Ian and I decided to start our mini garden on the balcony in time for the summer. Soil, seeds, pots were chosen from some fancy gardening shop. Fertiliser was included. So we set out on a Sunday afternoon in our west facing balcony. It was hot. At one point, the heat was almost unbearable for even a tropical born like me, not to mention my English country boy. We had to take break inside from time to time, but we really enjoyed repotting chillies, seeding basil and rocket, trimming off stems to make a bush out of our mint plants. We named our chilli plants, and wondered whether we would be able to give any away. It is a bit silly to keep eight chilli plants for ourselves but it’s hard to choose. We would have our food out in the balcony, enjoy seeing them grow, picking and choosing. It’s fun.
I could see why my Dad used to spend so much time on his roof-top “garden” despite Hanoi’s scorching weather. Since Gau was born, he has spent most of his days looking after his beloved grandson. Somehow the garden survived its defeat by Gau for my Dad’s time and care. There are still chillies, bitter melons, spinaches, herbs and so on. He sounds pleased whenever I ask him about his plants. Back to our balcony garden, I find a similar joy.
nightcactus 