Hello, young Padawan
When it comes to gardening, even on a balcony or window sill, we have plenty of preconceptions. Indeed, most bulb varieties, such as snowdrops, tulips, and daffodils, can be planted in a planter or pot and bloom again each year, depending on the season.
So you can enjoy your pretty flowers, as if you had a garden, and even make little bouquets! The only prerequisite is a balcony or window sill, meaning a minimum exterior, because bulb plants need variations in temperature and light to follow the seasonality.
In some pots, I only have bulb plants, like my snowdrops, which are such pretty little white flowers. When they have finished flowering at the beginning of March, they are placed on a shelf in the half-light until I take them out again at the end of autumn. I start to re-water them when I see the first green shoots at the beginning of December to see them bloom again in January.
So, if you thought that these pretty flowers were inaccessible in a planter, hyacinths, anemones, arums, amaryllis, dahlias, and ranunculus are all yours. Long live the bulb plants that surprise you with a hello every year, a touch colorful and cheerful, whatever your available space.
And then, in the life of a budding gardener, there are not only bulbs but also small fruits, small flowers, and aromatic plants.
For two years, since I decided one evening to plant a few Chasselas grape seeds to see what they would do, I have had a small vine that produces very pretty leaves and which, hopefully, will one day give very nice little bunches of grapes. In the meantime, it welcomes some buttercups at its foot.
If you’ve been reading your faithful servant for a few years, you know that strawberries are a must here. I have three planters and two large pots now, and I enjoy them yearly! The strawberry plant has the advantage of reproducing every summer thanks to its stolons, small reddish stems replanting new arrivals. So, after a few years, you will have three times as many plants or three times as many friends with strawberry plants! Gariguette, ciflorette, cigaline, mara des bois, charlotte, or even des bois, strawberries are a joy to grow for young and old gardeners!
Parsley, chives, basil, tarragon, but also wild garlic, spring onions and other small seasonal salads are also present in number, in my planters below. They are not directly visible, but very productive: I haven’t bought aromatic herbs or spring onions for several years now.
And in the foreground, there are the pretty little flowers. This spring, I am trying to plant a peony, which is still underground, two centimeters deep, for the moment. And to accompany it, I put some little spring flowers around it. Pansies go to seed at the end of flowering, and you can either let them reseed where they are or take a few seeds to sow here and there for the following season. I do both, and sometimes I forget that I had put yellow pansy seeds in my pot of buttercups, for example:
It’s also essential to have a few small flowers to attract bees to pollinate my strawberries. I have two pots of these pretty daisies below, which I position toward my strawberries, and they work quite well!
So much for the little garden tour, which is certainly not one as it is a balcony, but that does not prevent it from attracting all the bees and bumblebees in the neighborhood, who royally mock the name of it! You don’t need a castle in Spain to do your part; you only need a little soil, a few seeds, and a little elbow grease.
This article also warns that many specimens with flowers, fruits, bulbs, seeds, feathers, veils, or steam plants are to be planted between March and April, so if you were thinking about it, it is undoubtedly the right time to do it. The sowing period, exposure, and watering are noted on each small bag of seeds. So, even if you don’t know much about it, it will grow; there’s no reason.
Flowery greetings,
XO 🌷
