Update- Our Balcony Garden

Hello, Friends!

It's been nearly a year since my last update. I don't have a good excuse for this, except that it turns out two kids are more work than one (who'd have thought, right?).

I've had a couple blog-related conversations lately, and that led me to fondly remember this little blog. Here are some of the highlights from life around our apartment lately.

The Garden: Lilies, Eggplants, Aphids, and Ladybugs (Er, lady beetles)

Calla Lily- I love the shade of pink they turn
after the initial white bloom.

This year, we've added calla lilies, lilies of the valley, an eggplant, and a climbing rose to our patio garden. They are all doing very well, but the eggplant and rose are especially susceptible to aphids. I've never dealt with them before, and let me tell you, I hate them NEARLY as much as I hate ants.

Aphids are tiny, so you won't know what you're dealing with unless you closely examine your plant leaves. They do a massive amount of damage for being so small, however.

Luke and I were mainly concerned with keeping the eggplant healthy. We really love eggplant, and if we are actually able to grow some, I'll share my eggplant recipe. We've been avoiding spraying it, instead picking off the aphids one. at. a. time. as we find them,

Aphid damage on the eggplant

Initially, it was an annoying and time-consuming task. But, we've found that if we check daily, it only takes a few moments to clean up the two or three we get.

Asian beetle on our climbing rose (Photo- Luke Cortright)

Then, on his way in the house, Luke made a welcome discovery- an Asian beetle was crawling on his arm. Asian beetles, like their ladybug doppelganger, eat smaller bugs like aphids. Hopefully we'll get more of them to help us get rid of those pesky plant eaters. I know most people are very annoyed with those beetles, but they are great for tiny pest control (not that one dropped temporarily on our rosebush makes that much of a difference).

We have lots of eggplant blossoms right now.
Hopefully a few of them develop!

Another garden addition was totally spur of the moment. I was getting ready to cook supper, and I realized that my onions had sprouted. I was about to toss them out, when Luke asked for it and planted it in an unused pot. Well, fast forward a couple months, and we have these huge fun onion flowers coming up!

Onion Blossoms

Lastly- R.I.P. fig tree. Someone (me) left the garage door open one cold night during the winter, and it never completely recovered from its short time as a popsicle.

Rather fittingly, Luke and I are reading in Ecclesiastes right now (part of a year-long Bible reading challenge), and I came across this verse today:

"To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;"

~Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

Enjoy this season of planting and being outside!

Jen