Practical advice & moral support for the small-scale gardener
September is the month of harvest, though that is perhaps too strong a word for what I do on my balcony. Without much premeditation, my garden has become quite fruit-forward — I have figs, woodland strawberries, lemons, and olives (yes, also a fruit) — and their production is comically small, both in terms of size…
Few edible plants give you as much bang for your buck as herbs. They brighten up spring and summer when fresh and, with a very small investment of time and effort, can be dried for year-round enjoyment. As summer winds down and my herbs stop growing as vigorously, I harvest them all. Dried herbs have…
I was set to have a bumper olive crop this year. When I came back from vacation in August to a mix of successes and failures on the balcony, my olive tree’s abundant fruits consoled me. Fast forward one month, and every single one of those olives has been eaten by rats. Signs of rat activity…
You have to admire the tenacity of figs. Not only are they one of the oldest cultivated fruits known to humankind, with traces of them found in Neolithic sites dating to 5000 B.C.E., but they can grow anywhere, even the most inhospitable locations. The key to successful container gardening is choosing plants whose natural growing conditions closely resemble…
Mid-May is a great time to stand back and admire the progress our gardens have made since the start of spring, even if it hasn’t felt like spring. The month kicked off with a week of rain and highs in the 50s! On my balcony and around the region, many plants are behind schedule due…