My massage therapist and I discussed the Grow Your Own Food movement (it seems to be a popular topic.) He shared that he loves balcony gardening vegetables! In general (and compared to the average grocery store veggies), we both emphatically agreed: Yes, we preferred the flavor of our own fresh-picked ones better. As I lay on his table, we waxed enthusiastically about the joy of watching our plants bear food for us. Clean, organic, and fresh..right from our little micro and nano farms.
Growing your own food on a small apartment balcony
Brian Simms, RMT, grows a full season of nutritious produce from his crop of balcony gardening vegetables. He proves that there are novel and inspiring approaches to “zero mile” locavore cuisine opportunities for almost everyone! Sure, we’ve all seen the totally dreamy (and pricey!) vertical setups like this one, but you can still get a great harvest from even a simple setup!
I’ve already shared my own experiences on an abundant bounty in this post. I now invite Brian to guest post and share his little urban farm space with you; he provided this wonderful narrative and photos. As the temperatures drop, enjoy his last little taste of an urban harvest! Take it away, Brian…
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My Balcony Gardening Vegetables Story
I was surprisingly lucky enough to find an apartment with a south-facing balcony in Ottawa’s “The Glebe” neighborhood. When I first moved into the apartment, I could see that the previous tenants had tried to grow some flowers in old tires, which they had left as trash after they moved out. When my landlord let me into my new home and noticed the neglected rings of decaying plant life, had quickly offered to dispose of them for me.
Seeing an opportunity, I asked him to just leave them in order that I could take full advantage of the long growing season this year!
How Brian created his balcony vegetable garden
Some of the herbs and vegetables were store-bought, and others planted from seed (as were the sunflowers and four o’clock), but all of my balcony gardening vegetables found a comfortable place to flourish in their now-loved rubber tire “planters.”
Brian’s bounty
My little balcony gardening vegetables gave me quite a few rounds of produce. Lovely zucchini, tomatoes, red/green/yellow peppers, and green onions fresh off my “farm.” I enjoyed an endless supply of herbs throughout the season. In particular? Rosemary, thyme, basil (many rounds of pesto), chives, coriander, spearmint, mojito mint, oregano, lemongrass…
Now the garlic bulbs have been planted in anticipation of the next spring.
Not anticipating that we will get many more frost-free nights, I have started harvesting as much of the remaining herbs as possible. As the last, sweet days of warm weather are dwindling. The decorative Norfolk Pines will soon be moved inside soon, too (where they will play the role of Christmas trees during the upcoming season).
Looking forward to getting a head start next year on balcony vegetable gardening and starting more plants from seed!
– Brian Simms
All images are used with permission.
You know that I’d love to hear your thoughts about balcony gardening vegetables, so leave your comments below!
Happy Eating! x
The vegies look great and of course so does Stella.