Operation Grow Something, Part 3

It’s been a month since I started the garden on the porch (what I call my balcony—as a Southerner, I can’t think of any outdoor space as anything but a patio or porch). Things are mostly looking good, as you can see in the photo above. Most new and existing plants have taken well to their new abode, or at the very least haven’t been harmed.

The boxwood (foreground) has grown some straggly new leaves/branches and will need pruning into a proper topiary shape soon. I can’t decide if it should get a little bigger, or if I should keep it at this size for now. Its pot will allow it to grow a little, I made sure of that. The tomatoes (midground) have more than doubled in size, and the farther one, a Roma plant, has a wee green fruit on it. I’m so excited at the thought of real tomatoes on my deck I have my eyes crossed, but lawdy do them plants drink some water. If I skip a day watering, I probably pour a gallon or two of water in that Earth Box to get it back up to speed. I shudder at what’s gonna happen when I’m gone for a couple of days over the 4th of July weekend to St. Louis. Meanwhile, the McKay’s White (background) is blooming a great deal, and I couldn’t be more pleased. I was worried about her when I brought her out here, and she did wilt a bit as she got used to the balcony. I’ll probably have to pull her in towards the building while we’re gone in case there’s a windstorm. Don’t want it to beat the snot out of her just as she’s thriving.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the balcony against the building, my herbs and container arrangement are showing mixed results. The container on the ground has some little blue and purple flowers in them surrounded by some wooly thyme. Looks like two of the flowering plants are okay, one is failing, and the fourth has flatlined. One or two of the wooly thymes have coded as well. Up on the brown table, the herbs and peppers are doing pretty decently, but the cilantro (spindly on the left) is in a continual battle against aphids. I sprayed it twice with some probably-not-okay-for-eating bug/aphid spray, but at this point it’s not about edibility but pride. The fucking aphids are not taking any plant of mine. I’ve had to battle them on and off for the English ivy, and I had to literally wipe each leaf of my arboricola (nearest foreground left in the very top photo) to save it. I have a vendetta against aphids the way Frank Gehry appears to have a vendetta against buildings that keep out rain. Anyway, I’ll probably have to bring the cilantro indoors while we’re gone, as it seems to suffer the most if I skip a day watering.

The garden delights more fauna than just humans, however. Sunday morning, Hazel was hunkered down in the kitchen floor, meow-barking at something outside….

What in the…?
Well, I’ll be.

Hazel assured me that she could get that bird if I’d just let her outside, but I decided not to give her the chance.