Balcony gardening - indoors!

The first snow meant one thing - it was time to bring the garden inside for the winter! Last year I was a little tardy and I ended up losing some plants but this year I was on the ball, and just in time! I've chopped the basil back (I am not sure if it will continue to grow now, or if it will be dormant for the winter) and tidied up the mint. The geraniums, whilst not my favourite flower, are going strong and are hardy enough to survive. I am a little concerned about the lavendar, in the white pot, as it is just starting out. Does anyone have any suggestions for helping them survive the winter inside?

However I am not just concerned about survival, but where am I going to put them all? They are living in the kitchen now, as it is the room with the most natural light (no curtains help) but I kind of miss my expanse of checkerboard floor! I wonder if a small shelving unit would be strong enough to support all that soil.....

Balcony! Critters! Basil!

The nights are getting colder and it is almost time to bring in the plants on my balcony. I am not sure where I am going to put them all - in my rush of planting this Spring I forgot about the fact that they can't stay outside all year. I have too many pots this year to just keep them on the kitchen floor as I did last winter!

One thing I do know - there are some little critters who are going to be very sad to see them go! I only hope they haven't hidden too many of their goodies in my plants......

I can't take any credit for it, though I do take pride - when I planted these basil plants they were nestled *under* the geranium! I was worried they weren't going to do well! I have eaten caprese salad all summer and still have not made a dent in it! I should have borrowed a food processor and made a kilo of pesto!

Scenes from an alley on the Plateau

 Fall in Montreal is a beautiful time of year and this past long weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) was gorgeous!

 Even the slowly shrivelling summer flowers were looking good 

This is the back of a triplex (a three storey apartment building with one apartment per floor). The red ivy was just shining in the morning sun! These "back" balconies are quite common and very popular - most people have a little BBQ set up for summer time grilling and some planter boxes for herbs and flowers.

Not all of the foliage has turned yet. There are many cats on the Plateau and this guy's favourite place is hiding in the leaves on this low stone wall. Whilst other cats around M's house are super friendly (Pistache, the white cat, the subject of a later post) this one is shy and doesn't like to be petted. I am not sure where he will hide once all the leaves fall!

Balcony gardening

This year I have really enjoyed establishing a little balcony garden. In Australia, my balcony was terrorised by possums, so I could only have relatively spiky and non-edible plants. (Luckily we were three stories up and had a huge tree that created a beautiful green backdrop, so it didn't look too sparse.) Here, my balcony is terrorised by squirrels and, as I only recently found out, a raccoon! But, my friend A has devised a pretty much fool proof method of keeping the squirrels away. Squirrels don't really seem to eat the plants, but love to dig in the soil, burying their little treasures in anticipation of the cold winter. Of course, they are oblivious to the roots of the plants, so everything gets upended and broken and the plants suffer. But, if you place shards of tile in the soil, like little spikes, the squirrels seem to leave the plants alone - I guess it is not worth the pain in their little paws!

In this picture you can see my spearmint plant. I had heard mint was ultra hardy and I wanted something I could be fairly sure would make it through the summer and the transition inside for the winter. It is growing well and I love having a store of fresh mint on hand for cocktails and the occasional roast lamb!