There's a hole in my bucket dear Liza, dear Liza...

Actually, there are holes in 2 of my buckets...this is explained below...  

It was a gardening weekend for me, as part of my attempt to turn my balcony into our 'Urban Oasis'.  I planted some herbs (rosemary, chives, basil, cilantro and parsley) and bought some seeds for veggies -   lettuce, arugula, radishes, swiss chard, peas and pole beans.  We'll see how that goes.  I also planted a clematis in the shady corner of our balcony and I will try to coax that into growing up a trellis.  

Since we have a limited amount of space on our condo balcony, I've decided to try thinking vertically - hence the pole beans and the clamatis.  But my big experiment is that I am going to try growing some tomato plants upside down.  While I was surfing the internet a few weeks ago, I came across some sites where people talked about growing tomatoes upside down in buckets.  It might be a bit gimmicky, but I'm going to give it a go.  Basically, you get a big painting bucket (19L), cut a 2" hole in the bottom, and push the plant through so that its upside down with its root bulb at the bottom of the bucket and the leaves hang out through the hole at the bottom.  Then you fill the bucket with soil and it hangs on a hook by the bucket handle.  Apparently, you can do companion planting - so I'll try planting my lettuce and radishes at the top of the bucket (once I start the seeds).  You've gotta be creative when you have a wee balcony.  I will admit that I am slightly concerned about the strength of the rusty hook that the bucket is hanging from...will it be strong enough?  God forbid it should break off and fall to the ground...

I took some pics, but I will have to add those later once I get my camera back.