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Motivated by Kalyn Denny's "If You Have Ripe Tomatoes and Fresh Basil, It's Time for Caprese Salad" post, I decided to start a balcony tomato garden!
First stop: The Santa Monica Farmers' Market, where I picked up a high country tomato plant from a local farmer (right). "You got lucky!" he said, and pointed out that my lil $3 purchase actually had 3 separate tomato plants in it -- so I paid just a buck per plant! He advised me to separate the plants out and plant them v. deeply.
Second stop: Whole Foods, to pick up a couple pots -- I found biodegradable ones that look stylish too! -- and some compost.
Next, I tried to separate out the tomato plants as gently as possible -- They were really enmeshed together though -- then put each one in its own pot.
Wish me luck with these -- because my last tomato plant got strangely twisty. For encouragement, I read Jul of This Non-American Life's post about her balcony-grown tomato -- which has a cute lil nose! If I can successfully get my tomato plants to thrive on my balcony, I'll try branching out. Soli Deo Gloria at Heart and Hearth says lemongrass is easy to grow on her balcony.
If things don't go too well though, that's okay -- I'm actually encouraged by Kate at The Root's confession about her balcony gardening troubles, just cuz it's comforting knowing I'm not the only plant killer:
The carrots seedlings, such as they are, one centimeter tall, are yellowing, the chard has somehow mummified into tough little inch-long shoots, the lavender I had such high hopes for seems to think it has fall foliage, Freya’s little primrose plant is suffering through yet another cycle of flood and drought, and my Brandywine tomato is straining to produce its 20th leaf. It’s nothing good.
Got a balcony garden of your own -- or thinking of starting one? Then bookmark Grow Your Own, "a twice-a-month blogging event that celebrates the foods we grow or raise ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products" organized by Andrea at Andrea's Recipes.
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BlogHer Contributing Editor Siel also blogs at greenLAgirl.com.
