Wind barrier

Since ikea was out of the wind barrier in the color I wanted, I decided to make one. The total cost was about $40: 5'x16' sun screen fabric ($25),  nylon rope ($7) and grommits ($7).

My balcony transformed from this

to this:

I made enough to cover the whole balcony but left one side open because this screen is too effective. Today the balcony temp was 80-100 and with the rain last night it was too muggy without any breeze. Another great thing about this screen is that it creates some privacy. As you can see, the area in front of the balcony is a parking lot so the screen makes the balcony more private.
The zucchinis that had the wind burn have recovered very nicely and male flowers are starting to appear.

All in all, this balcony garden is progressing quite well. Now the only thing to finalize everything is to get a board so that the pots do not sit directly on the balcony. 

Seaweed fertilizer

I did a little research to see if nori can be used to make seaweed fertilizer. I didn't find much, so I decided to compare the nutrient content of nori and kelp. Plant macronutrient (Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur) aka mineral (for human food) content in foods should be described in the USDA nutrient database. I compared the mineral content of kelp with lavar (I think this is nori). The table below lists the minerals for 100g of kelp/lavar. I included amino acids since I thought this may be the source of nitrogen (though I am not sure of this).

Nutrient	units	KELP	LAVAR
Calcium, Ca	mg	168	70
Iron, Fe	mg	2.85	1.8
Magnesium, Mg	mg	121	2
Phosphorus, P	mg	42	58
Potassium, K	mg	89	356
Sodium, Na	mg	233	48
Zinc, Zn	mg	1.23	1.05
Copper, Cu	mg	0.13	0.264
Manganese, Mn	mg	0.2	0.988
Selenium, Se	mcg	0.7	0.7
Tryptophan	g	0.048	0.043
Threonine	g	0.055	0.232
Isoleucine	g	0.076	0.259
Leucine	g	0.083	0.501
Lysine	g	0.082	0.222
Methionine	g	0.025	0.145
Cystine	g	0.098	0.1
Phenylalanine	g	0.043	0.273
Tyrosine	g	0.026	0.254
Valine	g	0.072	0.402
Arginine	g	0.065	0.285
Histidine	g	0.024	0.14
Alanine	g	0.122	0.651
Aspartic acid	g	0.125	0.567
Glutamic acid	g	0.268	0.547
Glycine	g	0.1	0.363
Proline	g	0.073	0.251
Serine	g	0.098	0.299

In terms of the "macronutrients", kelp and lavar is quite comparable. Lavar is lower in calcium and magnesium, but is richer in potassium. This is as far as I got scientifically and I pretty much made up my recipe for the fertilizer. I took 2 sheets of nori and shredded it before adding to a gallon of water. I also added 3 tablespoon of coffee (for nitrogen) and 3 tablespoon of crushed eggshells (for calcium).

I mixed it up on Friday and left it on the floor, shaking it up every once in a while. I decided to start the experiment on Wednesday since the tomato and basil seedlings I set up for the experiment needed some water. Lemme just say, even if this experiment shows that the seaweed fertilizer is fantastic, I will not be using it. It smells SO bad. I had the seedlings inside, but I had to take them out after using this "fertilizer" nastiness.

So now they live in this little drawer that I found at my friend's apartment complex. I will have to find another way to fertilize my plants. Speaking of free stuff for the garden, I also found this little table. It is amazing the things people throw away!

And today I found this under my zucchini pot...I did a little searching and I believe it is an earwig. Ewwww....