My Garden Ate My Balcony

It's hard to match the delight and sense of accomplishment that comes with seeing a long-term project come to fruition.  Like the pride you feel when you walk 100 miles in 100 days.  Or the joy you feel when you take the final steps of your first 5K.

Remember back in the Spring when I told you that I'd started a balcony herb garden?  I was a little nervous about how it would go; usually the Sous Chef handles all things Green and Growing.  I planted rosemary, thyme, basil, parsley, and oregano.  The Sous Chef - in the hopes of providing us with a living green screen to give us a little privacy (our balcony overlooks the condo parking lot) - planted morning glory, moonflower, potato vine, and hyacinth bean.

Well, it's just a few months later, and our balcony looks like this:

Green screen mission: Accomplished.

Check out our view from the balcony:

There is a veritable habitat outside my kitchen door now, complete with:

Buzzing insects...

Beans...

Flowers...

And some very happy balcony jungle cats.

It's been amazing to see how nature can take over such a small, otherwise sterile environment:

The only problem: My little herbs didn't stand a chance.  You see, plants need a little thing called sunlight in order to survive.  Once the vines started taking over and spread their broad-leaved wings, my little herbs slowly started withering away.  The thyme and oregano are now as brown and crispy as well-cooked bacon.  The parsley stuck around the longest, reaching out it's lime-green stems as far as it could, grasping onto it's final smidgen of sunlight until it was inevitably shaded out of existence.

Sounds rather depressing, now that I think about it.  My little green babies died.

But not before they provided the perfect flavors and garnishes for things like:

Creamy, Cheesy Grits and Eggs

Quorn Tacos with Kohlrabi and Lime Cream

Caprese Salad with Herbed Crostini

Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles with Basil

Pesto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Herbed Polenta

Goat Cheese and Thyme Biscuits

So here's to you, my beloved yet short-lived herb garden.  You fed my body as well as my spirit.

(P.S. Next year Mommy is planning on planting you indoors under a big grow light so you'll get all the sunlight your little chlorophyll-filled heart desires)