Garden Planning for a Balcony

By this time last year I had already written at length about my garden plan, broke down how I store my seeds, had given you a spring garden tour, and even had some harvest totals to share. I think it’s safe to say that I’m taking a more relaxed approach to gardening this season. A major part of this is the fact that I’m only working with a balcony for garden space, so I thought you might be interested in what I’m doing this year to plan that out.

Haskap bushes in our new (large) planter beginning to leaf out.

I’m actually excited about the garden this year. A lot of people have asked me why I haven’t joined a community garden, or found somewhere to grow some things on a friend’s property or something. I might look into it in the future, but honestly with the arrival of Baby Forager I think the balcony is about all I can handle this time around! It’s also a really different climate than I’m used to. It’s almost the exact opposite of my old garden - south facing, sunny, and hot instead of north facing, shaded, and cool. Lots of things I had little succiess with before might do well here. Maybe I’ll finally have that amazing tomato crop I’ve been hoping for!

I like to do my initial plans on graph paper. I don’t worry too much about drawing everything perfectly to scale, but this way you do get the ability to be a bit more precise. I find it helpful to at least have the exact measurements of the space you’re working in.

We built some really big planters for the garden out of cedar planks, and I’ll share how that worked at a later date when they are all finished. I am keeping a couple shrubs alive in the first one, and so hope to add some small fruit trees, and a grape vine. I’m hoping to use the grape vine to shade our large window a bit since it’s going to be a really hot summer and I don’t want to spend a ton on air conditioning!

This will be a lot different for me, but I’m still going to focus the garden on mainly growing food, but obviously I won’t be able to grow a large amount of anything anymore. I’m very grateful for the awesome farmers markets and farmstands that are nearby to buy our produce.

Do you have any tips for growing in containers? I’d love to hear them all in the comments because I’m going to need all the help I can get!

Foraging and Gardening Goals for 2019

Dandelion leaves are very nutritious and abundant! Consider allowing them to grow in your yard and you’ll have the lowest maintenance food crop ever!

This year I have decided to pare down my goal setting just a little bit. I used to write out ten different goals for each of these categories, but I realized I wasn’t achieving even half of them. I also realized while looking over my goals for the past few years that I would write one or two larger scale general goals, and then the rest would be just about specific plants. While this isn’t a terrible way to set goals, I’ve found so many things - from weather, vacations, family growth, to other random surprises - can derail the search for growing or finding specific plants, and various things in my life kept doing just that. This year I have a new baby coming, and a smaller garden, so I figured five goals for each category would be a much more fulfilling way of going about things! We’ll see how I like that for this year and maybe next year I’ll do something different. Who knows!

The whole point of why I set these goals is so that I have some inspiration for the year going forward, not about the number of things I actually accomplish in the end or not. I hope you find some inspiration from my goals, and maybe you’ll set some of your own! If you do please let me know in the comments below because I’d love to hear about it!

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I hear magnolia is edible, but it doesn’t grow a lot here. I’d love to try it some day since I saw so many people posting lovely things about it on their instagram feeds last year.

Foraging Goals

Learn more from the local indigenous community.

I feel really strongly that to forage ethically anywhere in North America you have to consider the fact that there is already so much history here of people and their relationship - sometimes even a spiritual relationship - to wild plants and resources. I’ve done small amounts of online research in the past, but I’d ideally love to learn more from actual people. if this is impossible I will definitely be seeking out other resources like books and museums. I feel like this is an important step as I continue to respectfully forage and explore in land that is unceded traditional Secwepemc territory.

Mushrooms

You might be thinking that you remember just reading me say that I wasn’t going to include specifics in my goals list this year, and you’d be correct, but I still want to include mushrooms as a goal of mine this year regardless. I’ve included this as a goal in my past lists, but aside from finding someone selling morels at the farmers’ market last spring, I haven’t really done much in this area. This is such a broad category that I have very little experience with, so even if I don’t end up going out and picking huge amounts to bring home and eat, I still want this to be a focus of learning for this year. One small thing I’ve been doing is to photograph and research the mushrooms I do come across, and I feel that has been a really great start. I missed my local opportunity to do a guided mushroom walk last year, so making one of those happen this fall is something I am very interested in.

With the help of the amazing Mushroom Identification group on Facebook, I think this is an old Turkey Tail mushroom that I came across last spring near the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, BC. Even in its old age it is still beautiful!

Fishing

I know this one is also kind of specific too, but we actually didn’t get out fishing once last year! I’m not totally sure how practical this will be now that we’re going to be a family of four, but I still want to make sure I give it a try this year. Or maybe it’s something I can delegate to Mr. Forager to go find a fishing buddy and bring back some of the delicious local trout that are abundant here! Either way I’d like to try to make it a priority to go out at least a few times this year.

Wild Staples

I definitely want to concentrate on this one more strongly this year. I am very curious about using acorns, and other plants - maybe even pine bark - to create wild flours. There are also other plans I’ve heard about but have very little experience with like cattails that are so useful and nutritious.

If you don’t want to keep dandelions in your yard consider digging up the plants rather than spraying for them. Every part of these little cheery flowers is edible from root to blossom!

Find more flavours.

This might be a bit of a catchall category, but one of the things that I have loved about this foraging journey I’ve been on is finding the new flavours of these local plants. Last year I got a chance to experiment with Douglas-fir cones, for example, and they turned out to be so delicious, and the cookies and flavoured sugar I made with them were so lovely. I’ve also been having so much fun with sumac in the kitchen, so I can’t wait to get out there and find some more delicious flavours to experiment with this year.

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Haskap bushes in my old garden just as they start to get their leaves in the spring.

Garden Goals

Research container gardening.

If you’ve been following along with my blog over the past little while you’ll know that recently I’ve had to say goodbye to my garden of the past four seasons. This year’s garden will be a balcony one, so I am making it a priority to look into what container garden systems work best. I’ve had to consider a lot of different things so far since my deck is south facing, and there is no spigot for watering. I’ll be posting in a few weeks about the kinds of solutions we’ve come up with, and I can’t wait to share it all with you since I know I’m not the only one who would like to continue producing at least some food with only my balcony as garden space.

Research varieties that work best in small spaces and containers.

This one is very related to the above goal, but I felt it was different enough to be considered its own focus. Not only will my garden be dependent on coming up with a system that works (above goal), it will only be successful if I grow the right plants for my environment. I am actually a little bit excited about my new challenge, because I am going to get a whole lot more sun than I used to in my north facing, shady garden. I am thinking I might actually have some decent success with heat loving crops like tomatoes and peppers, and I can’t wait to see what happens!

Early spring in my old garden.

Same view, after a few months of growing.

Continue to produce food.

This goal is very important to me. I know I’m not going to be able to do this on the scale that I am used to, but I still want my garden to be a way to provide at least a little bit of food for my family. I really like working with food crops - especially heirlooms and other interesting varieties. There will always be flowers in my garden too since I want to attract lots of pollinators and beneficial insects otherwise the food crops on my balcony will struggle.

Look into Community Garden options.

I’m not sure if this is something I’ll have time for with the new baby on the way, but I do know that there are lots of community gardens in town, so I’d like to at least look into it a little bit and see what kind of commitment would be involved. I rented a community garden plot one season, and it really didn’t work out, because of the location. I wasn’t able to get there as often as I wanted, and nothing I grew there thrived. After that experience, I know now what kind of things I would grow in a community plot, and what I would keep at home. I think it might be something I could handle if I was growing garlic, rhubarb, or other things that don’t need as much daily attention.

One of my springtime harvests from last year. Lots of leafy greens!

Grow lots of herbs.

This one will be very convenient to focus on for me, since a lot of herbs do well in smaller spaces, and that’s definitely what I’ll be working with! I also think they will help create a nice environment on my balcony, and help add a little bit of biodiversity to my other plants. This is one of the easiest ways I can still grow things to eat as well, since snipping some herbs from the balcony and bringing them right in to my kitchen is so easy. I’m excited about this goal, and am planning to cultivate a large collection!

Calendula blossoms harvested from my garden last summer.

Goodbye Garden

Some of you who follow my Instagram or other social feeds might already know we have moved. Part of this move means saying goodbye to my garden of 4 years, and starting a new life as a balcony gardener. This post is going to be on the photo heavy side, because I don’t really have a lot to say about our change. I’ll continue to garden in this new way, and keep writing about it here although the topics will be even more focused on small space and container gardening. Nothing else about the blog will change other than the “Grow” topic, since I am more than able to continue with the “Find, Eat, and Make” categories that I normally write about.

We’ll miss our time here - especially the incredible views - but we’re looking forward to settling in to our new place, and tackling the challenges that come with growing plants on a balcony.

I’ll be updating more about our new place soon, and there is also new stuff coming down the pipe for the A Forager’s Home Shop (specifically winter/Christmas related things) so stay tuned here for updates! It’s been a little while since I last updated this blog, but moving has really commanded all my attention! I’m looking forward to getting back in the swing of things again now that we are almost settled in.

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July Harvest Totals

Asterisk denotes foraged items.

• Beets (mixed): 970g
• Calendula: 7g
• Carrots (rainbow): 339g
• Chamomile: 28g
• Garlic Scapes: 12g
• Hyssop: 39g
• Kale (Red Russian): 54g
• Pansies: 10g
• Peas (Amish Snap): 131g
• Peas (Green Arrow): 118g
• Raspberries: 587g
• Rhubarb: 128g
• Strawberries: 19g
• Tomato (Italian Golden Love Apple): 11g
• Tomato (Uptown Funk): 57g
• Zucchini: 84g

Total: 2.6kg

At first I was disappointed to see my harvest totals were so low for this month, but then when I looked back I found I actually did about the same - if not slightly better - than this month last year. We tend to do a lot of travelling in July, so there isn't a lot of time around the house to garden or forage. It's also been rather smoky out with the wildfire conditions, so we haven't been making a whole lot of trips out to gather anything wild. 

Normally my peas do better than this, but I messed up on trellising the Green Arrow ones that normally do quite well for me, and the Amish Snap I was growing out mainly to replenish my seed for upcoming seasons, so I was leaving the best looking pods on the vines to fully mature. It was a good year for berries (although Little Forager gets to the few strawberry plants I have before I can get most of them to the scale) and I am sure this was the most raspberries I've ever picked. We even missed out on the last few due to the timing of our vacations. It was also a sad year for the rhubarb. I'm not sure why but if it does this poorly next year I'm going to try it in a new location and see what happens.

June Harvest Totals

Asterisk denotes foraged item.

• Basil (purple): 2 g
• Beets (mixed): 57 g
• Calendula: 14 g
• Carrots (mixed): 91 g
• Chamomile: 50 g
• Dill: 36 g
• Haskap Berries: 160 g
• Hyssop: 39 g
• Kale (Red Russian): 76 g
• Lemon Balm: 7 g
• Mint (Mojito): 5 g
• Mint (Peppermint): 11 g
• Mint (Pineapple): 11 g
• *Orach: 115 g
• Orach: 96 g
• Pansies: 2 g
• Peas (Amish Snap): 84 g
• Raspberries: 15 g
• Rhubarb: 37 g
• Sage: 4 g
• Saskatoon Berries: 3147 g
• Spinach: 43 g
• Strawberries: 21 g
• Tarragon: 14 g
• Thyme: 2 g

Total: 4.2 kg

This June seemed to have less going on in the garden for some reason. Last year I got more peas, more rhubarb, I remembered to pick the wild asparagus, and just overall I got about two kilos more from the garden and the wild. I'm not sure what's going on with my rhubarb - I guess it's having an off year. Last year I harvested nearly a kilogram from it in June, but this year just a a few little stalks! I'm going to give it more fertilizer in the fall this year and see if that helps kickstart it for the spring. It also got pretty choked in with weeds, so maybe I didn't get to those in time.

I suspected the peas would be a smaller harvest this year, because I was very picky about the seed I was saving from the Amish Snap Peas I've been planting and saving for over 5 seasons now. They were starting to look quite a bit different from what I remember receiving from Seed Savers Exchange almost six years ago. I kept only 15 seeds from last year because I only wanted seeds from pods that produced at least three seeds per pod, and looked smooth and round - identical to what I received when I purchased them. I also held off on harvesting some of the most beautiful pods growing from them because I want to make sure that my seed is excellent for the years to come. I can't save seeds from many things because my garden is too small, but legumes, and a few other things are possible so I want to do the best job I can with stewarding those varieties.

Despite the lack of rhubarb, the berries this month have been fantastic. I've never seen saskatoons, or raspberries the size I've been picking this month. Raspberries were just beginning to ripen, but they were all enormous and so heavy the branches on my little bushes were all falling over! The wild saskatoons this here were also gigantic. Our bowl full of them looked more like cranberries or grapes. I have some cultivated saskatoons in my freezer from last year, and these are almost double their size, when it's usually the other way around!

There is also a lot of promise still out there in the garden. My tomato plants are getting big, and many have already set quite a bit of fruit which I wait for with great anticipation! I've got loads of sun chokes, the quinoa is about to flower, and the beans are climbing high! I also have a bed of the healthiest looking brassicas I've ever grown, so those are making me pretty happy each time I step out into the garden. All in all it's been a decent month for harvesting, but I look forward to the major bounty that is to come as summer reaches its fullness.