Welcome Back!

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Well, hello there my 1.5 readers per month! Did ya miss me?

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Since it's late February (and I live in one of the mildest climates in Canada), I figured that it was time to get on the balcony garden if I want to have it ready by the spring. Hey, the crocuses have been blooming here for several weeks, and I seen my first daffodils blooming only the other day. It's that time of year again.

The first thing I did was go through the compost pail. Composting has been a mixed success for me so far. As you can see in the buckets below, there is a lot of nice, loamy soil that has been created - but not all of it composted equally. On the right you can see the remains of last summer's potato plants, which obviously did not fully decompose, so I picked most of it out and threw it into the trash before spreading the rest around in the pots on the balcony.
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After I was done with the compost, I planted some tomato seeds and pepper seeds in small yoghurt containers I've been saving up over the winter. In another week or two, I'll start some cucumber seeds in a few more containers. I hope these little things work out. Last year I used a few coffee cups, and that worked out okay. I'm going to try to grow everything from seed this year, to cut down on expenses.
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I also planted some kale in two of the large pots, hoping that they will sprout and grow early in the spring, so that by May I can harvest it and use the pots for a different crop during the summer. I'm not sure if it's too early in the year... perhaps we might get another frost, and perhaps not, but at least kale is a cool weather plant so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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This year I need to get the little garden producing better!
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I'm fairly inexperienced starting a garden from seed, but here is an excellent article on the subject that I found over at the Game and Garden Blog which gave me a lot good pointers. Another good post on how to start plants from seed can be found at Sensible Survival.
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Balcony Garden Update, Composting and Salad Greens Harvesting

Here's a couple of shots of the balcony I took today. It's grown in quite nicely and I'm very pleased with how it's looking. It's very nice and lush and I enjoy sitting out in my chair and watching my little project come to fruition. The beans (below centre) have started grasping onto the railing and I'm getting excited to see how well they fill in and provide some shade and privacy for my little perch in the sky. 
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Middle: Climbing Beans -- Right: Potatoes

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Although it doesn't show very well in the picture, the potatoes (above right) have been hilled up. Man, do these bloody things grow fast. And to think, only a few weeks ago they were so late in coming up that I though they might not come up at all! At first I piled the soil up from around the plants, but that wasn't enough dirt so I had to buy another bag of potting soil mix and pour it into the container until it was around 5 or 6 inches from the top of the plant, but now, again, they are at least 12 inches high again! They literally are growing about an inch a day. I know they should be hilled much higher, but I fear I will only be able to add another 3 or 4 inches of soil to the hills before it will overflow out of the container. That will just have to be that then. I hope they still work out okay.
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Radishes

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My radishes (above) look good - but I fear for them. I don't think I thinned them nearly well enough. They are actually overdue to be picked, having been out there for around a month while the package says they should be ready in three weeks, but I have left them in a bit longer because the actual radishes beneath are doing the pits. I've pulled up the odd one and there is nothing at all on the root, so I dug around a bit with my little shovel and found a few - but they are not the norm and are not very large. On the package it said to thin them about 2 inches between the plants, but I seen other people who were doing them about 1 inch apart. I fear I have fallen prey to the container-gardener's disease and planted too many, too close. I'll harvest them in a couple more days to see but I'm not holding my breath.  
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The compost has been going for around a month now, with me turning it over about once a week. It's starting to look pretty good down below, and has that rich (smelly) fertilizer smell to it. The bucket was about half full, so I used it and spread it around the garden since I haven't fertilized at all this year yet. Next year, I should get a compost bucket going a little earlier in the season so I can give the plants a jump-start right away.
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Left: Great Lakes Lettuce & Mesclun Mix Lettuce -- Right: Red Russian Kale

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I've harvested three salads from the balcony over the past week or two. Also, as you can see, I've acquired a kitchen scale which I picked up at Walmart for $11. I want to keep track of the harvests that I'm getting from my containers so I can monitor their output over the years - both in terms of quantity of produce, and in the monetary value of said produce, so that hopefully I can custom tailor my garden to be the most efficient this "little balcony that could" can be. So far, I've harvested a total of 8oz of salad greens in three pickings.
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The leaves have all been very tasty and healthy looking - out of all the ones I've picked, only one leaf, shown on the bottom right below, had some white spots on it and needed to be tossed out.
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I used leaves from the Mesclun Mix and the Great Lakes Lettuce, both of which I've been growing in smaller, low-level containers that I keep shaded behind my large containers. They have been doing well and haven't had any wilting problems on hot days this way, although, it will get much hotter in another month or two, so I'll have to keep an eye on it. Also, despite its apparent popularity, I've found I don't much care for the Mesclun Mix - the one plant has a kind of liquorish flavour which I don't like in salad, and there are an awful lot of stalks to have to pick through in the other plants, which seem to basically just be ruffage - you certainly wouldn't eat much of it without some other leaves added! All in all, I like the Great Lakes Lettuce much better (although there is some of that in the Mesclun Mix too), and found I much prefer it with some other vegetables added, like carrots, cucumbers, brocolli & cauliflower. If the salad greens peter out in the upcoming hot season, the Mesclun Mix will be the first to go. Next time, I'd rather double the amount of Great Lakes Lettuce than pick through a mix of plants I only partially like eating.
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Also, in the third salad, I tossed in a number of leaves from my Red Russian Kale, which has been growing gangbusters. The kale tasted good in the salad - it was quite tender and added a nice flavour. I wasn't sure about growing kale in the spring, since it is much better as a fall plant and there are only a few other plants I can grow well into the fall, but I did want to try it for using in salads throughout the summer, and I'm glad I did.
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How To Make Compost For Your Balcony Garden

I set out on making a compost pail for the balcony this weekend and I found this great "how-to" video made by "crazyaboutcompost.com". It's really not that hard at all to start composting on the balcony. 
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Step #1 - Get two plastic buckets and a drill.
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Step #2 - Drill several holes throughout one bucket to provide both air and drainage for your compost. Place the bucket with the drilled holes inside of the other pail, to capture run-off moisture and keep your balcony clean.
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Step #3 - Add a layer of "brown" materials, such as sawdust, shredded cardboard or paper.
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Step #4 - Add a layer of "green" material, such as leaves or grass clippings, like the ones I pinched from the yard-maintenance crew when they mowed the complex's lawn the other day.
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Step #5 - Add your food scraps like coffee grounds, fruit cores, vegetable peels, and any garden refuse. You can basically add anything organic that isn't from an animal - except for egg shells, those are okay too. After some organic refuse has built up, cover it with more greens and repeat the process.
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Step #6 - Continue adding layers as the compost builds in the bucket, occasionally stirring the mix. If the mixture gets too dry, you may need to add water to it, although with the moisture in material like grass clippings there likely won't be any need to add water.

You don't necessarily need to leave the lid on the bucket, but I'm going to because it gives me another place to keep a pot, although, I think I'll keep the lid slightly ajar to let in more air. In a few weeks, there should be compost ready to spread on the plants.
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The Composting Journal
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May 22, 2014
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The compost has been going for around a month now, with me turning it over about once a week. It's starting to look pretty good down below, and has that rich (smelly) fertilizer smell to it. The bucket was about half full, so I used it and spread it around the garden since I haven't fertilized at all this year yet. Next year, I should get a compost bucket going a little earlier in the season so I can give the plants a jump-start right away.
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Note - During this time, I did add an empty olive jar underneath the main bucket, to raise it out of the second bucket and create more airflow.
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February 26, 2015
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The first thing I did was go through the compost pail. Composting has been a mixed success for me so far. As you can see in the buckets below, there is a lot of nice, loamy soil that has been created - but not all of it composted equally. On the right you can see the remains of last summer's potato plants, which obviously did not fully decompose, so I picked most of it out and threw it into the trash before spreading the rest around in the pots on the balcony.
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