Gardening Methods

Get Me Some Bloomin’ Flowers

I’ve lived in the city all my life. I’m talking fast-paced, crowded, loud, apartment dwelling, city living. Don’t get me wrong. I love the hustle and bustle of city life. I love the access to all sorts of activities and entertainment at my fingertips. But, I also love the color and scent of beautiful flowers, and picking them up at the corner flower shop, before I come home each night, just isn’t cutting it any more.

Recently, I’ve wanted to make some changes in my life. Slow things down. Stop and smell the roses, if you will. Things have gotten too hectic at work and I want my home (yes, apartments are “home” for many of us) to be a relaxing, safe-haven for me to return to after a hard day at work.

When I said, “Stop and smell the roses” earlier, I meant that literally. I am very jealous of those people who have enough room in their yards for an outstanding flower garden. This started me wondering why I can’t have it all. Living in the city and tending to a flower garden. What to do, what to do!? Then it came to me. I could create my own flower garden out on the balcony of my apartment. Don’t laugh! This is do-able! I just needed to do a little research and get some help converting my balcony into my Garden of Eden.

Now, I’m like many other single people today who carefully budget their income, and I understood what an investment transforming my balcony would be. I had to find pots and seeds that were cheap yet pots and seeds that added beauty. I did a lot of scientific research to find the best flowers for the climate I live in, that would grow in the blazing sun of morning and shade in the afternoon, and would re-flower each spring … oh who am I kidding? Those specifics are for other gardeners. I picked flowers first off because I liked their colors. The Purple Coneflowers and Foxgloves both have beautiful shades of purple. I made sure they both grow all summer and even into the early fall. I wanted to enjoy them each year for as long as possible. Luckily, they are easy to care for (the Coneflowers are even drought resistant). After all, I don’t have a well developed “green thumb” yet.

In my research I found a website that provides the seeds and solid advice on how to plant and nurture them. It even had a link that provided many options for pots to plant in. For a beginner, this was like hitting the mother lode.

By the way, I found some really cool wrought iron planter brackets to place my pots into. My balcony is also made of wrought iron and these brackets can be hung right off of it. There is room for about five pots in it or space to just plant the seeds directly into the planter. There are adjustable flowerpot mounts available if I ever decide to place some additional single pots in them or some hanging baskets that I could suspend. There are so many choices out there!

I am thrilled it is springtime and I can get started on my new “garden” soon.

About the Author

Jeff Dahlberg not only sells cheap flower seeds (as many or as few as you need) with free shipping on every sale, but provides real time advice for those of us with or without that green thumb. To get your garden started click this link: http://www.cheapseeds.com

The Eden Project’s Places of Change Garden – Chelsea Flower Show 2010