enhanced boxed macaroni and cheese, watermelon, balcony garden

I love these beans. 

I expected a whole wall of them. 

I expected to put up sticks across the whole balcony.

I wish more had germinated. I planted them three times. And fairly thickly. They're a little bit tricky.

But I love LOVE LOVE the way they hang so languidly. 

Next year I'll try harder. I think I'll start them inside early and intensely. So a million of them form a thick wall. These beans are fantastic. I recommend them for everyone. 

They're outrageous.

At maximum, the balcony gets only seven hours direct sunlight a day in the afternoons. The two sides of the building block light most of the day. 

So there is only so much can be expected. 

Still, it came through like a champ.

A wounded champ.

An athlete who's been benched.

With serious head injuries. 

And other debilitating handicaps such as a coach who doesn't know what he's doing. And a lazy water boy. 

Yet it grows so intrusively it actually invades my neighbor's space. 

With a cucumber. 

I saw one bee all summer long. 

And I was all, "go, Bee, go!" 

The thing that did best are chiles. 

There are about six different types and some of them did very well. 

I always thought they needed full sun. 

All the plants were started from seeds. Nothing came from a nursery this year. 

And, boy, did I ever learn a lot.

Like what goes into dirt. 

Zero fertilizer was used. It's all based on good dirt, compost and worm castings. 

The sad thing is, there are four zucchini plants and they each flowered profusely but no zucchini because of no bees. And they're tucked into the corners and grew beyond the railing so I couldn't quite hand-pollinate them. And that's a bummer because the type of zucchini is very high producing in normal circumstance, that isn't 5 floors up growing from pots with no bees around. 

I did see a hummingbird two days in a row.

And I saw a huge moth that looks like a hummingbird each afternoon for two weeks. 

And I saw one wasp every day, pretty much all day.

And I saw a stink bug.

 

It didn't stink. 

I saw one ladybug.

No whiteflies. No aphids. No regular flies. No moths except that big one that looks like a bird. No butterflies. No mosquitos. No beetles. No gnats. No yellow jackets. No praying mantises. No fireflies. 

No snakes. 

No chipmunks or squirrels. 

No mice, no rats.

No armadillos. 

No bunnies. 

No turtles. 

No birds. Except that one hummingbird.