Spring has sprung and for a few days we had awesome weather. The kind that makes you rotate your clothes and bask in the warm sun. With this, came a major case of balcony envy. You see, living in the city, you really start to miss having a yard. Don’t get me wrong. It’s so great knowing that you don’t have to worry about the upkeep of having a lawn, but it would be nice to just have a little green space to enjoy when the weather’s nice.

Years ago, husband took charge of putting our balcony together. He really seemed to enjoy it. He bought all of the flowers, the planters.. everything. He would spend hours on the balcony making sure everything was in order. He even planted sunflowers which are one of my favorites. While it was a work in progress, we enjoyed it as much as we could. We’d often have dinners outside which we loved.

 

 

As you can see, we even wanted a tiny Miss V on the balcony with us. It was lovely.

Then winter came and everything died.

He was so bummed that his flowers didn’t survive. He kinda gave up after that. He didn’t want to spend any money on flowers and said he’d wait unti the following year. Problem was that it  never happened….. UNTIL NOW.

I have been walking around just eyeing people’s balconies. Some bare, some with a few flowers, and some with a  full on garden! (porch swing included) I had had enough. If husband wasn’t going to do it then I was! I decided to snap some pictures to document the process. We’re on the top floor of our building, so we added a few security measures.

We added mesh netting to the bottom part of the rails. This was to prevent any toys from accidentally rolling out and bonking someone on the head. Next we put a trellis to prevent the girls from getting too close as well as a bit of privacy. Then 2 curtains. The striped one is to block out the sun when it’s mega hot. There’s still plenty of light  but it filters it a bit to give us relief. Then there’s another curtain made of thick plastic which is to protect from Winter’s cold and rain. These are then locked into place.

So with everything in place, I first tackled the problem of the overgrown succulents. If I’m not mistaken, we got them from my MIL who got them from her  brother. Left on their own, they continued to grow but uncontrollably and fused together. Once I got that taken care of it was time for the new additions.

I had been buying herbs and flowers at the market and I was so excited to finally get to work.

I was seriously so excited to buy a basil and rosemary plant. They are to two herbs I use the most. It took me most of the day but I was pretty please with the results. Along with the basil and rosemary, I also planted parsley, mint and pansies. I repotted my succulents and repurposed an old tea kettle!

At the end of the day, the girls came home and were so excited that they also wanted to join in the fun. So we planted more basil, mint and sunflowers! While I continue to envision my plans for the balcony, I tried to not buy anything else. I did pretty good except for 2 weeks ago, I bought 2 ivy plants and today a lavender plant. Project #balconyenvy is coming along quite nicely!

 

*Do you have any tips on keeping my garden nice and green. What about easy to grow plants, trees, herbs. Let me know in the comments below!