As you all may know, late last year, around October time, The Little Balcony was dismantled and taken apart, due to our recent move and since then, and luckily for me, there wasn't really much I could do anyway in the way of gardening, as winter was also setting in for the year.
The new year has now come around and normally around this time of the year I'd start prepping for this year growing session, which I really enjoy doing, I can't normally wait to get all the seeds out and starting planning where I should grow things, but due to my lack of garden or balcony, I'm unable to do this and I'm feeling a little lost.
There is a new move on the horizon and hopefully this will mean a new garden, yes an actual garden, which I can't wait to start digging up and growing fruit and vegetables in. Look out for the updates.
Showing posts with label The Little Balcony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Little Balcony. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Friday, 5 October 2012
New Home for The Little Balcony
Sadly last weekend The Little Balcony was packed up and taken to a new location. Our current London flat was sold, which we had been planning for a whole and in a very mad last minute rush, due to a last minute change, we moved to a new rented London flat, which unfortunately does not have a garden or a balcony, as I had hoped.
During the move, I had to get rid of all the vegetable plants, which included the last of the Tomatoes, Chilies and Courgettes; luckily it was coming to the end of the session so these were ready to be thrown away. Otherwise along with the Herbs, the Brussels Sprout plant, which is still growing away and the Strawberry plants, these were all taken to my mum’s house up north in Chester, which will be their new home.
I am a little sad about this, as I won't be able to plant anything new next year, but it will give me time to start on the cook book, which I've been trying to get off the ground for the last couple of years. Hopefully we will be moving somewhere new in about six months and a garden/balcony is high on my list.
Having said that I did manage to keep a few plants, which hopefully will survive indoors on the kitchen windowsill, I have a Lavender plant, the Vietnamese Coriander plant, a Parsley plant and two Chili plants, which are still flowering and then all the other house plants.
During the move, I had to get rid of all the vegetable plants, which included the last of the Tomatoes, Chilies and Courgettes; luckily it was coming to the end of the session so these were ready to be thrown away. Otherwise along with the Herbs, the Brussels Sprout plant, which is still growing away and the Strawberry plants, these were all taken to my mum’s house up north in Chester, which will be their new home.
I am a little sad about this, as I won't be able to plant anything new next year, but it will give me time to start on the cook book, which I've been trying to get off the ground for the last couple of years. Hopefully we will be moving somewhere new in about six months and a garden/balcony is high on my list.
Having said that I did manage to keep a few plants, which hopefully will survive indoors on the kitchen windowsill, I have a Lavender plant, the Vietnamese Coriander plant, a Parsley plant and two Chili plants, which are still flowering and then all the other house plants.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
The Little Balcony 2012
As regular readers of The Little Balcony will know, I started documenting the coming and goings of balcony growing life through my blog, in early June of last year. Our new London flat's balcony was a great little experiment to try and see what could and could not grow, having only ever had a very tiny balcony before this one, I through myself into this and six months on, I have learned so much more than I ever through I would.
The New Year is now upon us and this year I want to take everything I learned from last year and make the balcony even better, this year. Planning has already begun, with a stock check of seeds and I've been keeping a close eye on the Onions, Garlic, Cabbage, Carrots and Leeks which have been overwintered from late last year, along with the Strawberry Runners. I would have preferred a colder winter, maybe even some snow to help everything a long, but I keep peeking outside and they all seem to be doing well regardless.
Vegetable sowing and growing plans are in the early stages, while doing the seed stock check; I've also been putting a growing chart together for what I have also, so I'm able to plan out the best way to fit all of the different crops into the balcony. I'm not giving any hints away as of yet, but there will be some second goes at vegetables that didn't grow very well last year and a few new ones that I've been desperate it try out.
As for the cook book, I really must say that last year I didn't do a lot on this, as I wanted to concentrate more on the balcony and seeing what I could grow. Having taken the time to do this, as well as using all the vegetables grown to test out recipes, I'm now ready to start putting the first draft together and I'll hopefully have the book complete soon.
The New Year is now upon us and this year I want to take everything I learned from last year and make the balcony even better, this year. Planning has already begun, with a stock check of seeds and I've been keeping a close eye on the Onions, Garlic, Cabbage, Carrots and Leeks which have been overwintered from late last year, along with the Strawberry Runners. I would have preferred a colder winter, maybe even some snow to help everything a long, but I keep peeking outside and they all seem to be doing well regardless.
Vegetable sowing and growing plans are in the early stages, while doing the seed stock check; I've also been putting a growing chart together for what I have also, so I'm able to plan out the best way to fit all of the different crops into the balcony. I'm not giving any hints away as of yet, but there will be some second goes at vegetables that didn't grow very well last year and a few new ones that I've been desperate it try out.
As for the cook book, I really must say that last year I didn't do a lot on this, as I wanted to concentrate more on the balcony and seeing what I could grow. Having taken the time to do this, as well as using all the vegetables grown to test out recipes, I'm now ready to start putting the first draft together and I'll hopefully have the book complete soon.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
The End of Summer
Today is officially the last meteorological day of Summer and The Little Balcony has had some good and bad times during this growing season, with plenty more still happening.
But I'm looking forward to my winter growing, for early spring / summer next year and I can't wait to start exploring new Vegetable and Fruit ideas that I may have in store for next years Balcony.
But I'm looking forward to my winter growing, for early spring / summer next year and I can't wait to start exploring new Vegetable and Fruit ideas that I may have in store for next years Balcony.
Friday, 29 July 2011
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Thursday, 21 July 2011
The Creation of the Cook Book
The idea behind The Little Balcony blog came from the idea that I wanted to create a cook book. I love cooking and I have so many recipes cut out of magazines, scribbled down ingredients from TV shows I've seen. Not to mention the small collections of cook books I already own, some of which hold some of my most favorite dishes, which I've adapted over the years to my own tast.
But also being a keen and not so adventurous vegetable gardener, usually only tomatoes, herbs, chili and peppers and the odd strawberry plant. I though I might see how hard it was to grow more exciting fruit and vegetables and use these in the recipes I had started to put together for the cook book, from the large selection I'd collected over the years and the many recipes my mother has taught me.
Having only a small balcony I knew this would be a challenge, but I started to buy the 'Grow Your Own' garden magazine, plus others, which sometimes come with free seeds, as well the RHS book 'Vegetables in a Small Garden' and I started to put a plan together to see which fruit and vegetables were suitable to grow in pots, planters and hanging baskets and this is how The Little Balcony blog and cook book started.
Now I can't take credit for the name, this came from my boyfriend Zac, but all the balcony garden planning and growing I have done, except the chilies. Having decided to create a book, I did a lot of research on creating your own book and remembered a friend had done this with a website called BLURB, I registered with them. I then spent sometime looking at other peoples designs on the site and decided I wanted to create a cook book of easy recipes that could be cooked any day of the week and would appeal to everybody.
Slowly I started to create a list of dishes and before I knew it I had nearly 40 recipes, ranging from starters to deserts as well as jams, dressings and drinks and all of which contain ingredients that I could grow on my balcony. I also started to develop a strong idea of how I visually saw the book. Now I'm not going to give too much away, but the ideas for the page designs slowly came to me, so from having an idea of what I wanted to appear on the pages I started to plan what I could grow and recorded this through this blog.
But also being a keen and not so adventurous vegetable gardener, usually only tomatoes, herbs, chili and peppers and the odd strawberry plant. I though I might see how hard it was to grow more exciting fruit and vegetables and use these in the recipes I had started to put together for the cook book, from the large selection I'd collected over the years and the many recipes my mother has taught me.
Having only a small balcony I knew this would be a challenge, but I started to buy the 'Grow Your Own' garden magazine, plus others, which sometimes come with free seeds, as well the RHS book 'Vegetables in a Small Garden' and I started to put a plan together to see which fruit and vegetables were suitable to grow in pots, planters and hanging baskets and this is how The Little Balcony blog and cook book started.
Now I can't take credit for the name, this came from my boyfriend Zac, but all the balcony garden planning and growing I have done, except the chilies. Having decided to create a book, I did a lot of research on creating your own book and remembered a friend had done this with a website called BLURB, I registered with them. I then spent sometime looking at other peoples designs on the site and decided I wanted to create a cook book of easy recipes that could be cooked any day of the week and would appeal to everybody.
Slowly I started to create a list of dishes and before I knew it I had nearly 40 recipes, ranging from starters to deserts as well as jams, dressings and drinks and all of which contain ingredients that I could grow on my balcony. I also started to develop a strong idea of how I visually saw the book. Now I'm not going to give too much away, but the ideas for the page designs slowly came to me, so from having an idea of what I wanted to appear on the pages I started to plan what I could grow and recorded this through this blog.
Sunday, 12 June 2011
The Beginning of My Garden 2011
Gardening has been something I've been interested in and dabbling in for many years. Living in London I've found it very challenging, as many of the places I've lived in, mainly flats with small balconies, are not ideal for growing fruit and vegetables. But with a little imagination and some research, I've managed to grow many things in very small places, in tubs, pots and hanging baskets.
My inspiration for this years garden, came from my idea to create a cook book. I wanted to put together a book of my favorite recipes, simple dishes containing foods I love to eat and all of which contain the fruit and vegetables I love to grow in my garden or my Little Balcony.
I've created this blog to follow the creation of my first cook book 'The Little Balcony: Cook Book' and along with it, how I've grown the fruit and vegetables which will be used in these recipes.
My inspiration for this years garden, came from my idea to create a cook book. I wanted to put together a book of my favorite recipes, simple dishes containing foods I love to eat and all of which contain the fruit and vegetables I love to grow in my garden or my Little Balcony.
I've created this blog to follow the creation of my first cook book 'The Little Balcony: Cook Book' and along with it, how I've grown the fruit and vegetables which will be used in these recipes.
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