Growing Apples On The Balcony

Growing Apples On The Balcony by Ella Schwartz

Karen opened the door to her apartment balcony and sighed as the city air greeted her with that all too familiar scent of exhaust fumes. She crossed to the sunny corner of her balcony and smiled as she checked on the progress of her apple tree.

Her friends had often called Karen mad for attempting to grow her own apple tree on the balcony of her eleventh floor apartment, but Karen knew that it could be done. When she had moved to Dallas for work, she had been forced to leave her roots in the country behind herself.

Regardless of where she resided, Karen knew the importance of having fresh fruit available to her. Apples were her favorite food, and she knew how expensive fresh fruit was here in the city. It was no small decision to take the step from thinking about it, to actually trying to grow her own apple tree, eleven floors in the air.

A Big Pot for a Big Tree

Karen knelt beside her apple tree and admired the large ceramic pot that she had invested in. Her grandmother had told her that a tree grown in a pot would need a lot of room for the roots to grow around in the soil. The tree would only grow as large as its roots could spread, so a large pot was needed to give the tree some growing room. She had likewise been warned that if the tree were not given a large enough pot, its roots would eventually break through the pot itself to find more room to grow.

The pot that Karen had chosen was a mosaic of red and blue tiles in a striped design. Not only did it give the apple tree plenty of room to grow on her balcony, but it matched the cushions on her porch chair as well. Karen checked around the soil of her tree, making sure that no intruding insects were bothering her balcony resident. She hummed to herself as she went through this nightly ritual.

An Apple Tree Needs Water

Once she was satisfied that her apple tree was free of pests, she turned back toward her apartment. Karen grabbed her two gallon watering can and measured out the weekly dose of organic fertilizer mix into the can's bottom. She filled the can with water and returned to her balcony again. Karen hefted the heavy watering can and tilted it over the edge of the pot slowly. She watched as the water flowed in around the soil, and paused as the water seemed to overrun the soil's surface.

Karen waited patiently while the apple tree soaked up all of the nutritious water. Experience had taught her that the plant needed time to let the water soak in before more was added. When she watered her tree too quickly, the nutrient-rich water simply spilled over the sides and out the bottom of the plant, resulting in her tree not getting enough to drink. Only once the water soaked in did Karen add more, pausing again when the water reached the overflow threatening point.

Nutrients

When the entire watering can had been successfully fed to the tree, Karen returned the watering can to its usual spot. Any plant that is grown in a pot only has a limited amount of nutrients available to it, her grandmother had warned when Karen began this experiment. If Karen wanted her tree to produce large, healthy apples, it would need a weekly supply of nutrients added to the soil, with regular water added every day as well. This would allow her apple tree plenty to eat while it grew.


Light

Karen took care to always give her apple tree everything that it could need, including dragging it around her balcony to where the sunlight was strongest during different times of the year. Already, she had small apples beginning to grow from where the old flowers had withered and fallen from the tree. Come the Fall, she hoped to have a multitude of apples available to be eaten every day.

Ella C Schwartz is a writer for Hunterstruct Construction, offering small home design and building services throughout Southwest British Columbia, including the BC interior and Sunshine Coast. Known for its functional and great looking cottages, this small home builder in White Rock, BC showcases its best small homes on the Hunterstruct.com website. We love building, and it shows!

Article Source: Growing Apples On The Balcony

Sometimes Hiring A Pro Is The Answer

Some Things Are Better Left To The Professionals by Kevin Germain

It is one of the most daunting tasks homeowners must do to keep the homes aesthetic value as well as dollar value up. Landscaping tends to leave many homeowners overwhelmed as it is often difficult to keep up with the growing list of ways to improve your home landscape. It is so overwhelming that most of us hire professional landscape design companies to come in mow the lawn, prune the bushes, plant flowers and clean up yard waste. Having a company handle your lawn care does not mean you can have total hands off approach. Here are some tips to help guide you when you are out in your yard.

The first tip I give to anyone attempting a project on their own without the professionals is to purchase all the materials for the project at hand upfront. This is something professional landscapers do also. There is nothing worse than finding out you are missing a crucial part of the project mid way through. Planning can also save you money as you tend to get better pricing from larger stores. When you are missing something you tend to run to the local hardware where the markup is double.

As you work through each section and phase you purchase the goods needed to complete that section. This can prove to also benefit you because you may find after the completion of one section that the yard is complete and not want to move on to another project within the original design. For example, if you are planning for a rock garden with a natural pond flowing into and notice once the pond is complete that the rock garden would be overkill that you have not wasted time or resources on the second, unneeded phase. It saves from the hassle of retuning extra supplies or worse cluttering your shed with leftover unused materials.

Landscaping with a water element is always appealing and a crowd pleaser. These are not easy to manipulate on your own and often need the care of a professional to help with this landscape design arena. If you are tempted to try and install a water feature within your own landscape start small. Smaller pools, pumps and fountains are easier to handle and maneuver if mistakes are made in the original design. It will be a smaller mistake to correct with smaller items. Using water plants around the small pond space can make it appear larger and will allow for easier maintenance.

If you are attempting to add in plants, shrubs, flowers, trees or berries it is best to ask the professional that has worked within your space. These options are often difficult to sustain if not properly planted and cared for. It is a waste of money for you to add a plant into your landscape without knowing if the soil, sun and water requirements will be met.

Landscaping is not something all people are born to do or are even good at. Some people enjoy tinkering about in the yard. The curb appeal of your home is one of the most important aspects when it comes to the resale of your home. Make sure your home is appealing. Hire a professional landscape company to come in if not every week for regular lawn care than at least twice a year to help prepare the landscape for the summer and winter seasons. Fall landscape maintenance and spring yard clean up are the most important times of the year for your yard. Do everything you can to protect your investment going into the harsh winters and hot summers Mother Nature brings the North.

Bladerunners Inc. offers a variety of lawn care, landscaping and snow removal services. You will discover more online at http://www.bladerunnerslandscape.com/.

Article Source: Some Things Are Better Left To The Professionals

Growing Apples On The Balcony

Growing Apples On The Balcony by Ella Schwartz

Karen opened the door to her apartment balcony and sighed as the city air greeted her with that all too familiar scent of exhaust fumes. She crossed to the sunny corner of her balcony and smiled as she checked on the progress of her apple tree.

Her friends had often called Karen mad for attempting to grow her own apple tree on the balcony of her eleventh floor apartment, but Karen knew that it could be done. When she had moved to Dallas for work, she had been forced to leave her roots in the country behind herself.

Regardless of where she resided, Karen knew the importance of having fresh fruit available to her. Apples were her favorite food, and she knew how expensive fresh fruit was here in the city. It was no small decision to take the step from thinking about it, to actually trying to grow her own apple tree, eleven floors in the air.

A Big Pot for a Big Tree

Karen knelt beside her apple tree and admired the large ceramic pot that she had invested in. Her grandmother had told her that a tree grown in a pot would need a lot of room for the roots to grow around in the soil. The tree would only grow as large as its roots could spread, so a large pot was needed to give the tree some growing room. She had likewise been warned that if the tree were not given a large enough pot, its roots would eventually break through the pot itself to find more room to grow.

The pot that Karen had chosen was a mosaic of red and blue tiles in a striped design. Not only did it give the apple tree plenty of room to grow on her balcony, but it matched the cushions on her porch chair as well. Karen checked around the soil of her tree, making sure that no intruding insects were bothering her balcony resident. She hummed to herself as she went through this nightly ritual.

An Apple Tree Needs Water

Once she was satisfied that her apple tree was free of pests, she turned back toward her apartment. Karen grabbed her two gallon watering can and measured out the weekly dose of organic fertilizer mix into the can's bottom. She filled the can with water and returned to her balcony again. Karen hefted the heavy watering can and tilted it over the edge of the pot slowly. She watched as the water flowed in around the soil, and paused as the water seemed to overrun the soil's surface.

Karen waited patiently while the apple tree soaked up all of the nutritious water. Experience had taught her that the plant needed time to let the water soak in before more was added. When she watered her tree too quickly, the nutrient-rich water simply spilled over the sides and out the bottom of the plant, resulting in her tree not getting enough to drink. Only once the water soaked in did Karen add more, pausing again when the water reached the overflow threatening point.

Nutrients

When the entire watering can had been successfully fed to the tree, Karen returned the watering can to its usual spot. Any plant that is grown in a pot only has a limited amount of nutrients available to it, her grandmother had warned when Karen began this experiment. If Karen wanted her tree to produce large, healthy apples, it would need a weekly supply of nutrients added to the soil, with regular water added every day as well. This would allow her apple tree plenty to eat while it grew.

Light

Karen took care to always give her apple tree everything that it could need, including dragging it around her balcony to where the sunlight was strongest during different times of the year. Already, she had small apples beginning to grow from where the old flowers had withered and fallen from the tree. Come the Fall, she hoped to have a multitude of apples available to be eaten every day.

Ella C Schwartz is a writer for Hunterstruct Construction, offering small home design and building services throughout Southwest British Columbia, including the BC interior and Sunshine Coast. Known for its functional and great looking cottages, this small home builder in White Rock, BC showcases its best small homes on the Hunterstruct.com website. We love building, and it shows!

Article Source: Growing Apples On The Balcony