First SQF garden on balcony....

This is my very first try at SQF gardening on a 2nd floor apartment in Bismarck, ND zone 4a.  My husband made the boxes from a parts crate at work.  We mixed Mel's Mix in our detached garage and carried about 14 (5) gallon buckets up 2 flights of stairs to fill the boxes and pots.  Planted last weekend because of 2 weeks of random snow and freezing rains.

Tomatoes in pots.  Squash, spinach, cauliflower, radishes, green onions, chives, jalapenos, cilantro, beans.

They look nice, and it looks like you didn't skimp on the vermiculite, which is good. Hope you have some great results!

Looks good, Jennybunny, this shows that SFG can be applied to very small areas.
Let us know how it goes and what results you get and don't forget to ask for help when needed.

And to the Forum,

Kelejan

Welcome to the group.  Its nice to see another SFG gardener on board.  Your boxes look terrific and you did great on the fill.  Good for you.
Growing in pots is a good way to go where space is limited.  You can grow your peppers in pots as well as the tomatoes.  And Herbs.  All the herbs you could want for your cooking can be grown in pots, too.

Have fun with your new venture.

Jb82 you are doing a great job with SFG in a small space. I really like what you are doing!

Jennybunny, Welcome to the Forum from California! Your husband did a great job re-purposing the crate into SFG boxes. Keep us posted on your balcony journey.

Welcome to the group. You are off and running, looks great.

sanderson wrote:Jennybunny,  Welcome to the Forum from California!    Your husband did a great job re-purposing the crate into SFG boxes.  Keep us posted on your balcony journey.

Hi Jennybunny82.  Welcome from Atlanta, GA!

+1 on the great re-purpose job.  Your garden looks terrific!

Thank yo so much y'all!  I am excited this year.  Last year we did herbs in our flower boxes on the railing boxes but my husband wanted flowers in the boxes.  We have HIGH winds so everything lays over by the middle of the season.  So far... going on week 2, the plants have enjoyed their transplant into the Mel's mix.  Minus my spinach.  I didn't know that it was a cool weather plant. They keep burning up as they come up.  We are getting a cold front in the middle of the week so maybe that will help them come up.

You might actually try the spinach inside.  At least the temps will be more controlled...

   from South Dakota, JB82!  I never have success with spinach either, as our spring and fall are always so short!

Well I have 2 tiny little spinach that are fighting t stay alive but I don't know how long they will last. I put carrots in their square and left the 2 little sproutlings.  Then my husband swore to me that I didn't plant my cilantro so I put seeds again in the same spot and yesterday morning... CILANTRO everywhere!  Which is bad because I had just planted radishes in one of the squares.  But I saved them and I am going to give them to friends after they get a little bigger.  I added a trellis that my husband has rewire so I can push it into the ground so that my cucumber climb UP and not all over the place.  We try to keep the boxes appealing since we live in an apartment and I don't want to draw too much attention that it can be seen as an eyesore.  Here are some pictures from today.

Looks great, Jennybunny!

Yeah, spinach like it cool...  I'm about to give up on my cabbage & broccoli.  I planted too late and all it's really doing is drawing in cabbage moths.

Have fun w/ the cilantro!  I see lots of salsa in your future, lol!

trolleydriver wrote:Jennybunny ... that is one great looking balcony garden. Congratulations!

+1 Nice trellis.

Way to go Jennybunny.  Looking across at the other apartments i'm surprised you get enough sun but you must.  Those plants look terrific.  Best of success to you.

Thanks everyone!  Actually our apartment gets direct sunlight almost all day long. (I think we are facing south???)  I am terrible with the whole north, south, east and west thing.  I move the boxes back a little in the early afternoon hours to put them in the sun because my railing flower boxes cast a shadow on them.  Today my plants got a little beat up from the wind. :/

JB - Cilantro is great chopped and sprinkled on salads!  Since I haven't had to actually plant cilantro in over a decade (because it reseeds itself sooooooo well) I planted an entire package of slo-bolt cilantro seeds in a 10" pot for a friend who loves cilantro but does not garden.  It is a different variety than what comes up naturally in my boxes, so when it didn't sprout for 3 weeks I was about to dig up some of my volunteers to put in the box - then one morning suddenly the entire pot was covered with little green leaves!  I wasn't sure if it was cilantro or not, as the seed leaves were slightly different than the ones in my regular boxes.  I waited another week, and when the true leaves appeared it was obvious that it really was a variety of cilantro.  Maybe the slo-bolt variety in the pot is also a slo-germinate, slo-gro as well!  Anyhoo, when my friend gets back from her vacation next week I will have a good pot of cilantro for her.

I loooooove cilantro!!!  I use it to make pico de gallo.  Fresh cilantro is so much stronger than the store bought stuff.  I also started adding a little bit to my guacamole when I make it since I had so much come up last year.  

My most exciting news is most of my plants started producing yesterday.  And to add to my joy... we got a brief summer thunderstorm that I sat and enjoyed while on the balcony.  After the thunderstorm, I was checking my plants and I realized.. I have a cauliflower!!!!



And then I pinned him up to keep him safe... still waiting on the other one to make a head.



Happy gardening!  I'm as excited as a kid in a candy store watching my garden grow and produce.

Awww, look at that little cauliflower. He's so cunnin'.. I'm sure he's going to love having that star watching over him. Nice job!

CC

Woo-Hoo!  Congratulations!