"Farm" Starting

The story behind "The 4th Storey Farm" is a short one.

It's not really a farm. It's a container-garden on the balcony of the fourth floor apartment I share with my husband. Calling it a "Farm" sounds more grand and ridiculously over-stated.

By the way, I may write as an "I" or a "we" interchangeably. I'm horribly inconsistent. To avoid confusion, the "we" refers to the husband and I (we are working together on this project) as opposed to me referring to myself royally.

We got a little punny with the name of our farm because "4th Storey" refers both to the fourth floor and the fact that this is the fourth place we've lived together. We attempted to grow things (and neglected some growing things) in each place so this is the "fourth story" in our growing-stuff-saga.

The farm's current livestock situation is a flock of black cats (2) and a herd of worms (about 500 - more on that in another post).

The balcony is about 6 x 11 feet so our "acreage" is 66 square feet. Not very big. BUT it's also 8 feet high so the acreage as a volume (I don't even think that's possible by definition but oh well) is much more impressive: 528 cubic feet!!!

We will be growing (or attempting to grow):

Roma Tomatoes

Tumbler Tomatoes

Mini Bell Peppers

Patio Temptation Strawberries

Spacemaster Cucumbers

Multiplier Green Onion - haven't started them yet

Green and Yellow Beans - haven't started them yet

Several Herbs - haven't started them yet

Here's a picture of how the balcony (or the "unworked land") looks right now, at the beginning of the season:

Here is our seedling shelf. Once the plants are out-of-doors I will claim the shelf for my office.

The first sprouts - just 2 days after planting! Cucumbers are little beasts!

Some tomato seedlings. Roma I think.

The cucumbers today - 5 days after planting. BEASTS!

Now for the part that all the environmentalists/anti-corporationists can hate and mock me for. Full disclosure: I got the seeds from Walmart and they aren't organic. I don't know anything about gardening and I'm quite cheap... sooooo... in this experimental, know-nothing, baby-gardener stage, I decided to start as "economically" as possible. Anyway, go ahead and ignore this whole blog if you can't stand my apoliticalness... maybe next year I'll be a better citizen.