There aren’t many gardening spaces you’ll find that are smaller than an apartment building balcony, but Hank Comerer of Avalon has used the area both wisely and creatively. Pictured here, the balcony lends itself to the use of a number of annuals to provide seasonal color. Photo by Tom Steiner for The Citizen

Just because Henry “Hank” Comerer moved into a fourth floor Avalon apartment three years ago doesn’t mean that he had any intentions of giving away his gardening tools. And despite having his planting area reduced from a large garden to a 10 x 5 balcony space, Hank, now 91, has managed to plant a thriving garden of flowers and vegetables that enjoy exposure to all-day sun, along with his careful tending.

Hank was born and grew up in Emsworth, where his grandmother had lived “… before it was Emsworth. My uncle, John Sevin, was the borough clerk for 54 years,” Hank said.

“We always had a big yard, and I started to help caring for it when I was a kid. I never thought of it as being a chore, because I always loved it.”

He recalls that there always were lots of fruit trees in addition to the vegetables. Among the perennials, the lilac holds a special place in his memory.

“When each of the grandchildren (12) and the great-grandchildren (13) makes his or her First Communion, I give a lilac tree as one of my presents.”

And he wants his three children to carry on his passion for gardening. “I’ve always had flowers and vegetables. I get them at local nurseries and sometimes I buy them from mail order and give them to the kids for their yards.”

Most of his garden consists of annuals. Impatiens, coleus, petunias, ageratum, nasturtiums, begonias, purple sedum, tomatoes and peppers.

Among his larger plants are a rose bush and a hibiscus that will be moved inside to winter over.

With a balcony filled with plants, and upper balconies impeding rainfall, Hank solves what could be the nuisance of several back and forth trips with a watering can by attaching a spring-like hose that stretches to the kitchen sink. Watering task completed, the hose just snaps back into place beneath one of the balcony chairs.

It’s not just the retractable hose that shows how Hank has kept up with gardening hardware. Intrigued by what he read in one of his catalogues, he bought an “Earth Box” two years ago.

Ideal for use in limited spaces, it works on the principle of providing constant moisture to the plant roots. “I fill it through a tube,” he explained. “The water -- I have to add at least a gallon a day -- settles beneath the soil layered on a tray above it. So those roots are constantly being nourished.”

The Earth Box manufacturer calls it “The world’s most revolutionary gardening system,” and claims to “…double the yield of a conventional garden with less fertilizer, less water and virtually no effort.”

Hank’s vegetables testify to what was promised.

Three tomato plants, providing a healthy harvest since late July, have grown so tall that he jokes, “If I let them grow a little while longer, people on the fifth floor will be getting tomatoes from my plants!”
While Hank prefers total control of his garden, he has deferred to the requests of his children, promising not to climb a three-step ladder or to lift anything heavy, having pulled a hamstring when moving planter boxes around on his own. Understanding their fear of another gardening injury, he asks for a little help trimming back the tomatoes. “But don’t nip any of those top blossoms,” he directs.

He looks over his garden with a sense of satisfaction. “I’ve always liked flowers. Liked them since I was a kid, helping my mother.”

He glances to an adjacent apartment building and points out the work of some fellow gardeners who recently have added containers of plants to their balconies.

“There wasn’t much over there last year. Maybe some of them looked over here and decided to spruce up a little.”