Questions ANSWERED!!!!

In a post earlier today I asked if hummingbird visitors could be far behind now that a chipmunk was bold enough to strut right into our apartment...

Turns out the hummingbirds were not far behind the chipmunks AT ALL!!!

There I was in the living room doing some yoga when, too tired to return to another ridiculous touch-yer-knee-to-yer-nose-in-plank-asana, I took a restful downward dog and THERE! Up-side-down-and-out-the-window!!! I saw our first hummingbird taking a lengthy pit stop at our feeder!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Too cool!

He was there so long that even after getting a long look for myself I thought I might be able to grab my camera and get a picture... but alas, when I returned with the camera he was gone...

But I hear once they find you, they usually keep coming so... YAY! I'll get a picture sometime I'm sure!

Chipmunk Visitor

Here is a Facebook status I just posted which is relevant to this blog:

OMG!!!! A FREAKIN' CHIPMUNK JUST WALKED RIGHT INTO THE OPEN DOOR FROM MY BALCONY AND STARED ME DOWN FOR SEVERAL SECONDS!!!! (my desk chair is right beside the door)

Seriously! It sat right there on the threshold of the door and looked straight up at me with it's cute but beady little eyes! I did not swear at it, as I did in a previous Guelph-rodent-in-the-house situation.

(Those who know me well have heard my famous-Guelph-monster-squirrel-wake-up-call story and will understand that this extremely recent Guelph-chipmunk situation is fairly traumatic for me!!)

Now, my first question is, will chipmunks eat anything in my garden? Because I've already caught my cats eating lettuce and bean leaves - I swear they are as bad as deer! I did NOT think I was going to have a wild-life problem up here on the 4th floor!

My second question is, if the chipmunks have noticed us, can the hummingbirds be far behind? Is my drippy hummingbird feeder worth the annoyance of having sticky sugar-water-drops all over the railing?

I leave you with a haunting image depicting the true nature of the squirrel population in these parts...

pop pop poppin'

Woke up to a little mushroom surprise this morning! It was in the container with the Arugula and the Sweet potato. I blame the Arugula. An hour after the sun came out the Lucky Sunrise Rose popped out 3 little surprises too!

Since I got all my work done early in the day today, I had time for a little craftiness. I whipped up some covers for the chair pads. The original stripes were a little too "clashy" and I've been carrying this bird fabric around for years, wondering what to do with it... it goes well with the unintentional bird-theme of the balcony.

Before and after:

The cats are always lazy but today was especially exhausting for them with the heat.

Oh! And another little experiment! Threw some avocado pits in dirt to see if they take.

the holiday edition: new recruits, beans blowin' up, baiting, killing, and laying down flowers

The title of this post got a little war-like... that's kind of weird... maybe it's because we celebrated the monarchy this long weekend?

* * * * *

We took off to visit family for the weekend but before we left we managed to plant some of the new recruits. Here are the freshly enlisted tomatoes and peppers mingling with their compatriots:

I always love a good name. The tomato variety below is called "Ultra-Girl" so I pretty much had to have it. It's also supposed to be a bit smaller in stature and suited for containers - seemed like a good fit.

Also got some cherry tomatoes and a "yellow plum" variety. We're probably going to be drowning in tomatoes around here!

Upon arriving home, after only one day away, we walked onto the balcony and discovered that the beans LOVE US. They showed their love by growing a lot while we were gone!

We ate some of the lettuce and Arugula for the first time! That was a pretty exciting 10 seconds! (We also ate some green onions... but we've been eating those for ages already because they are rowdy ol' growing machines!!)

It was a little strange cutting the lettuce down after spending so much time trying to get it to come up. I'm not sure I'd be able to kill an animal for food although we've talked about having chickens and rabbits someday (not at the apartment!! if we ever have land!!) and I initially had all this swagger like, "Yeah I'm the grand-daughter of a butcher, slaughtering animals is in my blood man!!" Now I have a hard time cutting lettuce? WTF?

Today, Monday, is another warm and lovely day... so lovely that the sweet potato decided to send out some tiny leaves to survey the situation! I am VERY pleased. I like to take credit for all these signs of life even though it's just nature doing her thing.

While away we went shopping in the husband's parent's basement and throw-away pile. We scored a hummingbird feeder which I've hung beside the strawberry thing. I'm hoping to bait those cute little freaks-of-nature up to the 4th floor with sugar for our viewing enjoyment... "hey little birdie, want some candy?".... yep, that's me, the creepy nature-baiter. (The picture below will be a lot more interesting when/if I ever get a shot with a hummingbird in it someday!)

Scavengers that we are, we also liberated a small microwave and an air-conditioner from the pile. What is Ontario doing to us? We have gone through 7 years of married life without either of these items!! But they are so handy and they were so free... and Ontario is SOOO hot in the summer and you can cook potatoes so FAST in a microwave... clearly I had to give into the temptation. First cell-phones and now this! Oh Ontario...


Lastly, I added one more non-edible into the mix. How could I not take home this little Sunrise Rose named "Lucky"?

re-farming

The music for this afternoon's gardening was Amy Honey. I don't know how I missed her the whole time I lived in Nova Scotia but I did. The songs in particular that I've been enjoying are "Old Reliable Death" and "Woods Hag". So go turn on her Myspace if you want a soundtrack for reading this.

OK.

Today was like reform school for the garden... time to replant and re-organize and re-do... hence "re-farming".

Here are the pictures:

I got this hanging-pot-device for strawberries because it seemed like a great way to have lots of plants without taking up any floor-space. Also, it was on sale. After trying to plant the thing, I understand why it might have been on sale - frustrating!! But hopefully my efforts will be repaid in fruits!

The Circle of Beans.

I really enjoy watching the little plants just breaking through the surface... it's kind of unbelievable.

This is a sweet potato that got it's roots started in a glass of water. Your supposed to plant the "slips". This is just a little experiment to see what happens when you stick the whole thing in the ground. I'm not sure if I should cover the whole thing or what... I think it will be OK this way. We'll see. I have another one in another glass that I can try the slip-thing with. I'm not sure if there will be enough time or space for this to get tubers but apparently you can also eat the young shoots and leaves. Also, they have nice flowers!

Around the edge I planted some Arugula that I picked up real cheap-like at the Guelph Horticulture Club's Plant Sale.

On the left are two sun flower that are probably going to be way too huge for the balcony but whatevs! Maybe they will be like goldfish and only grow to the amount of space they have?

A pea!!!!

Some lettuce growing in a former lettuce container. Getting close eating time! I planted this really thick because I was just going to have it as "micro-greens" but I haven't the heart to cut it down yet... so I think I'm just going to see what it does for a little while. Sure is pretty!

We "put an addition on the balcony" by investing in some railing hangers. Can we get that "home reno tax credit" for this?!?! The one closest was just seeded today with "Bright Lights Swiss Chard". It's gonna be fabulous! The others are full of herbs started from seed. I have no idea how successful these will be... but they are all doing something... so that's something...

And finally, the "Topsy-Turvy Strawberry Planter". I only bought 3 big plants. I'm hoping that the runners from them will start more plants. There are also a bunch of really little guys that I started from seed - they are totally overwhelmed by this contraption. I'll be very surprised if they survive.

I didn't manage to get to the tomatoes and peppers planted. I guess that's a job for "tomorrow-girl". I ended up buying tomatoes from the Guelph Plant Sale (cheap) and peppers from Canadian Tire (not as cheap) yesterday. Soon everything will be planted and situated and the real growing can begin! On beautiful days like today you can almost HEAR the plants growing!

I'm gonna need a bigger watering can! (Seriously!)

overcoming failure with no brainers

Since I've been feeling a bit failure-oriented with the farm lately, today I decided to do some up-lifting, no-fail activities.

I bought some "Hens N' Chix" to put in this funky-owl pot I found at a thrift store. Though not edible, apparently these things are very hard to kill.

I made some cute little labels for the herbs... definitely can't kill these!

whoa! what? may 10th already!

I haven't given up on the balcony farming.

I'm still here despite the lack of posts...

I guess the feelings of doomed-failure I've been having have made me less excited to write blog posts. See, in trying to grow my seedlings from seeds I think I did a few things wrong (no grow light, tried to hardened them off too early and too fast, over-watered, clumsily dropped many) and now I find myself with just a few weak, stunted plants on my hands.

Today I went by CDN Tire's Garden Center and saw what nursery-grown seedlings look like. They are freakin' monsters!!!! I wouldn't feel so bad if my plants were even HALF as big as them but mine are like, less than a quarter of the size... maybe!!

So, time to take a different tack. I will have to buy some plants this year (mostly tomatoes and strawberries). I'm not going to do it until next weekend though. Since I will have to spend more money on this, I need to be selective. Also, I'm shy about the weather and nervous about my abilities to maintain the plants - so I'll let the nurseries handle them for another week yet.

It's not all bad news:

I am awesome at growing onions!

Some peas and beans and sunflowers are starting to grow!

I've even taken a second stab at the cucumbers!

Herbs: they seem hard to get started... I might have to buy some... but I'll keep trying with the seeds too.