Gardening with my Mum

Last weekend Totally Inept Balcony Gardener tried her hand at gardening outside of her life of pots. On a balcony there is no ground so I have not have to bother planting in the ground itself for sometime (novel I know). At home in Adelaide over the weekend I decided to help my mother rejuvinate her garden after the horrible heat of summer. We removed some dead something-or-others (I cannot tell what half the plants are in her garden when they are alive, it's even harder when they are frizzled to a brown crisp!!!) and put in their place some herbs, veggies and a row of hopefully hardy white vincas.

It actually was the result of an accidental trip to the nursery. I wanted to pick up some seeds to give to the wedding couple and we ended up pottering by the seedling section. A snow pea seedling, a thai basil seedling, a vitenamese mint seedling and an italian parsley seedling later we found ourselves in flower paradise. I kept pointing out pretty hanging baskets, thinking all the time how they would look on my balcony. Mum had other ideas and realised the rather hardy plant within, a purslane, would look great in her urns. So yellow purslane was added to the mix. As were some red and orange heirloom carrot seeds, and coriander seeds (ooopss)

We got to work. The herbs in one patch, bookending two rows of carrots and some corriander on either end.







The vincas ( which mum has purchased a few days earlier at a bargain price) became close companions as a border plant.


The snow peas went up against the trellis at the back behind the statue lady. This, in years past never existed, it was a hedge. Heat meant the definite destruction of that and replacement with a trellis for annuals and veggies.


The purslane had to wait, it involved a complex removal and relocation of other plants in a chain too complex for me to undertand. And with the watering restrictions Mum did not feel it wise to tackle such a complex move at that time. I think she did it after I left. Hope it worked!


There you have it, proof that the balcony gardener can sow in containers and in the giant container called the earth!