seeds from last years annuals in the spots that don't reseed. Gardening on the cheap IS doable folks!

Horrible weather & common sense

What can you do when the temperature varies over a week from 28C/84F (with the humidex to 34C/92F) all the way down to 11C/52F? Not much. I have been waiting to put out my hottest peppers who can't take the cold during the day and will probably wait until the nighttime temperature stays above 15C. Covering your precious seedlings at night often works wonders but only if you remember to uncover them in the day or they can bake in the sun & die.
However, common sense you CAN do something about. Heard someone who was selling plants yesterday tell a buyer that they might grow melons in pots. ?!?!?! No no no. I stepped in & gently reminded her that melons are heavy & need room to grow along the ground. All large gourds need room and hard core trellising at the very least. They also need serious soil depth to get their roots down to anchor their stems.
If you hear someone giving someone else really lame advice please speak up. Bad gardening advice can spoil the experience for a lifetime. Stop it in its tracks!

No big bucks to spend? No problem.

Saw a person throwing out a plant in a big pot today. The plant was quite dead but the pot & the soil were fine-SCORE! Once a year plant give-aways in the Quartier-SCORE! Pinching slips off plants you see almost anywhere to put in a glass, let root and then plant-SCORE! If you see someone gardening & admire their plants ask if they have some clippings to give away or if they can offer advice-SCORE! If you have minimum bucks there's always garage sales, Craigslist & Kijiji. With 1 or 2 exceptions, everything you will see in my pictures I either got for free or really, really cheap. That includes a lot of the plants too. The only thing you should NOT cheap out on are vegetable seeds or seedlings. You want/need quality for your veg. Even wild flowers that you can find anywhere are beautiful. That being said, get to know other gardeners & they will often, like me, have too many veggie seeds or seedlings & want to give some away.

You say 'But I've only got a balcony...'

No space is too small people! This year my garden has tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots, peas, beans, zucchini, hot & sweet peppers, mini aubergines, strawberries (and next year raspberries & black currants), herbs galore and lots of flowers. yet, all I have is a balcony & a tiny part of a roof top patio. If you have even some sun you can grow quite a bit even on a small balcony. That's what shelving and layering are for. I will post some links to pictures taken from previous years so you can see for yourselves. This is what I started with back in 2008 I will post the 2010 tomorrow:

Green Greetings!

My friends know that there is nothing I like better than having dirt under my fingernails and talking about gardening. Having been on TV talking about guerrilla gardening in 2009 & having dug up my first radish (for my Mom) 50 years ago it has been my pleasure to research, experiment & ask a thousand questions about everything I've grown. These posts will offer practical advice & tips on growing all sorts of things.  

There will also be lots of tips about growing stuff anywhere & on a shoe-string. 

If possible I will provide a scientific name for the plants in question &/or photos. 

There will also be lots of pet peeves! 

My modus operandi is common sense & no frills. 

Happy gardening!