How does your garden grow?

Brrr....

I just got back from checking our balcony garden with Eldest again. We're having a major wind storm right now, and our balcony has virtually no shelter from it. The wind just seems to whip around inside the side walls rather than blowing over them. I've had to take my rail planters off and tuck them against a wall. Several of my basil have been damaged by the wind - bent right over right at the base of the stems. We'll see tomorrow if they survive the onslaught. They're still being blown around some, but not as much as on the rail. I even had to move another planter that was already on the ground. My second sowing of spinach was literally being crushed by the wind.

Speaking of spinach, I'm going to have to harvest the first sowing pretty much right away. It's starting to bolt, and I don't want them getting all leggy and going to seed.

It sure is great having the garden. We've been able to make a couple of salads with the small greens I've been thinning out. We can also harvest just a few leaves for sandwiches as needed. Eldest was waxing poetic over the spinach, cream cheese and a bit of shredded cheddar sandwich she had earlier today.

The rosemary is growing a lot more slowly than I expected. Perhaps it's being shaded too much by the tarragon, which is growing much faster than I expected. We've already used the tarragon to make a lovely butter. The parsley has also seen use already, as well as a few chives. The basil isn't ready for use yet, though I could probably start using the thyme. The carrots were growing slowly until we had a thunderstorm and accompanying short deluge one evening. They grew an inch overnight after that. I look forward to when they're big enough to start thinning - can't let the little ones go to waste. ;-)

This summer, we're learning a lot about what we can expect to do for next year. While the large amounts of direct sunlight was something I knew we'd be dealing with, I didn't expect that wind would be such an issue. Not to this extent. This will need to be taken into account in deciding if we'll plant anything with height. I had been thinking peas or beans in planters with a lattice back, which I've seen in stores this summer, but with this wind, I am no longer sure they won't be ripped apart.

We still need to decide if we'll be signing up for a garden plot for next year. It'd be great to plant some corn and heirloom varieties of potatoes.

I'm going to have to stop trying to write, though. The family keeps trying to talk to me. *L*