Life: an adventure, a journey with Jesus!
Balcony Gardening

Apartment living has advantages, but it also comes with some disadvantages. We really miss our yard, trees, gardens and the visitors we watched daily, like the cardinals, bluebirds, blue jays, titmice, juncos, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and hummingbirds. Here we have a 3’ wide by 18’ long balcony, with bright morning sun, and lovely shade the rest of the day. But, looking off through the neighborhood, there are few, if any, gardens and they are only strips of land about 4’ by 10’ that have very little vegetation in them. The few friends with wings don’t stop by to visit, and there are more chickens (they do have wings) and pigeons than any other birds in sight.

What does one do to bring back that comfortable feeling that only a bit of ‘mother nature’ can provide? We both knew we needed to get some plants on the balcony and so we set out to do just that. Six months have passed, and the 3’ potted trees of red, yellow, orange, brown and green leaves, have just about passed on. What happened? It’s the delicate balance of light, water, wind, and fertilizer we didn’t get right. We have propagated about eight coleus plants from one that we purchased for 66 cents. Not a bad return! Now to get them to continue to grow once we move them outside to the balcony. We also have two white geraniums which Don has started to propagate to increase our ‘garden’ in size.

Thinking back to our mistakes, we can only wonder what we could have done differently. We don’t know the name of the potted trees, can’t research them on line without a name. The care they require is a mystery. We may never know how to get plants here to do well, but we continue to try. We don’t have instructions or a manual to define the ideal conditions needed by the plants. There are no identifying tags on the plants. Sound familiar? Ever had the same problem?

Think about it, as Christians, we are in the same situation. We need to be cared for properly. We need certain conditions to even survive, and appropriate feeding, nurturing and pruning to flourish. And, man, what a difference we feel and others see (and hopefully enjoy!) when we are spiritually healthy! Thank goodness there is no mystery as to who we are and how we are to be tended. We even have a manual – the Bible – to give us all the instructions needed.