Monday, March 31, 2014

Balcony Garden Update 03/31/2014

Spring time! Today is exact three months after the beginning of my balcony garden on 12/30/2014.
The garden is improving everyday with a lot of thoughts, planning and moving :-). I found myself hasn't been very good with growing plant from seed yet. So far I just had luck with pepper, bean and lettuce seeds. Lucky that the Japanese nursery near by provided very good variety of plants. I like to start with nursery plants because it save me time and plants are being sold seasonal.




After some pruning, the blueberry is getting back to shape. Pruning will help produce bigger fruit as I learn so let's hope for some juicy, tasty and super organic blueberry in the upcoming months :-).


Here is the Blackberry. I got it from the nursery and it didn't look so good but I got some discount for that so I din't complain :D. After moving it to a new bigger house with plenty of organic soil and water,  it now blooming. It suppose to have fruits in June.



This birdfeeder is a joy. All of the birds around came party on it everyday.



The grape I got on Valentine is now growing strong. I hope I will have them climb on the trellis soon.


The Japanese egg plant didn't do so good on the Self watering container so I moved it out. It's having flowers now but I don't know when will I have some eggplant.


Brussel sprouts are doing fine, I think. It's hard to keep them from pests so I think this will be the last time I grow them. Their leaves are a good house for all kind of pests.


I grew some corns from heirloom seeds. They are gonna take up some spaces but corns were so easy to grow so I gave it a try.


After sacrificing the first fruits as expert said, the strawberries are now developing stronger root and leaves. they are having some flower now. I don't want to wait any longer for those tasty Alpine strawberry. 


Fava Beans are doing well also with a lot of flowers but there are no beans yet.


Zuchini is the best guy in the garden. First blooming with large fast growing zuchini. I have to hand-pollinating them every morning but it was an enjoyable process ;-)



My raspberry also has a lot of flowers. It has been really rejuvenate since I moved it to a bigger container with plenty of good soil. After some grooming it become handsome again!


The lettuces and the lime tree are also enjoy their container. I don't know why when I brought the lime tree home, all of its flowers were falling. Now it's blooming agains with a lot of new young leaves.


And here is the small container of herbs and lettuces :-). This patch is special grow for Spring Roll - our Vietnamese supper healthy dish.



I've been having a lot of good time with my garden. My balcony is now a relaxing place with a lot of green and shade. I wake up everyday excited to have the morning coffee in my garden, watching birds and taking care of my plants.  :D


Thursday, March 27, 2014

DIY Earthbox style self watering planter

I started my "DIY Earthbox style self watering planter" on 02/23/2014. It's about a month until now so I would like to update the progress so we can see how the planter is doing :-)

Before
02/23/2014

 One month later
03/23/2014
As predicted, the tomato, eggplant and bell pepper were straighten up. The tomatos are really working well. I added a beefsteak tomato and removed the brussel sprout because it has some pests. The eggplant didn't do very well so I put it into a different container. The zuchini is also doing well on this container. It's growing at the same speed with its sibling at the other container.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

My home made bird bath and feeder from the leg broken vase is working great! birds are enjoy their feast and I can watch them.



Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Balcony Garden Update 03/11/2014

 My hanging balcony garden is expended quickly after I started it on 12/30/2014. I experience with different type of containers included DIY earthbox, wine crate, and second hand nursery container. So far they are all growing great with the organic soil mixed with compost and bat guano. I also mixed the Miracle grow with the Kellogg Organic Soil since I got it by mistake :D. I heard the Miracle Grow is not organic so I tried to mix it up.


I got more fruit trees included lime, grape, blueberry and raspberry. Since it will take so long to grow from baby plant, I decided to spend more money on the adult tree so we can have some fruits for this season. For the grape, because I already got the young plants so will go with what I have. It's fun to grow stuff from beginning and watch them growing.


Today I got a beautiful House Finch couple visited my home made bird bath and feeder. They are still trying to firgure out how to get food from the bird feeder so I think I have to install some branches.
I am so happy to see them so close. They are beautiful and playful :D


The Fava beans also have flowers. Maybe I choose the right spot for them.


The black beauty zuchini is the winner for the flowering competition. Three of them flowered at the same time. Look like I will have the first vegetable out from my garden soon.


Saturday, March 8, 2014

Friday, March 7, 2014

After putting up the humming bird feeder and grow some flower, hummingbird started to visit my garden, make me so happy seeing these little guys everyday :D


Thursday, March 6, 2014

The balcony garden after the rainstorm.

We had a rainstorm over LA last week and my plants were treated with fresh nature good water from the sky. I also got a change to collect some rain water saved for later. Such a treat!
:-)