Pink Seedless Grapes From Gurney's
(And Two Empty EarthBoxes)

So, after last night’s EarthBoxing antics, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping like mad, and apparently remodeling has begun on the unit across the parking lot from mine. I’m sad to report that I showed my kids, Jake and Chuck,  my EarthBox experiment and they were less than blown away by “two sticks stuck in some dirt”.

Undaunted I got to work, sweeping off and rearranging my balcony, which is probably around 40 square feet. I could tell by the direction of the morning sun, I would have to move the EarthBoxes from the side of the balcony (where I placed them last night) to the front of the balcony. It has Southern exposure, so the grapes will get maximum sun exposure in that location, I hope.

Rearranging meant moving my chair, table, and rug to the side of the balcony where I had originally placed the EarthBoxes. It was a bit of a squeeze due to the fact that I have a satellite dish on a tripod competing for space. Everything fit and looked okay. Next thing I know, my big, fat, orange tabby, Chet, is sitting on the table… Staring… Up.

He’d found where all the chirping was coming from.

Heather's Homegrown's Own, Chet, Discovers Mr. & Mrs. Finch's Nest of Baby Finches

I can’t remember exactly when Mr. & Mrs. Finch moved in. I do know the fern was still very much alive when they built their nest smack dab in the middle of it. I didn’t water it after that, obviously, and then it went through the Winter. So now, I have a dead fern teaming with a different kind of life adorning my balcony. And, I suppose I will have a dead fern on my balcony until the Finch family flies the coop, but I do intend to give it a little haircut though.

The next thing I do is check the water reservoirs on the EarthBoxes. Interestingly, you cannot over water in an EarthBox. And, that’s a good problem for me not to have. One must simply remain vigilant in keeping water in the reservoir. I intend to check it a couple of times of day. I know I’ll have to water more frequently as Spring progresses in Alabama. It doesn’t take long for things to heat up around here, and it will be a hundred degrees in the shade before long.

Thankfully, there is a storage closet on my balcony, in which I plan to organize my pots, tools, and planting supplies with the help of this rack from Overstock.com.

Dome Baker's Rack from Overstock.com

The closet currently looks like this:

Closet Clutter

I expect the rack to arrive early next week. Hopefully, it won’t be too difficult for me to assemble. I may have to enlist the help of my friend, John, in case I need some elbow grease. Even more importantly, I hope it fits. It measures 29 inches wide by 55 inches tall, but I didn’t measure the closet before I ordered it. Hopefully, I guesstimated correctly.

Please stay tuned. Subscribe to my posts and follow me. Because, even though things don’t look too exciting around here presently…

Balcony View From Inside Apartment

I have high hopes that thanks to the sun, water, fertilizer, and EarthBox container gardening system, soon my dormant sticks and dirt will be teaming with as much life as my dead fern with a family of finches living in it.

To Mother Earth,