At the end of August last year we went away for a week. Before leaving I watered everything really well and filled all the self-watering containers to overflowing. And when I came back everything was fine. In fact the tomatoes appears to be thriving even better than before we left. But around that time things got busy around here and I didn't have any time to deal with plants on the balcony. I just... lost interest I guess.
Jump forward eight months and this is what I have to deal with. The good thing is the plants are thoroughly dried out and can be easily cut up and stomped down into a bag that I can carry down to the building compost dumpster. I find it easier to deal with the dead plants in the spring than the still green ones in the fall.
I've also got some new plants starting under a grow light in the kitchen. Mostly jalapeno peppers because the ones I picked last year were in high demand. But there are also some micro-dwarf tomato plants popping up as well. These should be fairly compact so I might grow half inside under lights and the other outside on the balcony somewhere. Don't know where they will go though. I'm just playing it all by ear this season. I should probably get some cucumbers started.
