Gardening on the top floor

The 1st March is St. David's Day, the celebration in Wales of its patron saint, St. David. Being out of Wales means you don't really celebrate this day at all (there are a few exceptions, e.g. in the US: http://www.wales.com/en/content/cms/English/St_Davids_Day/Events/Events.aspx) but I do get daffodils - actually, Ryan buys them for me.  Last year, he found this tiny daffodils on 1st March. When they died off, we stuck them in a window ledge and actually forgot about them. That's because this ledge has nothing on it in the autumn and winter but pigeons strutting around, and then in spring and summer, it fills up with - well - weedy looking plants. However, I was delighted to find these growing this year:

Little daffodils on our neglected window ledge

Daffodils among the weeds on our window ledge; school in background

Ryan is more of a gardener than I.  As we live on the top floor of an apartment building in the city, Ryan really misses having a proper garden. However, we figured we could grow some things in pots.

We have a balcony where, this year, we will grow tomatoes, peppers, basil, rosemary and other herbs. (Herbs here are so expensive! You really feel ripped off when you pay 2CHF or more for a tiny spring of something!) Last year we tested it out, and while the conditions were harsh at times (wind, rain, sleet, hail... you name it!), most things grew well there. As the weather has improved here now, we need to do some gardening out there.

We also grew some flowers last Spring, and here are flowers from last year, and the basil, parsley and tomatoes:

Kitchen window ledge flowers

The tomatoes and herbs section

Sadly, our cilantro ("coriandre") did not fare well. We thought we'd be safe 7 floors up, but we learned from locals that there was an aphid of some sort, possibly from the soil, that attacked the plant. We managed to use some when the plant was in its infancy, but it quickly declined. The parsley suffered too - although I did make a batch of tabbouli. The basil was fine though, and I made a few batches of pesto.
However, we will learn from last year, and enjoy our balcony and its products!