Tag: garden

Urban Gardening

This season, almost everybody in our building beautified their balconies, and the courtyard looks just splendid.

My balcony

Also, at the end of last summer, one of the neighbors put together two large planters using the pieces of old furniture that those who were moving in and out were throwing away. This neighbor has also moved since then, but the planters were ready to be used.

Eight people from the building including me were interested. We bought the solid together, and one of the neighbors fixed the planters (they were too low). And thus, we opened our first urban gardening season.

As you can see, I am trying yet again to grow dill. Maybe it will work this time???

Season Two Of Balcony Gardening

Last year, I planted late in the season, because I just moved in in May, and I had a lot of urgent things to address. And also, I needed to purchase the hardware and to figure out the logistics of gardening on the third floor.

But this season, I was able to start on time! There were other little things that I learned between seasons – about the flower baskets lining and soil reuse, taking the baskets off the railing, and such. Next season will be a charm!

My neighbors helped me again with delivering plants from the nursery, and I spent four hours last Saturday planting.

They’ve already grown since Saturday!!! And there were already several very warm days, so I could work for several hours outside. When the flowers are there, it’s a different look and feel!

My Balcony Garden

My amazing neighbors, who helped me to plan my balcony garden, took me to the WIndy City Nursery for flower shopping. I told them that they have to stop me because I am used to a bigger patch, but they laughed and said that this is therapeutic.

This whole project lasted for two weeks. I could not start with the garden when I moved because I was busy fixing the essentials, and then it was already “late in the season.” When I tried to buy the flower baskets, it turned out that most places were sold out. I finally purchased some on Amazon for a way higher price, and then it turned out that the “adjustable” brackets were not adjustable enough to fit my railing!
I tried to shop for different brackets, and then my neighbor who helped me with the bike told me that he could give me a saw to try to cut these brackets.

I spent a half-hour cutting one, and the baskets would still be wobbly. Then he told me that I could use zip tights to secure the baskets. It turned out they work perfectly! I should not have spent time on anything else!

The flower shopping was fantastic! The Windy City is a small family-owned place, but the variety of plants is truly amazing. I could not stop 🙂

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Gardening

Another weekend activity was planting my flower garden. For the past four years, each spring, something would happen which would prevent me from doing it the way I like.

In 2016, I just started my new job; I was traveling to Texas each week, and I do not even remember how that summer looked like. I remember that I only put some flowers in the planters on the deck. In 2017, the weather was really bad, and half of what I planted died. In 2018, I had my back surgery. And in 2019 I could not start panting until June, because it was so cold! Each spring, I was saying to myself that next year it will be better. And here comes 2020!

I knew that after this weekend, the weather wouldn’t be great for a while, so Sunday morning, I headed to the Home Depot. It was not “first thing in the morning,” I was up for almost five hours by that time, but 10 AM is still considered morning 🙂

At Home Depot, it was pretty well organized, they had a separate entrance and exit, and they only allowed a limited number of people into the store simultaneously. I have to say, that selection was not that great; I know pretty well what I need to get to have all of my flowerbeds and planters the way I want. This time, many items which I used to buy every year where not there. If it were business as usual, I would come back one more time and one more time and would visit other stores, but that time around, I decided that I will go with what they have. So unless I will run into them in Jewel-Osco, I won’t have any ivy, coleuses, or decorative sweet potato vines. But hey – I got a full trunk!

I started planting in the afternoon but managed to finish everything in one day.The weather was beautiful, I was outside in a t-short and capris, and I really like how it all turned out!

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