Last year was the first one when we had our own garden patch from the gardening association in our town. This garden was our go-to during all the weekends when we did not have another outdoor activity planned. We tried our hand at growing vegetables or relaxed by the fire grilling. But mainly we used it as a safe place for our kid to consume energy and do what kids do.
At the end of February, we started with some cleaning and preparing planting beds.
At the beginning of March, we prepared seedlings of vegetables that we buy a lot. We used plastic containers from take away or the supermarket vegetables. After filling them up with soil and planting the seeds, we watered them and left them on the balcony. In the end it took almost two months to see seedlings coming out of the soil. So our assumption that the balcony is a bit warmer then the garden was wrong and this year we are keeping the seedlings inside the apartment, hoping they will grow faster.
In the garden, things started to come back to life by the end of March to middle of April. We kept the flowers to a minimum, just along the front fence because we are practical people who are motivated to tend to things that actually produce something. We planted a few red currant bushed the previous year because the kid loves them, but only if he can pluck them himself. My mother-in-law helped with with the onion bed. We also had onions and garlic from last year, which we learned one should leave in the ground over the winter to get to the big size. Not pictured here is the potatoes bed, which we decided to have just for fun and because we had some potatoes that are not normally in the standard supermarket supply.
By mid-May, things were starting to shape-up nicely. The weather was now warm enough, so we planted the few seedling we got. We also got lucky with a neighbour, who had too many tomato seedlings, so we got about 20 of those and were able to try our hand with tomatos too. Not pictured here are the seedlings from cucumbers and melons, which we bought from a local farmer.
We added a pergola in the back of the garden to create a sitting space. The frame and the concrete tiles were placed there in 2021. Last year we added the finishing touches – fabric to provide shade and light bulbs for decoration.
By mid-May, we were practically finished with the planting phase. In the first months of spring, the garden generally looks very neat and weeds are easy to keep at bay. While this part was mostly work and no produce, it was still satisfying to see how investing just a few hours every week pays off.