Shopping on a Saturday: Balcony Gardens and Green Thumb Helpers

I've got this horrible affliction where I love plants, herbs and flowers but it seems that every plant I touch shrivels up eventually. I swear I don't torture them..except for the haphazard watering schedule sometimes. Hmm. That being said, I managed to kill a cactus with overwatering once. Please don't give me that look!!

At the moment, I've treading a fine line between boom and bust with my strawberry, basil, rosemary (it sprouted flowers!), thyme, chili and celery plants. The spring onions are self-sufficient and the chives look scrawny but haven't keeled over yet. The mint wants to take over the world. My venus fly traps are quite happy, with one sundew even sprouting a flower! The poor thing doesn't realize there aren't any other sundews around :( This recent spate of chilly, strong wind isn't helping them much at all unfortunately. 

So, with that in mind, this week's round-up consists of all the things that I would love to spoil my plants with (pun completely unintended!) to help them grow healthier, stronger and prettier! If you have any tips, tricks or favorite planters, feel free to share them with us!

From top to bottom, left to right:

• The Glasshouse - a combination of pendant lamp and a terrarium by Czech designer Krstyna Pojerova! How awesome would it be to reach up in the middle of dinner to pick some fresh rosemary or basil to sprinkle on your pasta! The original site is in Czech, and an English page/review can be found here at Inhabitat.
• Sky Planters - upside-down plant pots for.. again, instant garnishes by Boskke. I have seen them being sold at Eden Gardens in Sydney, but you can find them elsewhere in Australia like at designforuse in Melbourne too. If only they weren't so pricey...
• Digital Pot Plant Pet - a USB-powered little guy by Junyi Heo that will tell you when your little plant is happy or sad! Now, that's exactly what I need!
• Smart Pots - Soft-sided fabric pots that allow your plants and their roots to breathe! I actually just migrated most of my plants into these because I was getting fed up with having to deal with clumpy, clay-like soil that was suffocating my plants. It was such an ordeal to empty out big pots, clean all the plants up and re-pot them bi-annually. With all that moving around, I'm not surprised my plants aren't happy! Will be keeping an eye on them in their new homes. If nothing else, I can't over-water them because the excess water oozes out the sides of these planter bags!
• Post Planter - metal planters on a post by Wallter. Basically, homes in the sky for plants! They have different styles but I like these sky homes the best. Would be lovely stringing up some christmas/fairy lights between them as they lined a garden path, no?
• GreenSmart Herb and Veggie Systems - plastic containers developed in Australia that allow gardening/farming pretty much everywhere in their self-contained self-watering system. What I like about the design is the little tube to top up water levels and there's a little cushion of air to prevent the roots from becoming water-logged. Smart indeed!
• SOCKER Greenhouse - Oh, what is there NOT to love about IKEA!! They've done it again! I've been eyeing this little beauty ever since it came out last year, wrestling with self-restraint every. single. time. I go to IKEA.. (which is a lot!). They make it so much harder by making me walk past it to leave the store. I think I'm going to cave in soon..

Have a happy weekend!

P.S. This round-up is no way endorsed or sponsored by any of the aforementioned shops, websites or companies. These are finds that I've stumbled on during my internet travels that have impressed me enough to share with everyone else.