Our Balcony Garden: June Update

It's been about a month since we started our little balcony garden so I thought it was time for a little update!  The big experiment was the homemade, all-recycled materials self-irrigated planters for the tomatoes.  

BEFORE

AFTER

WOW!  Yes, I would call that a success!  The great thing about these DIY planters is that they don't dry out in between waterings.  The real test is the taste test... so I hope these babies spit out some delicious tomatoes.

Unfortunately, we lost our cucumber plant.  I was a little over zealous in my homemade organic aphid spray and killed the plant faster than the aphids did.  Oh well.  The zuchinni is doing fabulous and we even have a little baby squash popping out!

Another first time plant was the malabar spinach.  As you can see, it's doing really well ever since the summer heat started.  The vine grows a couple inches each day.  It's amazing!

We got our first batch of rasberries this week!  Delicious with vanilla ice cream... mmmmm...

Our herb jar is doing surprisingly well too!  The only thing struggling is the tarragon and we LOVE the eucalyptus herb.

Just look at the beautiful color in the leaves and the wonderful eucalyptus fragrance... one of my new favorites!

The lavender did better this year than last year and we've already seen lots of honey bees and hummingbirds take advantage of the pretty purple blossoms!

The strawberries are doing ok.  I think it may be too early to tell - this is another first-year experiment plant.  At least they're flowering - that's good, right?

And last but not least, our Big Mama aloe has been moved outside and has been re-potted.  She gave us five baby aloes this spring so let's hope for a few more baby aloes by the end of fall.

And that's it for now.  Let's hope the next garden update post is the taste test!