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. 

Balcony fortress

The biggest barrier to leaving the plants out on the balcony is the crazy wind that whips my poor veggie plants every which way. You can see the peas literally holding on to dear life as the wind tries to pry them off the trellis. I though I found a solution to my problem at ikea. When I went to the store they had several left, but they only had the striped ones left (I wanted the solid white).  The pink and green striped one will make my balcony look like a circus which could be fun but probably will annoy me after a while. The black/white stripe is out of the question since it reminds me of a funeral (at least funerals in Japan). There is another ikea in DC but they are out of stock so I am out of luck. I will probably have to make one using a sun shield cloth I found at Walmart. I really wanted to avoid having to make it myself! In the meantime here is my make-shift wind barrier fortress!

Temporary solution for a windy balcony

Flower buds! (Early girl 50)

I hope they will survive the weekend. The tomato and pepper seedlings that I grew from seeds are looking pretty good too - although they are not ready to be left outside for too long (I tried and they got sun/wind burned). There was a small mis-step, however. I mislabeled my seedlings so I am not sure which ones are the supersweet and which ones are the homestead tomatoes. I guess it will be a surprise if/when they start bearing fruit.

Mesclun in recycled container