GROW YOUR OWN... SCREW THE SYSTEM!

Last year was my first attempt at growing some veggies in containers on my balcony. I had fairly good success with a couple of cherry tomato plants, four zucchini plants and a few jalapeño plants and various herbs. However, I didn't do so well with bell peppers and Japanese eggplant but granted I think I started them too late and to be honest, I sort of lost interest and probably neglected them far too much.

So, this year, I am going to give it another shot. I am going to skip the tomatoes and the jalapeños since we didn't eat too many of them and ended up giving most of them to friends. I am going to broaden out the variety of what I grow and plan on trying to take over as much of my balcony as I can to growing food. Here is what is on the growing agenda:

• Parris Island (Romaine) Lettuce
  
• Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce
  
• Arugala (Rocket)
  
• Spinach (Bloomingdale, Long Standing)
  
• Radishes (Cherry Belle)
  
• Dill (Bouquet)
  
• Purple Queen Bush Beans (Phaseolus Vulgaris)
  
• Stinking Creek Bush Beans
  
• Zucchini
  

Plus, who knows, I may add a few more things as space permits and I am going to get a little creative with some bumper crops like chives, green onions and other herbs.

Also on the docket for this year is some other homesteading type projects. My oldest son and I are going to start a vermiculture bin system that should produce some nice worm castings (i.e worm poop) for our plants. I am also going to try and devise a rain water catch system to utilize what mother nature provides for free.

Also, I want to try and make my own self watering containers to grow out of. I currently have one Earthbox, but to be honest they are kind of expensive, so I will be exploring some other avenues. I made a self watering container out of storage bins last year that worked out pretty well, so we will get that one fired up again, but there is a plan for one made out of buckets in the book The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City (Process Self-reliance Series)
by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen.

Anyway, I will try and keep this blog updated frequently with the progress of my balcony experiments and will include pictures when I can and links to websites, articles, and resources as much as I possible.