My balcony veggie patch!

It's been more than 3 weeks since I bought the Rockets & Brussels Sprouts seedlings, and all these time they were living in their original tiny containers as I haven't got around to get them their own self-watering planter box!
 

 
After 3 weeks in their small containers, their leaves have started to turn yellow and are starting to fall. So, I couldn't delay their transplantation any longer and have to get moving even when it was approaching mid-winter with the weather getting cold, windy and wet! I planned to pick the Rockets leaves quite frequently, so have decided to plant all the Rockets seedlings into the one planter box, and the Brussels Sprouts will be in another. They are now living inside my mini greenhouse together with my Baby Carrots and Spring Onions.

While I was getting extra potting mix for these seedlings, I decided to get another 2 kinds of salad leaves to join my balcony: Mizuna & Baby Spinach! I also planned to pick their leaves for salad regularly, so have planted both Mizuna and the Baby Spinach into one planter box!

I read on wiki that Mizuna is "highly resistant to cold and grown extensively during winter months in Japan." I thought to myself, "perfect timing to plant them then and I won't have to worry about leaving them unprotected on my cold & windy balcony!" But then I also read that their growth is "vigorous"... Oh dear! the mizuna might suffocate the baby spinach that are in the same container! LOL. I guess I will wait and see if I need to relocate the baby spinach elsewhere later.

Mini Bunny Rug

I first attempted to knit a bunny rug last year with some soft fluffy yarn. As a new knitter who only know how to knit and purl before this project, I had to learn a number of new knitting techniques like how to increase stitches by knitting front and back, as well as "make one". I also had to find out how to add stitches in front of a knitted row, and how to decrease at the beginning of a row. It was all good until I DROPPED A STITCH...

My gosh! It was so hard trying to find the dropped stitch amongst all those fluff!! I ended up pulling out all the stitches in frustration and decided to try a crochet version instead, but it was still too hard for me to see where I should put my crochet hook into amongst the fluff! I had no choice but to give up on using this yarn and try something else which was much easier for me to work with.

I was quite pleased when I found a bamboo & cotton blend yarn from the same local craft store that comes in several nice colour mix. It was much easier working with this yarn and I was able to whip up a crocheted bunny rug in no time! :)

For the bunny head, I used Crest-a-lon fibre filling which is supposed to be "resilient, washable & non-allergic". It was a little tricky trying to embroider the eyes and nose on to the crocheted face.

My very first crocheted bunny rug.

A new bunny rug completed last night.

I have also bought the blue mix of the same bamboo/cotton blend yarn and would try it out with the same crocheted bunny rug pattern when I'm done with my dozen or so WIP. :P

Which bunny rug do you think looks better; the red/orange mix or the pink/green mix?

Spring Onions do grow fast!

I am not a spring onion person. I just don't like the taste, but I have decided to plant 2 spring onion ends last week, so that on the rare occasion I need a small amount in my cooking, I won't have to buy a big bunch from the shop! I am amazed at how quick and easy they grow!

The little carrot seedlings seem to like their new home inside my mini greenhouse too!

Carrots and Spring Onions

We have just stepped into Winter here in Sydney, and our Autumn had been as cold as around 10°C during late night/early morning to as warm as mid 20s around midday! The past 2 days or so has been one of those warmer days with midday temperature in mid 20s, so I took the opportunity to do some late Autumn planting!

I read that Autumn is the season for plants to establish their root systems. They do most of their growing under ground. Apparently, vegetables seedlings such as cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli, spinach; root vegetables such as garlic, leeks, onions; and most kinds of lettuce will do well if planted in Autumn. I just hope that mine will still do well even though they were planted at the end of Autumn! :P

My Autumn selection for my part shade south facing 9th floor balcony consists of:

• "Little Fingers" carrots, brussels sprouts and rocket seedlings bought from Bunnings, and
• 2 spring onion ends leftover from a recent purchase from a fruit & vegetable store.

The labels that came with the seedlings say that the carrot & rocket require full sun to part shade, while the brussels sprouts requires full sun. hmmm.... I wonder if the brussels sprouts will grow on my balcony.

Carrot seedlings & spring onion ends in their new home next
to a new addition of the native Kangaroo Paws in pink!

My back was a little sore after planting my carrots seedlings & the spring onion ends, and I haven't decided on a container to plant the brussels sprouts and rockets, so it will have to be another day for those remaining seedlings!