Basil

 

These are sturdy little fellows that even under extreme neglect kept growing so we had to find them a bit of a place somewhere! We bought a new pot only approx 2 quid and filled it up with leftover soil and tadaa hopefully a basil pot! They look rather sweet but look a bit happier than when they were clinging fo life! 

My cheating Flowers

 

Actually I am really pleased with them! The purple one is on its 2nd flowering and the yellow one (forgive me as I have no idea what their names are) hasn't stopped flowering since we bought it! I can see they have grown and will not like it when I repot them and bring them indoors come Autumn time! 

Finaly

 

The parsley and chives are actually doing something! For ages grass was growing in them and we didnt know, we thought it was chives looking strange, it was only when it started to seed that I figured it out. You see we are real amateurs, we have no idea what we are doing! 

Its a big one!

 

I never in my wildest dreams....not that I dream about gardening you understand, thought this would grow this big. Its scary because its reached the roof and wants to grow over it! Not sure if the landlady will appreciate it! It has started to flower now so I keep hoping the bees will come to visit us! 

Todays Balcony

 

Well this was taken today! It's like a little jungle out there! 

 

This was taken at the same time as the one below.....Definatly a few weeks ago I am so annoyed with myself for not keeping track of the date...oh well! 

 
I sm not sure when I took this picture, but as you can see its the runner bean growing, I was amazed when I took this! How far will it grow? 

The over view

 
So this is the overview of the balcony...I guess this is the picture that will prove to be most common during the months ahead! The chives are beginning to grow now but they are too small to photographs! No news on the parsley though! Maybe we should cheat and buy one we can plant....maybe in a couple of weeks! 

Flowers

 
I dont think this is cheating is it? We bought 3 plants from the garden centre on sunday and i thought they would look very nice while everything is still growing! Wow if it wasnt for my severe hayfever I would be outside all of the time now! 

The Big Pot

 
So there it is! The runner bean and sweet pea...they look so small! I bought another balcony box for about 2 quid today so i have fille it with earth waiting for my seeds from the cirton and basil in there! I am very excited 

The Big Pot

 
Hurrah! Finally something is going right! Today I planted both the sweet pea and the runner bean in the big pot! The canes make it look so professional! Woohoo! I just really hope that they grow! 

Garden Table

 
We finally thought it was about time to get a table for the outside! After buying two green garden and obtaining three white garden chairs all we really need is a table. However all the tables that we could afford came with chairs which is good but now we have seven. Its brilliant for guests but we will all be sitting in a long line like at the cinema watching all the other flats! I guess it beats TV!? 

Basil and a Citron Plant

 
I know its another boring photo, but i thought i would document everything! On one side are basil seeds and the other is a herb that in Norway is called Citronmelisse but I dont know what that is in English....if anyone knows please tell me! It smells gorgeous which is why we got it for those late summer evenings on the balcony. 

A Success

 
Finally something happened! This is a sweet pea that we put out weeks ago! We have 6 planted but so far only this has come out! I planted 3 more today, we only need 3 plants to fill up the big pots, but it seems it may be a little hard! Oh well at least one came! HORRAY! 

Runner Beans and Tomatos

 
In the old milk cartons are runner beans I planted yesterday. And the red bowls have tomato seeds in them. We weren't going to grow tomatos but they are an experiment that the local shop (Max...similar to Woolworths) had for 2 quid! If they work brilliant but I think its a bit late in the year to grow them succesfully! Will keep it posted in this blog! 

White or brown garden chairs....

 
I know this is a really boring photo, but Ørjan and I were able to get a hold of second hand garden chairs which were filthy! It took both of us an afternoon to clean but the results are amazing! I took it for myself really to show that a little bit of hard work goes along way! Now if only I applied that to learning Norwegian, I would be fluent by now! 

Parsley and Chives

 
So we planted some seeds a couple of weeks ago. One side is Chives and the other side is Parsley. Nothing has come up yet but we are awaiting some signs of growth with baited breath!

Last night we planted some runner beans. We started with six soaking in some water and only two showed signs of growth. We planted them in old milk cartons until they are ready to be planted in the big pots! Today I will start to soak more beans we need three to fill up the pot! 

Snowy Balcony

 
Before all the Gardening bit takes over I thought it would be interesting to have a photo of what the balcony looked like only a few weeks before we cleaned everything! I think Oslo was even surprised at the amount of snow that came down! 

Garden Centre Shopping Madness

 
So we did get excited in the garden centre. We have never gardened before so it will be exciting to see what happens. We have bought balcony boxes to hang up and will fill them with herbs and spices. Also two tubs to grow sweet peas and runner beans. Hope they work! 

After

 
Amazing what a bit of cleaning can do! Actually Ørjan and I were outside most of the day cleaning this but what a result! Looks like we have had a brand new balcony! 

Before

 
This is the before picture...pretty grubby and nasty!