Apartment Garden Blues (Blog): My Favorite Places

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Published on Friday, July 12 2013 21:03

Written by Alexandra Martin

Some of my favorite places on earth have to be pristinely manicured public gardens. I grew up in a town outside of Philadelphia, and my mom and I would drive out to Longwood Gardens a few times a year (we had memberships), and I always had a blast there. There was a the history of the place, including the Peirce-du Pont House, which dates back to 1730, and the chimes tower, which I always pretended was a dungeon filled with ghosts.

And then there were the trees I'd play under (one tree was low-growing and had a canopy that completely enclosed an open area inside - a perfect place for a campsite!), the exotic cacti and succulents growing in the greenhouse and the Children's Garden maze.

Now as an adult living in California, I have access to many more public gardens, and I always try to visit one when I'm on vacation. There are so many more public gardens that I want to visit!

I love that BalconyContainerGardening.com has a listing of public gardens. How many public gardens have you visited that are on the list? Are we missing any great gardens? Let us know at Facebook.com/BalconyContainerGardening.

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Alexandra Martin is a professional writer from Southern California who grows vegetables, herbs, lots of aloe vera and one giant Boston fern in her balcony garden. She also grows dracaena, pothos and English ivy indoors. She loves traveling and birdwatching in addition to gardening.

Apartment Garden Blues (Blog): Adapting to a New Balcony

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Published on Friday, July 05 2013 20:50

Written by Alexandra Martin

It's official! I'll be moving to a new apartment very soon. This means that I'll have to adapt my garden to a whole new balcony — unfortunately, a very dark balcony. I've done it before, so I'm sure I can do it again.

I used to live in an apartment with a lovely south-facing balcony that had no shade (and it was huge!). I also had a private entrance with my own set of stairs that I could grow plants on to make a stair garden. I grew sunflowers very successfully and had neighbors stop me to compliment me on my wonderful flowers. I could grow anything I wanted, and I did. But then I moved.

I then had to adapt to a more shady balcony garden that had trees and pine needles constantly falling onto the balcony and in my plant containers. I couldn't grow beautiful showy flowers, but I found very interesting plants to grow and had a thriving garden.

Now I need to adapt to even less light, which I'm not looking forward to. It's very difficult, as you may know, when you're looking for a new apartment that has everything you want. Sometimes you have to take an apartment that faces north because that's the best one available in your area at that time. I'll chronicle my new balcony gardening in upcoming posts.

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Alexandra Martin is a professional writer from Southern California who grows vegetables, herbs, lots of aloe vera and one giant Boston fern in her balcony garden. She also grows dracaena, pothos and English ivy indoors. She loves traveling and birdwatching in addition to gardening.

Apartment Garden Blues (Blog): Water and Electricity

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Published on Friday, June 28 2013 18:05

Written by Alexandra Martin

Two things I really wish I had access to on my balcony garden are water and electricity. My gardening hobby would be so much easier if I had a hose hookup and an electrical outlet.

When I dream about the perfect balcony garden, I think of how I’d install an automatic watering system. That would save me more than two hours every week that I spend just filling up water jugs at the kitchen sink, lugging them outside and watering each container separately. I could spend more time lounging outside, reading a book and enjoying the plants. If I had an electrical outlet, I could also string up romantic string lights and spend warm summer nights outside with my husband.

And Christmas time would be a cinch! In the past, I’ve plugged in Christmas lights inside, popped out a window screen and sent them outside that way. But I could never completely close the window, and even in Southern California it can get a bit cold at night.

What would you have in your perfect balcony garden?

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Alexandra Martin is a professional writer from Southern California who grows vegetables, herbs, lots of aloe vera and one giant Boston fern in her balcony garden. She also grows dracaena, pothos and English ivy indoors. She loves traveling and birdwatching in addition to gardening.