This is gonna be a really loooong blogpost with many many photos, because it shows the whole process of turning our balcony into an oasis this spring. :)
Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while now might already know that we moved into out current home about 2 1/2 years ago and that this is the third season I’m working on making our balcony perfect. :) If you wanna see more about the past two balcony seasons, simply have a look at all past balcony oasis blogposts. So here we go:
Our balcony after winter:
Each year when winter comes, I leave the dead flowers outside. I think it’s prettier to have a balcony full of rotten plants than to have an empty balcony. Moreover, it looks to pretty when old sunflowers are covered with snow. :) Strawberries, peppermint plants and chives usually survive winter and come back next spring.
So at the beginning of March when spring came, I could hardly wait to get rid of all the dirt and the dead plants and to make everything look fresh and pretty again.
Each time I work on the balcony, Mogli somehow has the impression that it’s really helpful sitting or standing in my way. :D But nevertheless, I managed to clean everything in only one afternoon.
Of course I always ‘recycle’ old soil from the previous year, this especially works well for flowers. For planting and sewing fresh new veggies and herbs, I rather use new organic soil because this is perfect as breeding ground to make plants grow.
For making the balcony look extra special, I painted some average flower pots in pretty colors and added some polka dots, this makes everything extra pretty.
Moreover, if you haven’t noticed yet, sweet Mo of RiceDK sent me the most amazing pink doggie planter for my balcony!! Isn’t it gorgeous?? I was full of excitement when I received this surprise gift! It perfectly fits my style and makes me smile each time I look out of the balcony door. :)
Filling the balcony with pops of color
In the middle of March the next step after cleaning everything was filling the balcony with color! Flo and I went to the garden center and I picked some colorful spring flowers.
This was lots of fun and after buying those first plants, the balcony has already been looking so pretty!
Sowing and growing
As each year, my mother sends us organic seeds and plants for our balcony. At the beginning of April, for making enough space for all the delicious future vegetables and herbs, I needed to fill many empty old pots with fresh soil.
To add some extra color and to mark which seed is in which pot, I again made little masking tape flags.
My mother sent us seeds for flowers, Easter gras, salad, radishes and and mangetout peas and we even had some seeds of last year’s flowers left. :)
We have a total of seven strawberry plants, half of them came back from last year, the others were ordered by my mama this spring.
Doesn’t this look super pretty? I’m so proud how much I make out of this tiny balcony space each year.
The empty pots with the tiny flags are reserved for organic tomato and basil plants which are about to arrive in late April.
How much I love this cute doggie planter and all the other colorful pots! Those which aren’t painted by hand were bought at Butlers, xenos and Tiger. :)
Making progress: seeds becoming plants
In late April, many of the seeds had already become tiny plants and grewed a lot. It was so much fun watching them pop out of the soil during the weeks. :)
Those gorgeous chairs are vintage, my mama once got them for me as a birthday present on DaWanda. :) The table is simply from our local hardware store.
On the left, you can see a pot with organic lemon balm I bought at Mutter Fourage and on the right there’s some thyme in the background which I had also bought there. In the foreground, you can see the raddishes that I had sown. Stupid me, when sowing them I forgot that my mother had told me that those seeds need a distance of about 5cm in order to grow properly, so I will now have to repot them or simply remove some of the tiny plants. :)
Two years ago, my best friend Anja got me tiny peppermint plants from her mother’s garden and they come back each year. :) Can’t wait to harvest some leaves for cocktails and smoothies!
My mother loves nasturtium a lot, so she got me some seeds. They grow without any effort and the edible blossoms look so pretty in a fresh salad.
This might be one of my fave photos of this whole series, because it’s so full of rich green and bright colors and shows how fast everything has grown! :) Proud girl!
The strawberries are growing and blooming so fast and even the Easter gras had gotten this size in only about two weeks.
This planter is perfect as a highlight in the middle of the balcony and draws lots of attention to the flowers inside.
Luloveshandmade and the Urban Jungle Bloggers
With this colorful blogposts and the progress my balcony has made in the fast few week this year’s spring, it’s the first time I’m taking part in the monthly Urban Jungle Bloggers series. :) This is a blogger series of a community created by Igor of Happy Interior Blog and Judith of JOELIX and its aim is to make the blogosphere green, to share the colorful and green happiness and to connect each other. :) Awesome! If you want to participate (either for this month’s green balcony or window sill theme or next time), simply check out their Facebook page for more details and have a look at all the other bloggers’ lovely green blogposts! :) The hashtag on all social media channels is #urbanjunglebloggers.
So for now, I’m done with my balcony, but in a few days, hopefully the tomato plants and basil plants will arrive and then I can watch those grow.
There’s nothing better after a busy day than to relax, sit on the balcony, look at all those green plants and beautifully colored flowers, watch them grow and enjoy the fresh air outside! :)
Can’t wait for summer when all the wild flowers and sunflowers on my balcony have reached their full size and all the cute honey bees come to visit me! :)
Happy balcony gardening!
Lu
This looks really fantastic. my balcony looks like yours, except thatt it is empty. I would like to also add some color but am afraid that the pots will fall down. How do you make them stay? I see that ypu have some kind of holder for the pots installed. Can you tell me where I can get those?
Dear Birte, the holder has already been part of the balcony. :) Have fun getting yours green!
tolle Fotos! :)
hach* ich finds so cool, dass die Pfefferminze immer wiederkommt, voll das tolle Unkraut <3
:*
Anja
Ich will auch welche :D
Wow!!! Das ist ja echt ein Unterschied wie zwischen Tag und Nacht! Da hat jemand Farbe angeknipst! Ich liebe es ja auch so farbenfroh! :-) Sieht einfach irre gut aus! Dann viel Spaß auf deinem "neuen" Balkon und schönes Wochenende… Michaela
Ein wunderschöner Post! Da hast du ja schon viel geschafft in den paar Wochen! Eine tolle Motivation, selbst auch endlich ein bisschen was zu pflanzen. Bei uns im großen Kübel hat sich Zitronenmelisse ausgesäht, die auch jeden Frühling wiederkommt. Gegen Minze hätte ich aber auch nichts einzuwenden. (; Ansonsten ist es bei uns ja leider schwierig mit Pflanzen (v.a. Tomate o.ä.), da unser Balkon nicht überdacht ist. Oh, und ein Wort zu dem pinken Hundetopf: großartig! Der perfekte Mittelpunkt deines tollen grünen Reiches! (:
Alles Liebe,
Laura
Your little balcony looks great! So colorful and bright. This reminds me that mine needs a makeover too, but March and April were two of the weirdest months with cold and rain all the time, so I've fallen a little behind. Maybe I'll just buy already grown plants. Oh, and I'm in love with your pink doggy planter! So cute!!!
This looks fantastic, Lu! I was reading your post and then thought that this would be an awesome Urban Jungle Bloggers post… so happy to see that it IS! It's the ultimate proof that with simple seeds & pots and love and lots of (fun!) work you can make your balcony look like a little green paradise. Thank you for sharing all the pictures & tips. I can't wait to see what it will look like in a few weeks/months. Have a great weekend!
Oh Lu, was für ein fantastisch fröhlicher Balkon. Eine wahre Oase und ich bin immer wieder sehr verliebt in deinen bunten Einrichtungsstil.
Liebste Grüße, hab ein großartiges Wochenende, Eva
Vielen Dank fürs Mitmachen bei den Urban Jungle Bloggers, Lu! Dein Balkon ist der Hammer – ein bunter Traum!
Ganz zauberhaft, Lu! Eine kleine Stadtoase. Ich säe und pflege auch ordentlich – mal schauen, was dieses Jahr dabei rauskommt. Die Erdbeeren tun sich noch etwas schwer ;-)
Sonnige Grüße
Sandra
Frühling ist so eine schöne, erwartungsvolle Zeit. Wenn man so schöne Pflanzen auf dem Balkon hat, spürt man das richtig! Ich kann mich noch gut an die kleinen Erdbeerchen erinnern:)
wow was für ein herrlicher balkon <3 ich wünsch dir viel freude beim zuschauen wie alles wächst, ich liebe das auch :) viele liebe grüße julia
Liebe Lu, du bist ganz wunderbar!
Deine Texte sind so voller Liebe, weil du immer mit dem Herzen dabei bist.
Da macht das Lesen mich richtig fröhlich und verliebt.
Dein Balkon sieht toll aus. Ich kann deine Begeisterung über das Sprießen und Gedeihen der Pflanzen total nachvollziehen.
Liebste Grüße und viel Spaß beim Ernten,
Julia
Such a happy balcony and I love how some of it is edible too! Mel
Hach ja, was für schön bunte und inspirierende Bilder, als ich den Post gesehen habe, musste ich gleich auch selbst meinen Balkon aufräumen! XD Danke dafür!
Viele Grüße, Johanna
hallo lu,
traumhaft schön ist dein balkon.die töpfe und das süße vogelhäuschen gefallen mir sehr. mein hund ist auch immer dort (im weg)wo ich gerade pflanze,räume etc.
liebe grüße,
regina
I love this! I don't have a full blown garden but I do have a 'yarden' I grow veg, herbs and colourful flowers.
V x
http://dizzymissjames.blogspot.co.uk/
Liebe Lu, das sieht ganz wunderbar aus. Da passt mein Buch ja 1A, auch wenn es Projekte für drinnen sind ;)! Ich habe mich jedenfalls sehr über deinen lieben Kommentar gefreut <3
Danke für all die lieben Kommentare! <3
Hi, Lu!I already appreciate your pins on Pinterest and came here 'to visit your home'.The view from your balcony is so… german! :) This architecture is adorable. My dream is to live at your home, It's so colorful and sweet. It seems you're very happy there! ♥Best wishes,Priscila.