My Wee Garden is Growing

We live in an apartment, so there is no backyard for us to grow things in. I would love to be able to have the room to plant a full vegetable garden, but that is not yet to be.

I love growing vegetables. Years ago, I would plant in my sisters humongous yard with her, and reap the harvest that we both took care of. Now, my garden is reduced to planting a few choices veggies in pots that live on my balcony.

In pot # 1, I planted some green onions that I sprouted from grocery bought ones. The end cuttings in water got the roots going, and into the dirt they went. The birds who like to hang out on my balcony railing have picked away at the tops of these,  so I am currently making a plastic canvas wind sock type thing to hang in the area to keep the birds away. After the onions took root in their new home, I sprinkled lettuce seeds around the plants to try to make the most of the limited space that I have available.

Pot # 2 is home to radishes. Before I planted the seeds, I 'planted' a home made irrigation system ( 2L pop bottle with well placed holes in it) to keep the little guys well watered. Cub and I then made a 'racetrack' in the dirt around the top of the bottle with his toy bulldozer. We sprinkled radish seeds in the racetrack and covered them with a dirt blanket. I'm happy to report that 4 days later, they have already sprouted and are beginning their journey to our table.

In # 3, I put a mixture of cherry tomato seeds and pepper seeds. In the past few years, I would sprout seeds indoors, and plant only the hardiest plants in the pot, only to have the birds eat the plants, leaving me next to nothing. this year, I've planted dozens of seeds in the same container, in the hopes that I may get one or two plants of each after the birds have their fill.

If I had a yard to plant a full garden in, I would plant tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, squash, pumpkin, onions, lettuce, radishes, garlic, beans and peas. Oh how I miss those days in the garden, getting dirt under my nails.

Do you grow your own veggies? Have you ever had space challenges with gardening?