The Balcony Garden

Ana had always wanted a garden, but she lived in a small flat on the third floor and had never had the chance to grow anything. Her sunny balcony seemed an unlikely place to start. Even so, one Saturday she bought a large pot, a bag of soil and a packet of tomato seeds.

Every morning before work, she watered the pot and examined the soil. Days passed without any sign of life, and Ana began to wonder whether she had planted the seeds too deeply or watered them too often. She considered giving up, but she did not want to waste the effort.

Then, on the eleventh morning, a tiny green leaf appeared. Ana was so pleased that she knocked on her neighbour’s door. Luis, who had grown herbs and peppers on his own balcony for years, came out to look and congratulated her.

“Would you like some advice?” he asked. He pointed out that the pot stood in a corner where the wind dried the soil too quickly. Together they moved it to a spot with plenty of sun and some shelter, and Luis suggested watering in the morning rather than in the evening.

By the end of summer, the plant had produced three red tomatoes. Ana gave one to Luis, and they ate the rest with bread on his balcony. “It is only two metres wide,” she said, “but it is the first garden I have ever had.”