Balcony Garden (Day 3): The Groundwork ... again

New home, new balcony, new climate, new garden.

I'm so very happy that this new balcony is roughly four times the size of the old one. It's different also because it's approximately west south west facing, so it gets midday and afternoon sun. My last garden got morning and midday sun. I've moved in the last part of spring so am still able to get my spring planting done. Although most people already have green tomatoes on their bushes, my seeds have only just gone in.

After all my grandiose and well thought out plans for my garden, after all that my practical side has won out and I've readjusted my plans. Ideally I wanted my themed garden with exotic edibles and herbs, reality has decided though that this is not going to happen at this point in time. A lot of what i wanted to plant is not yet seasonally available, nor is some of it appropriate for this climate. I figured that I would initially establish my garden with the leftover shop bought seeds (thus not offending my sense of frugality and abhorrence of waste), supplement this with new seeds bought from the Diggers Club, compare the quality while at the same time experimenting with previously unfamiliar crops.

I also decided I would stick to expert advice this time about what plants to sow appropriate to my climate and time of year. I will try recommended methods of planting and propogating, and measure these results against my initial experimental style. I do think that you need to be fearless in gardening, prepared to take a chance and see what happens. But why not establish a baseline first?

With that in mind I have already planted my initial starters for my garden from my store bought seeds. I'm going to order my organic, non-GM (genetically modified) or  GE (genetically engineered), heirloom style seeds from Diggers and plant them when I get them. I will do my best to produce the best crop from each plant and compare the resultant produce. That way I can offer information based on actual first-hand evidence .

My basic garden is set up and the store bought plants I have planted are:
Basil
Beans (Dwarf)
Capsicum
Carrots
Coriander
Parsley
Silverbeet
Spinach
Tomatoes (Cherry)
Tomatoes (Grosse Lisse)

After five days, my basil was sprouting, six days saw the carrots and Silverbeet follow suit and now each day I see more and more seedlings popping up, so I must be doing something right!