Featured on Toronto Balconies Bloom!

I would like to thank Toronto Balconies Bloom for featuring this blog on their website. Toronto Balconies Bloom is a volunteer project that inspires and supports residents with balconies to build successful urban gardens in the city. Thanks the great work you are doing to promote balcony gardening!

A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust. - Gertrude Jekyll - 

Inspiring Quote on Urban Gardening

Inspirational quote for those of you contemplating to start an urban garden:

No matter where you are you can grow something to eat. Shift your thinking and you'd be surprised at the places your food can be grown! Window sill, fire escape and rooftop gardens have the same potential to provide impressive harvests as backyard gardens, greenhouses and community spaces. Greg Peterson, Grow Wherever You Go! Discovering the Place Where Your Garden Lives, 2009, www.urbanfarm.org

Preparing for the Fall & Winter Months

The weather is changing; it's getting cooler and we are contemplating moving the planters indoors. The plants are no longer thriving and it's time for our little garden to "hibernate" until the next season...we will keep you updated in Spring, 2015...Please share this blog with other avid gardeners (those starting out or already experienced).

Harvesting the Seeds

A number of our vegetable including cilantro and tomatoes produced seeds that we stored for the next season. Seeds were washed and sun dried on the window sill, then stored in little containers until time to plant.

Tomato and pepper seedlings dried from our last harvest

Fresh Salad Anyone?

We harvested carrots, tomatoes and peppers in September and used the herbs and greens throughout the summer. We prepared salads with the lettuce, tomatoes and peppers and steamed the carrots. We hope that 2015 brings in a better yield for our little garden! Stay tuned....

Part of our garden harvest

Entertaining Bugs Bunny?..Serve Carrots

My household enjoys carrots...steamed, roasted, stir fried, in a salad, with dips.. The bright orange vegetable can be grown on any container 12" deep. I obtained seeds for miniature carrots that would not take up too much space. The thrift store had the perfect container for the carrots. The carrots were transplanted in late May as they prefer cooler spring weather. I cannot wait to harvest them in 75 days!!

Yonge carrots growing on the box

Bring on the Harvest!!

The little garden produced a bounty of fresh, delicious vegetables and the freshest strawberries from the hanging planter! My next door neighbor (share a balcony) could not believe that we had a garden thriving in that little balcony! We shared our garden-harvested tomatoes and vegetables.

Tomatoes ready for harvesting

Spinach and salad mix thriving