Stuck inside, missing nature? Here is the beginning of a series of posts on balcony gardening.

Back in California I had a huge garden. One Easter I took photos of all the different flowers. Flowers from bulbs, flowers on trees, flowers on bushes. I took pictures of over THIRTY different types of blooms. I love to garden.

What about a garden in Paris?

Here in Paris I have a balcony not a huge garden. You heard about my balcony yesterday. In Paris my little herb garden on the balcony has been a huge success and joy (with a lot less work than my California garden)!

The parsley has been healthy all winter! The funny plant in the back (hard to see) is actually cilantro which has also survived all winter!
Here is the mint starting to grow back after lying dormant for the winter.

Time to plant more! What am I going to plant?

A few weeks ago, when I was planning the garden, I decided on some “greens” and “beans” that are easy to grow but hard to find here in Paris. If I had known about this coronavirus situation I would have ordered different seeds but I am happy to have these!

I don’t have everything I need but I’ll make do.

I don’t have seeds for tomatoes but I am going to use the seeds from a store bought tomato. Same for the potatoes. I am using the potatoes I bought at the organic veggie store last week. I am saving the egg crates for starting seeds!

Do you want to start a garden?

Even if you have only a small space you can start a garden. What if you don’t have a balcony? We’ll talk about herbs which can grow on your kitchen counter.

So, if you think you might want to have a balcony garden start saving your egg cartons, largish plastic containers (like sour cream/creme fraiche comes in), and plastic soda or water bottles!

If you have a few potatoes (organic work best), some tomatoes, or herbs like mint, basil or rosemary, you can use them to grow plants. I’ll be blogging about this later but you can start now if you want. There are some good youtube videos which will help.

What about flowers since clearly I like flowers?

Sadly, I only ordered one type of flower seeds. Ipomoea Grandpa Ott. That’s a fancy name for morning glory!

My garden does have a couple of flowers (tiny) already. Even this tiny little flower makes me happy!

What next? Please stay tuned.

I am really looking forward to seeing how this goes! I hope you are also!

If you are thinking of starting a balcony garden let me know!