Balcony Life

Here it is the middle of summer and yes, we have been enjoying the hotter days and evenings sitting on our balcony. It is always nice to be able to find that bit of time each day to sit and relax. Our balcony is a place where we can sit and enjoy a nice dinner as well because we have it set up in a way that the two of us can enjoy a meal.

Our balcony is also a place that we can pull out our computers and sit and work on those days when you just don't want to be inside anymore. Knowing that we can sit, and work here is something that has been important to us, as it makes meeting deadlines a little easier when focusing inside just isn't working.

Something that we have been doing for the last few years is growing flowers and even vegetables on our balcony. We started with tomatoes a few years ago, but that didn't work out too well, as the cherry tomatoes liked escaping just when they were ready to be picked and enjoyed. I think people below us wondering where all the tomatoes were coming from. Our superintendent at the time made a comment about how he was finding cherry tomatoes on his patio, and I laughed and said those were the escape artists from our balcony.

During the lock-down, we did try and get some flowers so that we could at least have something on the balcony for when we were stuck at home and not able to go out and about. Those flowers did work out pretty well, even through we were late getting them, so didn't get to enjoy the total beauty of the flowers that year.

For the last couple of years, we have been having some fun and that was adding vegetables back into the mix of what we are growing on our balcony. Last year we grew tomatoes and peppers, yes, some cherry tomatoes, but I kept a better eye on them, and we put up some netting along the edge of the balcony to try and catch the escape artists. The only thing about the tomatoes last year were try grew really well, and we ended up having a hedge on the edge of the balcony. Also, when it out extremely windy, the tomatoes plants sometimes wanted to fall over, so that also didn't help. The peppers did work out pretty well last year, and we had some sweet peppers that we were able to enjoy near the end of the season.

This year, what we decided was we were only going to grow peppers as well as some flowers, and I think it is working out so much better. We may not get as many vegetables from the balcony, but we are still enjoying it. We currently have one pepper that is getting very close to being picked, and then there are some peppers that are currently growing on some of the other plants.

Our balcony is our escape during those hot summer evenings, and it gives us a place where we can take care of our flowers and have the place where we can relax. The view from the balcony is pretty good as we can watch planes, and we can also watch what is going on in our own neighbourhood.

Don't be afraid to try and grow something on your balcony if you have one. Not everything is going to work out, but it is still fun seeing what grows and what doesn't grow. You may even be surprised what flowers return the coming year that aren't perennials. Enjoy your balcony when you can because it gives you that outdoor area without having to be around people.