Great Urban Gardens: Sylvie & Marshall's Balcony
The garden: A sunny balcony in Ballston belonging to Sylvie of Thrifty DC Cook and Marshall of Scofflaw's Den
What's growing: We have mint, basil, Thai basil, chives, flat leaf parsley, sage, oregano, marjoram, thyme and rosemary. We also have one Rutgers heirloom tomato plant but it has yet to produce any fruit yet. Urban gardening tips: The balcony gets a lot of sun so we are lucky on that part. We water the herbs every day and have a spray bottle that we use to spritz the plants down with water when it gets too hot. We feed them once a week with plant food and try to trim them down every two weeks.
Marshall uses the mint in many of his cocktails. I've used the basil for countless pizzas, soups, roasted vegetable dishes, etc. I've used the thyme for roast chicken and as a topping for flatbreads. We have used all of the herbs for some sort of dish.
Our garden started in March when I spent $1 on one of those small pots with a bit of dirt in them and seeds from Target. It basically took about two months for it to sprout. In the beginning of May, Marshall bought his mint plant from Garner's Produce at the 14th and U Street market. Then it all just snowballed from there and we started getting a new herb plant a week. Now we have a garden that we love. There is something really satisfying about cooking a dish and walking to your balcony to get herbs to top off your dish with.
More from Metrocurean's Great Urban Gardens series:
• Mark Smith's Capitol Hill front yard transformation
• Chris Floyd's Capitol Hill yard
• The Chatham's Truxton Circle plot
• Michelle Miller's LeDroit Park roof and patio garden
More from Metrocurean's Great Urban Gardens series:
• Mark Smith's Capitol Hill front yard transformation
• Chris Floyd's Capitol Hill yard
• The Chatham's Truxton Circle plot
• Michelle Miller's LeDroit Park roof and patio garden