Update Tuesdays on a Wednesday!! 110712

It’s time for UPDATE TUESDAYS of my thriving, well some dieing, balcony garden. Oh wait but today is Wednesday. I know I’m a day late posting my Update Tuesday report. But I promise you I did take these photos on Tuesday, I just did not post it till now. But let’s not dilly dawdle anymore and get to it.

OK so here’s the scoop on Oakley’s garden. Some of the plants are doing really well from what I can tell. Here is the family photo:

Balcony Garden, Eggs and Basil.. SEEDLINGS!!

Hello everyone! It’s been awhile since I’ve updated you with my balcony garden and the eggs and basil seeds experiment. I have been meaning to keep you updated but there are so many things I want to blog about. I don’t think there is enough time to write it all down. Now I understand how blogging itself can be a full time job! I salute everyone that is able to blog everyday.

OK back to the eggs, basil, and my balcony garden update! Oakley and I are so proud to announce that we have seedlings sprouting! Yes it worked beautifully without any effort. As you probably read on a previous post, I was able to grab a couple of seeds from my basil plant. After some research, I thought the idea of sprouting the seeds from an eggshell would be fun and a useful reuse of eggshells. Just in case.. click here to read the previous blog on what steps I did. Back to what I was saying, I DID IT!

During this experiment I tried 2 different procedures. I kept 1 egg out in normal balcony conditions. What I mean by normal is that I kept it out with other plants. The rosemary plant shaded the eggs because I was afraid it would be too much sun. I watered it every other day and just kept an eye on it. I was sure not to over water it. Most of the time I sprinkled it with water just to make sure the soil was moist.

The 2nd procedure was a “Mickey Mouse” job. I pretty much tried to recreate a green house effect by keeping the egg in a plastic bag. I pretty much place the egg in a carton that I placed into a plastic bag. I sprayed some water just to have some kind of moisture. It was a really poorly attempt to build a mini size green house. I didn’t even take photos of it.. maybe on my next post I’ll show you.

I have to say.. I did notice a difference in the plants. Here is the first basil plant grown in “normal” conditions. You’ll notice a small leave popping out from the soil. When I saw this I was so excited! I actually picked the phone and called my loved one at work. Ha Ha. But here is a tiny plant starting to grow. From the looks of it, she’s going to be a shy one.

As for the 2nd plant, you can really notice a difference! Look how tall these babies are. They really stretched out and were not shy at all. Looks like these boys are going to be strong. Look, there are 4 seedlings.. I hope this does not cause over crowding.

By the way, I did try another seedling in a small container. I wanted to see the difference in growth. In this photo you’ll notice a slight green dot on the top right corner. Take a good look or you’ll miss it. It looks like something is growing but this one may be too young to come out and play just yet. Let’s give him a couple more days.

I have to admit it is so rewarding to see the little seedlings! It all started as a little seed and now little seedlings. I could only imagine when they become full grown plants! I’m so excited.. actually my family is a little excited also. They already claimed the plants… but but but.. they’re my babies!  So I started a couple more!  Woo Hoo!

Balcony Garden Update Tuesdays 10/30/12

It’s Tuesday and it’s time to do my Tuesday’s update with my balcony garden. At first I was not too sure if I wanted to share the update with any readers out there. Then I thought, this is why I started the blog in the first place. I wanted to share my progress in building a balcony garden. I wanted to share the triumphs of harvesting any flowers, herbs and even vegetables. I want to seek advice for my failures of wiltering flowers, dying plants or even disaster experiments. So either good or bad I should share my experience.

Sterilizing Sand for my Balcony Garden

As you already know, I'm on my way to experimenting on rooting some of my neighborhood plants.  Rooting is a process of getting cuttings to grow roots for you to plant.  It sounds difficult and it is.  But let's start by sterilizing sand.

Trash? I think not..

Ever since I've started my balcony garden.  I have been trying to use.. or more like reuse things.  I believe we all have things that we can reuse for another propose.  As in bottle jars can be reused for storing food, a coffee can reuse as a pot for a plant.. the list can go on.  There is the saying, "One man's trash is another persons treasure."  Well I found someone’s trash and it was my treasure.  Someone threw out a perfectly fine crate today.  Luckily I saw it and quickly grabbed it.  It fit perfectly on my balcony as a storing shelf.  It's perfect.. thank you to that anonymous person that had no need for it and threw it away.  Now I doubled my space.

I know it's a simple thing but I feel good to be able to reuse something.  I wonder what you have reused?  What's the most creative thing have you reused?  I would love to hear about it.  Pictures would be great also.. I'll be sure to post here for everyone to see.  Thank you and keep reusing.  

Sterilize Soil for my garden?

Sterilize soil?  I bet your asking yourself, "sand is dirt, it's suppose to be dirty".  Of course being the "need to know why" type of person.  I looked up why do we need to sterilize soil if it supposed to be dirty.  From what I gathered, most commercial products puts its sand through a process that sterilizes the soil before it is sold in stores.  They do this to get rid of anything that is not wanted in the dirt.

Balcony Garden Update Tuesday

Well it's about 2 weeks since a started my balcony garden. I can remember like it was yesterday. I stepped out onto my balcony while I sipped my morning brew. I gazed upon 2 dwarf trees down at my knees. The calamansi has a sweet smell coming from the delicate white flowers. The single fruit hangs on by a twig on the lemon tree. It calls to be picked or does it just want to show off its bright yellow color. I stand there, imagining.