There is something so satisfying about gardening. The thrill of watching a tiny seed become a big green plant, and the joy of eating vegetables fresh from the dirt.

We don’t have a lot of space, so we have to squeeze as much as we can out of it. Last summer we built two big planter boxes on our balcony, and this is the first time we have plants growing in them. Our garden started at the beginning of March when we started our seeds indoors and bought enough dirt to fill our planter boxes. Note: the best deal in Vancouver for dirt is the city dump – we paid $5 for as much fresh black compost as we could haul. The hard part was carrying it up 3 flights of stairs to our balcony. What a workout.

We have peas growing up netting along a wall that are loving the early spring weather. The bok choy and spinach is also thriving and being eaten regularly. Kale, onions, carrots, and beets are also squeezed in there. And we have some cucumbers to transplant when it gets warmer (hopefully taking the space of the peas or maybe in their own containers).

A hanging strawberry basket will provide some tasty treats this summer.

We’ve also planted dwarf blueberry bushes – a blueberry glaze and a peach sorbet variety. We got 2 of them because cross-pollination leads to more fruit. But when we were planting them we found out our neighbour also has a blueberry bush on her balcony. Eat your heart out bees.

It will probably be a few years before we get anything to eat, but these plants are an investment in the future. They are also a memorial to my mom. We had a little ceremony and scattered her ashes in the dirt below them. If we had a big yard, we might have planted a tree. But we have a small balcony, so mom gets blueberry bushes. And now every time we eat a Baba Berry we’ll think of her and remember her love of gardening and good food.

More gardening photos.