The Garden

For those of you who don't know I have a garden...well, a balcony that desperately wants to be a garden.....that I desperately want to be a garden. It has the obligatory space for a row of flower boxes, in which one plants: Geraniums. The rest of the balconey is for sitting on.....this is the accepted practice, in fact, this Summer weather right now is also referred to as 'Balcony weather'. Based on my authorative and extensive study of Swiss culture and traditions, I've come to the conclusion that there are three types of gardening practised in der Schweiz (note the dative preposition with feminine Noun - in der Schweiz....my German is getting a little better :)).

1. Flower boxes. Considering how many people live in apartments, this is not particurly suprising. What is a little disturbing though, is that there is very little variation in what is planted in these boxes....well you can chose the colour - Geraniums. I actually like Geraniums, partly because they really are industructable and I suspect nothing else is going to survive the full-force of the sun that hits the front of my balcony. However, variety is the spice of life!
2. The garden. This belongs to those lucky people who have a house, or the bottom floor of an apartment......but don't assume you can just plant a garden. Quite a few people I know with 'garden space' can only keep pots on the paved area or add flowers to any existing flower beds. Those with an inclination to garden (and permission) usually create the usual green space, filled with flowers, shrubs and small trees. Some of the ornaments are a little, well, interesting. Bright baubles on sticks, fake birds, concrete animals/gnomes and 'artistic' rocks. Vegetables and other edible items are strictly for.......
3. The allotment. I think this is a very familar concept, especially for anyone who has ever lived in Britian, the main differences appear to be that a) I have Buckleys of ever getting one, and b) you don't just grow vegetables there. Most of the allotments I have seen here have their own minature little holiday homes on them, with paths, flagpoles and landscaping of sorts....I feel it's more a lifestyle.
   

Back to my Garden (yes there is some random capitalisation of nouns - I blame learning German). My aim is to grow everything I possibly can on the balcony. I have giant plastic ikea tubs, window boxes and plastic pots. I think I'm doing a little better this year, definetely better than 50% sucess rate :) Some of it may not even have been my fault. We had a very long, cold, wet Spring this year (so depressing!) and I think that accounts for the failure of the sugar snap peas, snowpeas and why the sweetpeas are only now putting forth a few meagre blossoms. The chilli plants are also rather sick, struggling is the word. Also, the base of my flourishing cucumber rotted for no aparent reason. On the other side of the coin, the dill and coriander bolted as soon as the sun came out......it's just wrong! A plant with only 4 leaves should not be allowed to bolt.

My favourite plant is the Grapevine. It's didn't really do anything last year (well it survived Winter!) but this Spring it burst into leafy foliage....and then, tiny bunches of grapes! The bunches are still there and the individual grapes are getting bigger, I'm so excited. There are 11 bunches, it's amazing. However, I'm feeling some stirrings of unease as some of the leaves are turning very pale and yellow. The problem is (and this is common to many plants in my Garden) it could be a case of under watering or over watering....I can't tell. The sage is also sporting a few yellow leaves. Expert comments are welcome!

The Balcony is a bit of a mess right now (well, there is room for sitting) as I'm still planting and potting like mad while the sunshine lasts. I have high hopes for the beans, cucumber, tomatoes (some of them) zuchinni and herbs. Just to be pedantic, here is a list: sage, parsely (flat and curley), dill, basil (3 types) oregano (2 types) tarragon, coriander, mint (3 types), thyme (2 types). rosemary, and spring onions. Not all of these are 'harvestable' as such, some have bolted, but they at least made an appearance. I just planted some more radishes, rocket, salad leaves, and purslane.

There is also a very thorney (but lovely) bush rose called 'Ingrid Bergman' which produces the most glorious roses - some of them have double centres which I've never seen before.....maybe I have a mutant rose?

Oh, and 1 small box of Geraniums! When in Rome and all that.