For those who would have worried for even a second, no, OUTSIDE THE BOX is not closing its doors. It's been too long of a journey to let it go just like this.
Nope, you'll have to bear with us for a little longer.
Here, I am now saying goodbye to the balcony plants. The past weeks' cold weather has seriously hit the jungle bad and some plants have started turning sick despite some cuts. With the change in time we have also lost much sunlight and the flowers have slowly decided it was time to stop the fight. The only ones remaining strong are the tomato plants, but they start also showing their limits.
So it's been decided to stop caring. We've started cutting the trees that are not producing anything, and giving the last fruits a final chance to turn red. And yes there's been some accidents, as you can see on the picture: some branches have broken under their own weight from the lack of water, and we had to chop some perfectly looking tomatoes.
But let's remain humble and especially proud:
what started as a confinement home-schooling project with absolutely no expectations turned into the most wonderful surprise, and we haven't had to buy any tomatoes in months.
The potato plant also made it for quite a long time until suffering from an obvious lack of space. It was the ultimate experiment and we will give it a try again next year with a specialized pot rather than a simple flower one.
Another great success and chapter that we have now closed down is the basil. The little pack of seeds turned into a giant bush that helped us create the nicest, freshest caprese salads by the end of the summer.
As its leaves were also started to turn bad, we decided to chop it off for good and turn our beloved plant into a nice, homemade pesto.
The recipe is fairly simple: blend pine seeds, basil leaves, a piece of parmigiano cheese with some olive oil until you reach your prefered consistency and flavour as you wish. Conserve the sauce in the fridge, and use it as a sauce for your pasta or as a nice spread for your bread.
So yes, time to clear the balcony for the winter and prepare for the next planting season...or the next confinement project?
After all it seems that my thumbs ARE green after all.