Gardening on a Balcony: Recycling and Seeding

I live in an apartment on the second floor, but I’m super lucky to have a pretty large balcony (6′ x 12′) and a nice view of a golf course.  We get a lot of great light so every year I at the very least grow some tomatoes. Yes, tomatoes, on a balcony! There’s nothing better than fresh off the vine, still warm from the sun homegrown tomatoes. Some years I start from seed, and some years I start from plants, it depends on if I get started early enough. I’m started a bit late this year because IT SNOWED IN APRIL but today I got my seeds started.

I’d been hanging on to this awesome plastic egg carton since mid-winter, and I was itching to use it to start my seeds. You don’t need any fancy equipment, and if you use the recycled cardboard egg cartons, you can plant the seedlings right in their tiny cup! I, however, had plastic, so that’s what I used.

I dampened some potting soil and layered it in the egg trays.

Then I set the seeds, labeling them with wooden clothespins (CHEAAAAP and you can reuse them as long as you don’t mind hanging your clothes with “scallions” clothespins).

Bingley, of course, stood guard while I worked.

Then, since it’s unseasonably chilly in April here in The Jerz, I brought them just inside so they could be in a warm, safe place. Now it looks dark here now, but we get morning sun, so I’ll prop them up on a box so it gets a nice amount of light.

Most of those seeds were from the dollar store, except for the tomatoes, and they weren’t expensive either. The most expensive part here was probably the potting soil, and since it was leftover from last year or the year before (last summer was not good for me) I can’t even remember how much it cost. I’ll need to get some more this year when I transfer these babies to pots!

Do any of you grow your own food in a small space? Let me know in the comments, and stay tuned because I have another recycling planter project in the works!