How I Transformed My 140-Square-Foot Queens Balcony Into a Garden Oasis

Several potted plants of various kinds, set outdoors in a sunny area.

When my wife Lindsay and I bought our Queens apartment in 2011, I couldn’t wait to start gardening. We had lucked into a rare New York amenity: a proper big balcony, 7 by 20 feet and all to ourselves.

That first winter, I nursed tomato and chili plants from seed under a grow lamp in the back room.

In spring, I moved them outside, eyes always on the thermometer lest a late frost arrived.

All summer I carefully watered and fed them, hand-pollinating the chili flowers each morning with a small paintbrush.

Out of 14 plants, I got one sad pepper and a handful of flavorless grape tomatoes. I didn’t plant anything else for a decade.

Then the pandemic hit, and like many people, I turned to gardening again. After a couple of summers of mixed results, I finally cracked the code in 2022. It didn’t happen overnight—nor without setbacks—and I owe almost all my success to my friend Zack, a landscaper by trade and a green thumb since he was barely out of diapers. Much like a well-tended garden, the advice that follows looks neat and tidy but is actually the result of a lot of trial and error. I hope the lessons I’ve learned help you grow a vibrant balcony or deck garden of your own — without the pain of a wasted season or three.



from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/iDg3QKw
via IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Molly Baz Restocked Her Kitchen After the LA Fires

Image
Shortly after the devastating Los Angeles fires of January 2025, cookbook author and recipe developer Molly Baz shared a note with her followers on Instagram. “You can take away the physical kitchen, but you can’t take away the spirit of the cook,” she wrote. The Altadena house that she’d shared with her husband, Ben Willett; her baby; and her miniature dachshund, Tuna, had just burned to the ground. “If there’s anything that will bring me some semblance of normalcy, comfort, and routine right now, it will be cooking. So that’s what I’ll do.” Still, “I felt so out of sorts,” says Baz. She recalls thinking, “Where is my pinch pot with my salt? I cannot cook, because I do not have the things that make me feel comfortable and like myself in my kitchen.” All the cookware, pantry staples, appliances, and beloved glassware and dinnerware that Baz had collected through her years of working in food were gone, and Baz suddenly faced the question of what had really mattered to her and made a ...
Read more

The 30 Most Popular Prime Day Deals, According to Wirecutter Readers

Image
Amazon’s summer Prime Day — which is now a four-day event rather than the usual two days — is well underway, and we’ve been working hard to surface the best deals for our readers. We’ve sorted through thousands of on-sale items to pinpoint truly excellent discounts on the things our experts have found are worth your time and money. Among the 500-plus deals we’ve posted so far —less than 1% of every discount we’ve reviewed — some have grabbed the attention of our readers more than others. Here are the 30 Prime Day deals that our readers have loved the most, including soft sateen sheets, a luxe leather tote, an investment-worthy blender, and more. from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/tDSahdQ via IFTTT
Read more

The Nugget Is the ‘Original Play Couch.’ Costco’s Version May Be Better.

Image
If you’re a parent of a child under 10, you’ve probably heard of The Nugget, the beloved play sofa that launched a thousand (well, at least 20) competitors. I’ve only recently discovered the category; but now that my eyes are open, play-cushion sets seem to be everywhere — even at Costco. I’m inherently skeptical of any product that claims to solve a need that I’m unaware of having. But, last summer, a junk collector hauled away our sofa, whose base had finally broken clean in half from eight years of my son’s intense, anime-inspired dance-jumping. It turns out we could’ve used a play sofa — and saved our couch  (as well as our cushions). The Nugget , the first play couch to widely popularize the concept, experienced viral popularity during pandemic lockdowns in 2020. It is also a Wirecutter favorite . Its modular design is simple: There are two long, hinged cushions and two triangular bolsters, all with removable, washable covers. And while The Nugget is arguably the most popu...
Read more