life on the balcony

Yesterday I was talking on the phone with my mom about her gardening plans for her yard and it had absolutely itching to do some planting, despite the non-stop rain! I saw a few kids this morning at work and had the rest of the day off, so I caught a break in the rain to buy some more plants. Planning to take it slowly was definitely a good plan. Last year I bought a lot at once, but since I tend to enjoy to process of getting started even more than the result, all the fun was done at once!

First, a little video I took while out on the balcony:

Untitled from Jessica Riney on Vimeo.


Ok, now you have to read ;-)

I came home with a box of plants, very carefully chosen! I spent a lot of time walking through the rows at the nursery, putting at least three things in the cart that ended up going back or being switched out. With limited space, you've got to be choosy!



First I put together this hanging planter, which came out quite lovely! I'm really happy with how much it brightened things up. I thought something hanging might clutter up the space, but it actual makes it seem larger since I'm taking advantage of unused space. Plus since it's above the table, the planter isn't in the way (the ceiling isn't all that high).If you watched the video, you can breath easy knowing that it's been a few hours, and it hasn't fallen!

 The lilies in the corner were a gift from Will. They looked beautiful on our dining room table, but we found out they can be deadly for cats, so the vase was quickly moved outside!



A close up of the hanging flowers, double impatiens:

A few weeks back I planted pansies in two separate pots (you can see them in the link, mostly flowerless, in the picture of my herb planter). They've bloomed like crazy in just the last few days! They're honestly not my favorite flower of all time though, so I decided to consolidate them into one pot, rather than giving them room to grow in two. 

 The lettuce is still chugging away! Almost ready for a second salad :-)

The last thing I did was plant the tiny purple flowers under my "stick tree". The creeping, leafy plant I planted earlier has already spread so much, but still no flower buds. When/if they come, they will be purple.

 

So what's left? Luckily, still quite a bit!

 The planter on the railing is totally empty and cleared of the pansies that were previously in it. The tan bucket turned planter on the right is also empty and  ready! I don't have any specific plans for them yet. Aren't my neighbors begonias pretty? She has a basket hanging on each corner of her balcony. I've never been a huge fan of begonias but those are just gorgeous!


 Another empty but ready space is this trellis and green bucket-turned-planter on the opposite end of the balcony, where I do have some plans. I'm really trying to take advantage of vertical space, but since growing something with enough vines to grow up it is hard in a planter, I'm going to use two long, narrow planters connected to it. I still need to figure out exactly how I'll do it in terms of attaching the planters. Here's the general plan, courtesy of some cartoon mock-ups :-)

I'm definitely planning to work on the trellis this weekend, so you should see some pictures by Sunday!