Tinned geraniums and a box full of beans

It's been a hectic couple of weeks on the balcony. I recently went on a Capital Growth course specifically about growing in containers - it was fantastic, and left me full of ideas and excitement. (I know, I know, I'm a massive geek). Everyone there was a Londoner, growing mainly food, often in small or awkward spaces. It's so exciting to see how many people are doing this, it really does feel like a snowballing thing. 

We got some great advice from a fellow student on the course. She volunteers with Food from the Sky (a permaculture growing project on a supermarket roof in North London) and said that all of their growing containers are old recycling boxes from Haringey council. Lucky for me, my mum lives in Haringey, so I was able to thieve a couple of her old boxes to repurpose.

This one is full of runner beans (I really loved making a bamboo frame for them! Something incredibly satisfying about it. Can't wait for them to start climbing and twining up it.) The boxes are a great size, big enough to fit lots in, and deep enough for serious rooters. Another consideration is that I'm fast running out of space on the balcony, so using square sided containers rather than round ones is a good idea. Not to mention the fact that they're free. I'm hoping to obtain a few more. Perhaps some nocturnal scavenging round the streets of Haringey is in order...

I also picked up some pallets locally - one of the many great things about east London is the amount of useful things left out on the street. They're perfect for gardening purposes, solid and durable. As well as boosting the height and therefore the light available to the plants, the pallets lend a sense of structure to the space - I much prefer having a group of pots on a pallet than just hanging out on the floor.

On the theme of freebies, I've made some planters out of old double-size tins (in this case, chickpeas, fresh from feeding my hummus addiction).

A few drainage holes in the bottom and it was good to go. Although for the next ones (I'm saving all my old tins now) I'll line it with something to insulate the roots - apparently (and logically) they scorch a bit otherwise. This trailing geranium seems happy enough though. Probably because we've had so little sun!

Along with the tinned geraniums, and box of beans, other recent additions are an aubergine plant, courgette, peppers and more tomatoes. I've also gone a bit crazy with new seeds, so will be sowing pak choi, kale, and - after the current ones so rudely bolted the other week, more perpetual spinach.

A final mention on this accidentally but seemingly recession-themed post has to go to the nice folks at Alara. They have decided to use a bit of land in front of their muesli factory used as a municipal compost pick up. It's free! I went and filled up 3 huge bags of lush, dark, still-warm compost from them.  Absolutely brilliant. 

Our trainer on the Capital Growth course, Tom Moggach, had some interesting things to say about the ever-increasing commercialisation of gardening, and the fact that we really really don't have to buy into it.  Most of the necessities can be found for free, if you look hard enough, and seeds and cuttings can be shared between gardeners. A true and timely point.

Onwards! To more growing and less spending.