When in spirng we moved into this flat which includes a BALCONY people - including me - asumed that by now said balcony would be some sort of impassable ... jungle, looking something like this one.

The truth is ... I’ve been very restrictive with myself and YES you can still stand on the balcony, YES there are three (!) chairs on it and one table, although it’s not usable because of plants standing on it. I like my semi-jungle and I have great plans for it.

For now I just want to show you some pictures of my little urban garden.



The table :)
One of my two 'Balkonkasten', also called the salad bar. There’s basil, rocket salad, lettuce, buck’s horn plantain, coriander, more lettuce and garlic ...
The pots contain more basil (it’s cuban bush basil), rose scented geranium (pelagonium graveolens) and lemon cented geranium (pelagonium citronellum)




Basil and lattuce.



The coriander is - against all my efforts to stop him - desperatly trying to bloom.



On the ground there is




laurel




bell shaped chili pepper (Capsicum baccatum 'Glockenpaprika')




coctail tomato and celery (not in the picture)



courgette



In the other corner:



runner beans (visual-cover-to-be) and the flower pot the sparrows sowed

(originally there was some oregano in it. When I put the pot onto the balcony in early spring it stood right under the bird house. Some day the sparrows hijaked the house, looted it and accidentially sowed some sunflowers and cereals ... last year they planted the cereals into the roof gutter - my landlady was not amused!)



The second 'Balkonkasten' containing parsley, indian cress, more lattuce, some herb I don’t know, but which tastes great, thyme rattail radish (raphanus caudatus) and some forgotten radishes (blooming right now)

Also you can see a bottle containing my efforts in trying to make nettle fertilizer.




thyme and basil



parsley and lettuce



The blooming rattail radish (you eat the young seed vessels)

Not in the pictures are a big pot of oregano, wild basil (Ocimum species 'Cresto'), more trying-to-bloom-coriander and the stuff I collect for my parents

What do you think!?! I like going out there and collenct my food (I don’t like having to water them every day ... )

I don’t think there will be much more in 2012, no worm compost, no mushrooms, no lettuce tree, no hanging cucumbers, no ...