Free Chinese Lesson - Gardening on your balcony

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CITYLIFE / Odds & Ends






Gardening on your balcony


(Beijing Today)
Updated: 2007-07-19 11:35



All it takes to introduce a breath of the outdoors into your house is a
balcony. Planting vegetables on the balcony is trendy among urbanites.
Regardless of attitudes towards planting vegetables on the balcony, it
demonstrates a desire for a slower pace of life amidst today's urban rush.

"The life of a farmer, springtime and a patch of grass are my dreams,"
reads a real estate sign in the Beijing subway. It is difficult to make
out the writing with the endless stream of people passing in front of it
as they board and exit.

Live healthier

Urban residents have few opportunities to eat fresh vegetables every day.
They usually go to the market and buy food to get them through the week.
If they plant vegetables themselves, they could eat fresh ones at any
time. Planting on your own is also a great way to skirt the chemical
problems of market-grown vegetables.

Wang Xueyan, as part of Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS),
plants tomatoes and cucumbers on her balcony."There are only two ways for
humans to connect with the environment: one is to protect the
environment, and the other one is to destroy it," she said."Planting
vegetables on the balcony is a win-win activity, both for the environment
and for ourselves," she explains, "It can make our balcony greener, and
contribute to a nicer city landscape. It also provides a source of fresh
green food for our daily lives.""It is a healthy habit to have, and I
think it will only become more popular among Beijng's urbanites," she
added

Living the dream

Yu Jun's wife used to love to plant flowers and plants on their balcony,
but she was always disappointed with the results. "The kafir lilies never
flowered on our balcony,and neither did the cacnea," he husband said.

Last year, they found vines with yellow flowers wrapped around one of
their pots. The vines eventually bore fruit, which turned out to be
balsam pears. His wife picked up pears and made a cold dish. "It was
fabulous. Since then, my wife has been fascinated with planting
vegetables on the balcony," he said. His wife bought some leek seeds
early this year and planted them in a garden pot. "In the beinning, she
used to get up and check how her leeks were doing every morning. In only
half a month, they had shot up 20 centimeters. She has a lot of fun, and
usually isn't disappointed with the results."Today, we have planted five
pots of leeks. We can eat fresh leeks almost every day," he said.





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