In the beginning of March we planted seeds. When deciding to rent this place, we thought the south facing balcony would make a good place for herbs, forgetting that this is the land of too much heat and sun. Both of our chives almost died, and the basil we picked up from the farmer’s market immediately bolted. Now, we’ve moved all the plants down to the north facing deck, which everything seems to greatly prefer. Perhaps in winter, we’ll move back up to the balcony. If we can keep them going for long enough, it would be great to get more of those sweet-purple basil crosses.