Downsizer dreams

If I ever moved into an apartment with a balcony, I would take up growing moss. So suitably small, so vivid green, so challenging. And so easy to source a starter pack. The owner of this deck – or is it a fence? – would be only too pleased if someone scraped off a chunk, popped it in a plastic bag and carted it off.

I’d need to have a collection of rocks on the balcony first – arranged artistically in a corner. From then on, it’d be flying blind. Maybe break the moss into little pieces and press it on the rock. Maybe tie it on with netting. What moss hates is loose soil. What moss loves is moisture, so I’d need to get hold of a mister. What moss needs is patience.

Maybe I’d end up with some dead moss. Or maybe years later I’d be a moss expert who could tell the difference between acrocarps and pleurocarps. But that’s half the fun of gardening – you win some, you lose some.

October 2018