Our Summer Balcony, Nearly Perfected

So you remember how, just a few weeks ago, our little tomato and herb babies look like this? Well take a look at these bad boys now! They're loving this early summer weather as much as I am and they grew in leaps and bounds while we were on vacation last month to prove it!

Here are the three happiest tomato plants. I totally lost track of which ones are which, but I'm sure we'll figure it out once actual tomatoes start to grow...

The parsley has perked up this past week, thank goodness! That tomato plant though, has not. Am I overwatering? Underwatering? Under-sunning? I have no clue, but I know one thing: I don't like needy plants. He either needs to get his act together or get out!

Red basil makes me sooooo happy!And apparently a tomato seed snuck into the mix there and now one is growing right in the middle of the basil and oregano. It'll be my Italian planter box.

Some random chives and what I like to call my Thymian Wald (thyme forest), because those guys grow like mad. My transplanted oregano is behind that and let me tell you, he is so happy to be out of the kitchen and on the balcony instead, that he's doubled in size in two weeks!

I needed some color on the balcony so picked up these two guys on my trip to buy more dirt. They add the perfect happy touch this front spot was looking for.

Oh dill, you continue to make my heart swell with pride.

I found out last week that half the stuff in there were weeds! Sneaky punks. They are now removed and I'm waiting for the mint to do its usual let-me-grow-out-of-control-and-try-to-make-my-way-to-other-planter-boxes thing.

Garden gnome is happy with his tomato plant. The pot on the right has flowers that I'm guessing are waiting to bloom until full-blown summer. At least, I hope that's the case...Maybe I'll just start calling them lily pad plants instead. (Oh and we totally win the balcony war against our neighbors. Just look how boring their balcony is! Lame!)

And the latest happy addition: the grill!! Isn't he gorgeous?! His name is Bruce. (True story, it's even printed on the bottom right corner.) We initiated him into our life with our first balcony grill get-together last week. I never could have expected how fun it would be to set food on fire on your balcony. I'm hooked. Pictures of that to come at some point too.

Since these pictures were taken (again, DSLR-less sadly), I've added some fabulous Ikea lights (like I would come back from Ikea without balcony supplies!) and now the balcony pretty much feels like a permanent party. Summer can officially begin.