My Balcony Jungle

Another season

2012-01-06T20:46:00.000-08:00

I'm not much of a blogger. The 2011 season ended quietly. I harvested and froze my beans and managed to get a few more ripe cape gooseberries before it started getting frosty outside. I chopped down everything that was left some time ago. And the contents of my little compost bucket is frozen. Winter is here... sort of. The weatherman seems to be in denial and it seems more like November or March outside, not January.

I haven't given much thought to what I'll grow in 2012. There was talk of a family vacation that would take me away from the balcony for a chunk of the summer so I won't be planning anything overly ambitious.

These are the beans I wanted

2011-09-14T06:28:00.000-07:00

I've let my pair of Borlotti bean plants die with a load of bean pods hanging on them. Some of the pods are still green but as they turn yellow I've been picking and shelling them. And the beans inside have that nice specked appearance I've been waiting for. I won't get much - maybe 1/2 cup of shelled beans in all. Wonder what I should do with them...

Zapotec Tomato

2011-09-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

Finally, a ripe Zapotec. This plant did really well considering it was pushed off into a corner where it struggled for sunlight. There are a couple of clusters of similar sized tomatoes on the single giant plant I have on the balcony. The tomatoes I got were not as large or interesting looking as the ones I've seen in books and around the internet. Inside is looks a little hollow as I expected. A good number of seeds.

This one tasted pretty plain though. I mean, it tasted like a tomato but wasn't special. I expected it to be a little sweeter but it wasn't terribly acidic either. I don't blame the variety for this fault. I blame the plant and where the blame really lies is with the gardener. I crowded my balcony with too many large tomato plants this year.

Gold Medal Tomato

2011-09-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

I picked this Gold Medal tomato over the weekend. This one grew without much cover from the sun and had a couple of green streaks on its shoulders. But it was quite ripe overall. A good size. Nice tomato. But the taste of this one didn't impress me. Came across as kind of weak. The plant this tomato came from didn't perform very well and I blame a lack of sunlight. Too crowded on the balcony this year. The rest of the family thought the tomato tasted great though. Thick juicy slices of tomato don't last long around here.

First and Last Green Tomato

2011-08-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

The Green tomato was ripe so I picked it. That's the last time I grow German Green tomatoes. I gave that plant the best sunlight and it continues to grow well bit it didn't set many flowers and only one actually set fruit. This one. It measured a mere 3 inches.

But it was a good tomato. Few seeds, meaty. Somewhat sour but a little sweet as well. It was certainly ripe: had turned to a nice shade of yellowy lime green with a slight pink in some areas.

Opalka Tomato

2011-08-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

I've read that people grow Opalka Tomatoes for canning because of their shape. But I decided to try them because I heard good things about their taste. I finally had one ripen enough to eat and it didn't let me down. It had a nice tomato taste. It certainly wasn't weak. A little sweet perhaps. Not very acidic. It had an almost smoky taste to it. Very few seeds. Meaty on the inside but some hollow spots. I was impressed actually. Not a bad tomato. Has to be the best plum shaped tomato I've tasted. Mind you I don't grow very many.

Some of the other tomatoes on the plant are shaped a little better than this first one I picked. The plant itself is growing really dense with lots of growth. It almost seems to be resisting my attempts to make it grow straight. It's a crooked plant covered with leaves. Takes a lot of digging through the growth to find the tomatoes.

Strong Winds

2011-08-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

Big storm with lots of gusting wind while we were out this afternoon. My four front line tomato plants were knocked down but did not completely fall off the chairs they sit on and there appears to be no damage to the plants. I'm sure a few branches and leaves got bent or crushed but it doesn't look like I lost any tomatoes. And other than those plants falling over, everything else survived just fine.

Borlotti Beans

2011-08-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

I planted a couple of Borlotti bean plants in a sunny spot this year and they're doing well. Borlotti are a shelling bean, also known as Roman or Cranberry Beans and are easily distinguishable by a splash of red on the bean pods .The sprawling colony of spider mites that suck on the plants juices are also doing well. I knock their population down with a light dish soap and neem oil spraying every now and then.

Anyhow, there were a few beans on the plant that had filled out nicely so I picked them. I opened one up to see how far along the beans were inside, and without thinking anything of it, ate them. While searching the internet for some wisdom on when the best time is for picking shelling beans, I can across a warning that said eating raw shelling beans could make you very ill. One website even seemed it suggest it would be bad enough to require a stay in the hospital. Holy crap! I've heard that raw beans have something in them that might upset your stomach but I didn't think it was that bad. So I started searching again for some answers. What I learned is that beans contain a lectin known as phytohaemagglutinin which is a sugar binding protein that can bind to the intestinal lining and cause some damage. People who get ill from ingesting raw beans usually come around in a few hours. But getting sick isn't a sure thing and different people react differently. And not all beans contain the same concentration of lectins. The few beans I ate did nothing to me. But I think I'll avoid eating them like that in the future just the same.

Now that the hottest days of summer are behind us, my bean plants have started to flower and produce again like mad. I should have picked those early beans sooner. The first beans I picked, I shelled and froze. They probably needed to age a bit more though. The pods were still green and not a light tan that I've read is an indication of maturity. What I'd like to see is beans in the pod that have some red speckling on them. Everything I picked the first time was white or green. I think I'll just leave whatever beans grow on the plants now until the fall and see what I end up with.

A Small Harvest

2011-08-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

I'm pulling a handful of cherry tomatoes every day. My son eats them faster than I can pluck them. Can't blame him though. They taste great. I've had a few split and some split shortly after being pulled from the vine even if I leave the tops on. I should start picking them earlier. A few have slightly green shoulders but it doesn't seem to bother anyone around here.

Relief from the heat

2011-08-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

Lots of wind. We had a few days of constant winds that didn't result in any severe gusting but it was enough to beat up a few of my 'front line' tomato plants. I had to pick up some taller bamboo poles and get a little more serious about staking. Even had to add some extra bracing to keep things from falling over. One of the German Green tomato plants was leaning heavily and eventually bent out near the base as the whole plant slide a foot down the pole. I only noticed because the top of the plant looked a little droopy. Guess the pinch in the vine was cutting off it's water supply.

The poor hops vine at the back of the balcony that has been largely neglected all season has started flowering and producing hops. They are very small and there are not very many of them but its nice see.

Color on the Balcony

2011-08-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

Some of the black cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen. These plants are in a sunny spot in a big self-watering container and they seem happy. My other tomato plants are not. Some are crowded and not getting enough sun and not producing at all. Others that are in prime sunshine locations try to produce tomatoes, only to loose them to end rot. They are not in self watering containers and are very large plants, in the sun, and wind, during a particularly hot summer. Despite success with black cherry tomatoes, I'm not having much luck with anything else.

Jungle Balcony

2011-07-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

Starting to get bushy on the balcony. There is barely enough sunlight to go around. My poor hops vine gets very little sun now. Need to give the tomatoes priority. In fact some are a little too shaded.

I've reached that point in the season where the growth seems to slow a little. Need to get some more fertilizer in the containers. Prune some of the wild growth from the tomatoes. I notice lots of suckers that have gone unpinched. I pulled up the yellow bush bean and fava bean plants that were done for the season and after mixing some ferts and compost back into the container, reseeded with peas. Hopefully I can get something more out of that container before the end of the season.

Tiny Cape Gooseberry

2011-07-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

The start of something tasty. Still got a long way to go though. My Cape Gooseberry plants are really starting to spread and block the tomatoes that sit behind them. Time to do a bit or rearranging on the balcony. And I need to provide some better support for these plants. Cape Gooseberry plants have very woody stems that can snap easily. I learned that the hard way once before and don't plan to repeat that lesson this season..

Blossom End Rot

2011-07-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

I don't see this very often but on this particular tomato plant I've had a few of these now. And I believe the culprit is excess moisture. This plant grows in a self watering container made from a 5 gallon bucket but the fill hole is on a side I can no longer access. So I started watering it from the top and as a result it's probably not getting a consistent supply of water regularly.

There are more tomatoes on the plant that are not yet affected so maybe I should get out there and fix this watering problem. Another possibility is low calcium levels and I think I have some calcium suppliment I can use. But the soil mix and fertilizer isn't any different from the mix I used on my other plants, like my black cherry tomatoes. And I have lots of those with no end rot.

First Fava

2011-07-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

I decided to pluck a fava bean off one of my little bean bushes and crack it open for a taste. It was a small pod, not quite 4 inches long with 3 beans inside. I'm glad I didn't wait too long to pick it because it tasted just right. No bitterness. Sweet. I tried growing this same variety last year and had no luck with them so this year I planted them in a sunnier spot and seem to be having a better time with them. Three plants with a couple of beans on each and still flowering but I don't expect much more.

Favas take a little work to get at the good stuff. The pods are thick and "furry" inside. Once open, you have to remove the beans and then peel off the thick membrane that surrounds each bean. What you're left with is what looks like a giant flattened pea. And they taste somewhat similar to peas also.

Way Too Hot

2011-07-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

The yellow beans I planted were the first to produce. I've got a few fava beans going as well. Still nothing from the pole beans. Not a single flower. Mind you, they don't get as much sunlight.

Some extreme temperatures moving through the region. My air conditioning has been running full tilt and the temperatures are suppose to get hotter later in the week. I've been watering like made to keep the plants hydrated. But the tomatoes aren't happy. Several are dropping their flowers. It's too hot and I'm over watering to compensate.

Cape Gooseberry Flowering

2011-07-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

My cape gooseberry plants are getting nice and tall. They're not in a particularly sunny spot and are growing tall to try and catch some sun. Each plant has its first single flower out now. Hopefully a sign of good things to come. I haven't had cape gooseberries in a while but I still have quite a while longer to wait.

The First Black Cherry Tomatoes

2011-07-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well actually, they aren't the first and they've been on the vine for a while now. My black cherry tomato plants are growing well. Lots of flower clusters and a number of green tomatoes here and there. These plants appear to be growing faster than everything else on the balcony. One of the Opalka plants is doing fine also. Lots of flowers on the Gold Medal tomatoes but nothing on the Zapotec or German Green yet.

Still quite tame

2011-07-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

I've had to shuffle plants around a few times now to maximize sun exposure. My hops vine used to enjoy a nice sunny spot but I've had to relegate it to a shady corner to make space for the veggies. It still looks manageable but it's only the first week of July and most of my plants are tomatoes which grow fast. I've been pinching off suckers constantly and have most of them pruned to a single main 'trunk'.

I've also got some bush beans that are flowering and some pole beans which are starting to climb. I never have much luck with beans so my expectations are low but, so far so good. And the cape gooseberries are doing fine despite a few spider mites that call them home.

Opalka Tomato Plant

2011-06-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

Lots of rain this week and all of it accompanied by a good west wind that soaked the balcony. Probably one of the few times when my plants actually get wet. All of the tomatoes are growing big and fast except this opalka tomato. It's filling out nicely and has a couple of flowers coming out but it doesn't appear to be growing up as fast as the others. There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with it and even though it looks a little droopy in this picture that's because we had just come through a heavy downpour. I read that these plants were suppose to get big and bushy. Looks like this one has a ways to go yet.

Tomato Growth

2011-06-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

My black cherry tomatoes are growing fast. I probably shouldn't have planted a pair of them as I hear they can grow quite large and bushy. Perhaps too large for this single tote to support them. Fortunately this is a self watering container with a fairly large reservoir so keeping them watered shouldn't be a problem. I just need to remember to keep them fertilized. The trellis built up around this container is only 6 feet tall and I suspect I'll eventually need to build it up a little higher.

Some of my other tomato plants are growing quite well also, like this Zapotec. I temporarily stuck a stick in the pot to keep it upright but I really need to build a proper stake and support system. I find that with large tomatoes in containers a single large stake is not enough to keep the plant upright no matter how big the stake is. You can only push it so far into the soil.

None of my plants, except the black cherry tomatoes, have reached a height where they desperately need support. Still, I need to start planning.

Bad Beans

2011-06-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

I planted some bush beans in some free space that I had and some came up mangled starter leaves. And it was all of one specific variety I planted. The others came up fine. For some reason, the Borlotti Beans were trashed when they broke the soil surface. One poor plant had no starter leave to speak of.

I did a bit of research and have concluded that it was not a bird problem, nor was it an insect. It must be one of two things: I planted them too deep or the soil was too moist. Or maybe both. Interesting that the other plants were not affected though. There are some Yellow Beans growing next to these and they had no problems.

I'm going to guess I planted these too deep. Only three came up and I'm certain I seeded more than that. But all is not lost. Despite the initial lack of leaves, the first true leaves are emerging and they look fine. Now they just have to survive the inevitable wave of aphids and spider mites.

Too Windy

2011-06-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

We've had a couple of very windy days recently and my newly planted cucumbers and tomatoes have taken a beating. Most of the tomato plants came through it alright actually. The single Opalka I planted got beaten up pretty bad but the Gold Medals and German Greens look great. I planted a single Cape Gooseberry plant and it too took a thrashing. Fortunately I have a few more spare plants still in their starter pots. I think I'll start again with this one and plant out as many more as I can find space for.

I have a few cucumber plants trying to grow on the balcony this year too but I waited to long to bring them indoors and after a day of constant wind gusts they are not looking too well. I like to bring sensitive plants indoors for the first month whenever it gets overly windy or chilly, until the plants establish themselves. I think my hesitation time will mean the end of my cucumber plants this season.

Another mistake I keep making is to use tomato cages to support them so they can grow vertically and I don't know why I continue to do this. Even the slightest breeze causes the plants to brush up against the tomato cage and the plants become damaged very quickly. I think there was a time when I had a successful season with cucumbers and tomato cages on the balcony but that was a long time ago.

Root Ball

2011-05-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

I planted a few of the bigger tomato plants into larger containers but I had to clean out my larger self watering container before I could put my Gold Medal tomato plants in it. Last year this container was home to a pair of Brandywine Tomatoes. These plants were so big that the entire soil mass in the container was held together by the old roots and the roots extended well into the water reservoir at the bottom of the container.

The biggest annoyance I have with gardening on the balcony is finding space to clean up things like this. If I had a yard and a garden I'd just dump the container contents into the garden and break it up with a shovel. Maybe toss it into a composter. But on the balcony there's no place to dump it and I don't want to just dump it all into the dumpster. So normally I keep an empty tote handy for mixing soil and banging out old root balls. I like to reclaim as much potting soil as possible.

Tomatoes Ready to Plant

2011-05-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

The tomatoes are hardening off on the balcony and some should be planted in their permanent homes this weekend. German Green, Black Cherry, Gold Medal, Opalka and Zapotec.

Cape Goosberry Seedlings

2011-05-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

I'll need to plant these in bigger containers soon. They started out in the seed starting trays and a little over a week ago I transferred them to these little "juice box" containers.

From the last time I grew these I recall that they started out with really large leaves and the plants eventually grew quite tall with thick woody stems. I remember having a pair growing and one snapped off near the base of the "trunk". And it just happened to be the one with the heaviest fruit load. This year I'm going to make sure they have proper support and protection from the wind.

Cucumbers and Watermelons

2011-05-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

I seeded a few small pots with Talladega Cucumbers and Sugar Baby Watermelons. I usually start these way too early and have to deal with transplanting long skinny vines outside into bigger containers when it's still a little too cold for them thrive. I'll have to remember to do a better job of protecting these from the wind when I finally do get around to planting them out. It's been a while since I've had much luck with cucumbers.

Early Nutrient Deficiency

2011-04-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

While inspecting my tender tomato seedlings I happened to notice that some of the leaves are developing a slight purple tinge and curled leaves: a sure sign of a nutrient deficiency. Perhaps phosphorous. And it's no surprise really. I'm a lazy gardener and should have applied a mild dose of general purpose ferts when the first true leaves appeared. So off I went to shop around for something, preferably with a higher P and K concentration to promote early growth.

But it occurred to me that I must have something kicking around at home. I don't need much and it doesn't have to be perfect. And sure enough I had a few options available. At first I considered using a very mild application of orchid fertilizer. It had a higher level of phosphorous but also a few micro nutrients. Probably things orchids need I suppose. Then I discovered the tail end of a bottle of an organic fertilizer solutions; 1-5-5 with a touch of Magnesium. Perfect. Hopefully it does the trick.

Life Returning to the Balcony

2011-04-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

A very nice day today. I thought I might get out and clean up the balcony but the wind was keeping me from getting anything done. Every time I touched an old pot a cloud of potting soil would get blown around. Even opening a garbage bag was a challenge with updrafts trying to pull the bags out of my hand and over my head.

As junky and lifeless as it looks out there, I did find a few surprises. Some of lettuce seeds I planted late last fall that didn't come up are coming up now. Maybe a dozen. I would guess Black Seeded Simpson and another dozen Arugula. And the hops vine that I trimmed down last fall is showing signs of life also. Buds around the base of the plant are soft and slightly green.

Spring?

2011-04-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

Snow today. Sort of. A few flurries and a bitter wind. But the grass is getting green. In another month I'd like to have some veggies started outside. I had to reseed most of my tomatoes though. They came up really fast and I was too busy to notice. They were on a shelf in the kitchen and I was suppose to get them under some lights as soon as they broke the soil. Within a couple of days they were all very tall and desperately reaching for the sunlight. So I thinned them out and started again. I usually get things started to early anyways. No harm in delaying another week or two.

Seed Starting

2011-04-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd try a couple of these self watering seed starter trays available from Lee Valley. Water in the bottom tray is wicked up by a capillary mat that sits under the upper tray that holds the seedlings. This tray is essentially bottomless so the soil in the cells is in contact with the capillary mat which stays wet as long as there is water in the reservoir below. Although they look solid, the trays are made of polystyrene foam (styrofoam) making them unbelievably light and kind of flimsy. And they weren't cheap either. But I needed something and I felt like splurging a little. Maybe I'll switch back to recycled drink boxes next year.

The two trays I have started contain Gold Medal, Black Cherry, Opalka, German Green and Zapotec Tomatoes as well as Ground Cherries and Cape Gooseberries. And I've got a small container of Green Tomatillos started too but I believe those seeds are too old and won't germinate. Maybe I'll start some other old seeds I have, just to see if they're still viable.

What should I grow?

2011-02-12T10:06:00.000-08:00

That time to start thinking about seeds again. I think this year it's going to be all about Tomatoes. Four or five different kinds. I want to grow some Gold Medal tomatoes and a couple of cherry varieties and maybe a good plum for sauce. It would be nice to grow some Ground Cherries again. Cape Gooseberries are always nice. And I think I'd like to grow some peanuts. I doubt I'd be very successful and have low expectations but I'm curious to see how they grow.

Flowering Rosemary

2011-01-13T13:46:00.000-08:00

I brought my single rosemary plant indoor long before the first frost hit. I find they do well in the kitchen window until spring. I don't normally see much if any growth on them when inside but my current plant appears to be flowering. Nice to see during the dreary grey days of winter.

Frozen in Time

2010-12-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

I was thinking I should get rid of this before it started to smell. But with all the cold weather we're getting there no longer appears to be an immediate need to take action. It's frozen solid and hasn't 'moved' in over a week now.

Frozen Greens

2010-12-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

I covered a small patch of mizuna seed I started some time ago to protect it from the frost, just as a little experiment to see how long it would survive. The soil in this planter is frozen but under the plastic cover the first inch is loose and free of frost. Probably because it is kept dry by the plastic cover so there is no moisture to freeze. This little green patch will not amount to anything more than a handful of micro greens at this point and I should probably harvest it soon as the temperatures are staying well below freezing.

Waiting for Jack Frost

2010-11-25T12:26:00.000-08:00

My temps currently sit in the -1C and 5C range: 30F to 40F. We've have a few frosty mornings but it doesn't appear to be getting this high up yet. And we've been spared the winter storms that have been buried Western Canada and the Northwest US with snow. But even now at the end of November with a month to go before winter officially starts, I still have some green veggies growing on the balcony.

The arugula, lettuce and tatsoi I seeded over two months ago is doing well. Certainly not growing fast in this weather. It's a little overgrown but I figured I would just let it be. I seeded some more lettuce and mizuna last month on a whim and the mizuna is now up with a first set of leaves. I'm keeping it under cover to see if it will grow much more before a frost finally kills it. Also have quite a few radishes growing but by this point they've been in the ground a while and look rather tough. Although I bit into one the other day it was still quite crisp and mild.

Cleanup Time

2010-10-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

Obviously, this time of year in my zone, there isn't much going on. It was a warm sunny day so I took the time to finally prune down the tomatoes. I collected a half dozen green fist to golf ball sized green tomatoes. Despite the neglect, the plants were still putting up new growth. I also plucked the last of the yellow beets which were starting to look tired and nutrient deprived. I still have some bulls blood as well as some greens growing in the same box and another box full of radishes. My night time temps are still a few degrees above 0C but the frost is coming. But that's ok. Gives me time to focus on other things.

Watermelon Radish

2010-09-30T07:23:00.000-07:00

When I planted a container of beets back in July there were a few that didn't germinate so I reseeded those spots with watermelon radish seed. Just a couple of spots (n container gardening, every square inch is precious). That was two months ago. They looked ready to eat so I pulled them up this morning and sliced into one.

I like growing them because they don't ask for much and as far as radishes go, have a mild yet radishy taste. Maybe I'll slice these up and store them in some brine for a couple days. Pickled Radish? Why not.

It's Not Over Yet

2010-09-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

Almost October. I still have a few root vegetables growing on the balcony. Even a few tomatoes left on the vine. But the night temps are coming down fast and getting closer to freezing.

Couldn't wait for the Radishes

2010-09-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

I pulled up some Radishes today: cherry belle, french breakfast and a single white icicle. They could have stayed down a little longer but pulling them up and eating them was too tempting. A few yellow beets looked big enough to come out also. That leaves me with about half a dozen yellow beets left in the container and another second container of radishes that might be ready before the first frost. I've also got a container with some peas growing and I still have a couple of tomatoes on the vine that should be ready in the next week or two.

Colourful Carrots

2010-09-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

Time to pull the carrots. I started these over two months ago and kept them up in a relatively sunny spot next to the edge of the balcony. The tub (tote) I used was 10x16 and 12 inches deep. I worked some fertilizer into the potting soil before seeding and routinely watered with a diluted fertilizer mix. As they grew I thinned out the 'runts'. The carrots I got ranged from minuscule to an inch in diameter. The roots on the longest carrots reached down almost to the bottom of the tote and about half developed nice chubby shoulders. Purple Haze grew best for me although the Baby carrots fattened up nicely also, just didn't grow as long as I expected. The Snow Whites didn't turn out all that great but at least they taste like carrots. I don't think I'll grow them again but the Purple Haze will be on the balcony again next year, spring and summer, in a deeper container with richer soil.

Death of a Tomato Plant

2010-09-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

Officially there are still two and a half weeks of summer left but it feels like it's really over today. Our weather went from hot and humid to cold, wet and windy in the course of a single day. Kids are back to school next week. And my tomato plants have finally exhausted their potting soil of all major nutrients and are calling it quits. Still a couple of smaller tomatoes left in there but it doesn't matter. We had a good run this season. I stopped adding ferts a while ago and at this point I just keep them watered so they don't fall over.

Despite the cooling trends in the weather and steady shortening of daylight hours as we head into fall and inevitably winter, I still have 'crops' to tend and new crops to plant. I have some beets growing that need a few more weeks. My carrots can be pulled anytime in the next week or so. I have some snap peas growing that should (hopefully) start flowering this week. And I have a box of radishes taking root that should be ready in a couple weeks also. And there's still time to get some baby salad greens and more radishes in before the snow starts to fall.

Beets on the Balcony

2010-08-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly two months - time to harvest my tiny crop of chioggia beets. They weren't very big: between 1 and 2 inches across. I chopped off the tops, gave them a good scrub and baked them in the oven for an hour. Unfortunately the rings fade into a dull yellow colour when baked but on the plus side their juices don't stain like the juice from purely red beets. Tasted great.

Bountiful Beets

2010-08-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

The beets are nearing maturity and large enough that a few would make a decent meal. Don't want them to stay out there too long though. The fastest to size up were the Chioggia. I have about a half dozen that look ready to pull. They share space with some Yellow Beets that were slow to come up but are finally starting to fill out. They need a bit more time. Also in the same box are a few Bulls Blood that I planted at the beginning of the month and a few radishes: Watermelon and White Icicle, also planted just a short time ago. Don't know how they'll turn out. Right now they struggle to find the sun beneath the leaves of their mature neighbours. I crowded the box pretty good.

One of the beets that came from the Chioggia seed pack doesn't appear to be a Chioggia at all. Bigger, all green top and a lighter colour root. Doesn't appear to be Chioggia or Yellow and clearly not Bulls Blood.

Growing Pumpkins in Containers

2010-08-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't been getting anywhere with the pumpkins. First with the sugars and now with the jarrahdale. On this last plant, I had attempted to pollinate three females and only one took and it didn't last long. Most of the female flowers didn't even open. I decided the effort to keep this thing alive with no return was not worth the effort so I pruned it down nothing.

Although my pumpkin growing efforts didn't yield anything 'fruitful', I did learn much about growing pumpkins in containers.

They are thirsty beasts. With long trailing vines and massive leaves, the plants transpire like mad. In the end, the largest of my plants was sucking up gallons of water a day. By the next morning my potting soil was usually dry again. Both of my pumpkins were grown in self watering containers which helped balance the water load.

Nutrient deficiency was a huge problem like I've never seen before. It seemed that every other week the plants were showing signs of distress. From leaves browning and splotching to flowers dropping. When I kept up with the application of nutrients, the plant grew and looked healthy.

Pumpkins have massive root systems and I was constraining mine to 5 and 10 gallon containers. You need to keep up the watering and nutrient application - consistent and constant - if you're going to grow plants like these in containers.

Mildew was a constant problem. Powdery mildew on the surface of the leaves and downy underneath. A mild spray of diluted neem oil kept it all under control but did not eliminate it completely and a couple of weeks after an application, I had to repeat it as it quickly spread.

My trellis, which would have been a perfect size for a small watermelon plant, was not quite large enough for a sprawling pumpkin. This might not have been a problem if I had a pumpkin or two on it as I would have pinched off the side shoots to keep the plant at a more manageable size.

It didn't work out for me but my parents are having success with the pumpkin plants I gave them in the spring. These are plants I started in my windowsill from the same batch I planted out on my balcony. So maybe there will be a pumpkin pie in my future after all.

It didn't last long

2010-08-12T18:10:00.000-07:00

I barely had to walk 10 steps to get this juicy tomato from the vine to my table. Very tasty. It's didn't last long. I see the others out there starting to turn also. Should be able to eat a ripe one every day until they're all gone.

I think this will be the last time I grow brandywine tomatoes. Yields are low and the skins crack too easily. They taste great but there are other heirlooms just as tasty. Next year I'll try something different.

Heirloom Character

2010-08-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

The first of the tomatoes to start ripening, finally. This one is forming lots of heirloom tomato character with shoulder cracks and a few ribs. Shape isn't too bad though. Wonder if the shoulders will redden up.

Plucked a couple of carrots out of the carrot tub today also. Was getting a bit crowded in there. Still a ways to go but they're growing well, so long as I keep them up in the sunlight. Root crops do poorly on my balcony everywhere except along the top edge of the outside wall where they can soak up the most overhead rays.

Bushy Brandywines

2010-08-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

I have a pair of brandywine tomato plants in my self watering patio box and they've grown nicely. The tallest vines are reaching 7 feet and just starting to fall over. The entire 'bush' leans into the balcony, towards the light, barely held from falling over by nothing more than a couple of bamboo sticks and some twine. There are close to a dozen good size tomatoes there now and I don't expect to see any more. All of them look plump and healthy. Just need them to ripen. I can see some are just starting to turn from green to yellow. Can't wait!

I used some of the free container space I had to plant some more peas and some radishes. I've moved my table to the edge of the balcony so the plants on it can catch some more sun. The box of beets I planted is doing well. Half well I should say. Everything in one side of the box looks great. The other side is slow growing. Not having much luck with yellow beats this season.

Last of the Peppers

2010-08-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to keep the aphids off the pepper plants and the constant onslaught was preventing the plants from thriving. I did manage to get a few decent tasting peppers from them though. The Klari Cheese Peppers all ripened at the same time and despite my usual neglect, yield a few nice looking peppers as well as a handful that had clearly ripened past their prime. I also salvaged a nice looking chocolate pepper from the last chocolate pepper plant before it 'tanked'. I didn't let it ripen though which was a shame but it turned out alright. A nice pepper taste with fairly thick walls. There were some smaller 'older' peppers on that plant that did mature into a reddish chocolate brown but they were suffering from damage and neglect so I left them.

Syrphid Fly Larvae - Devourer of Aphids

2010-08-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

I was inspecting some beets that have been growing in a box on the balcony for a couple of weeks now and discovered a few small worm like insects crawling about on the leaves. There didn't appear to be many aphids on the leaves that had these things so I watched them for a while and was pleasantly surprise to see them vicious attack and devour aphids when they came across them.

These are syrphid or hoverfly larvae. Hoverflies are small bee like inspects the hover around flowers looking for nectar. You can find them everywhere in my part of the world. Even up on my balcony.

The larvae are fun to watch. They hunt around for aphids and when the catch one they hold it up in the air to eat it and within a few minutes, are finished eating and go looking for another. The one's I found are not very long: just a few millimeters.

Pickled Peppers

2010-07-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

I finally finished off the pickled peppers and they were fantastic.

I searched the internet for a simple pickled pepper recipe. It seemed fairly simple and I couldn't find one the suited my needs so I came up with my own. I slit the sides of the peppers to allow fluid to flow into them and air to escape. I then blanched them in boiling water for a few minutes. I boiled a brine mixture of 50/50 water and vinegar (2 cups of each) with a tbsp of salt a tbsp of sugar. In a glass container (not a jar but only because I didn't have one) I tossed in a spring of oregano and basil and a spoonful of crushed chilies (just because but they served no purpose). After draining the peppers I laid them out in the container. Then I added the boiling brine. Enough to cover the peppers and then a bit more. I used a fork to squish the air out out of the peppers so they would sink into the brine. The whole thing sat on the counter for an hour to cool and then went covered into the fridge.

I was impressed with the taste. And these things are hot but not terribly hot. I would say they're hotter than a jar of hot pickled peppers I can buy at the grocery store. I've seen some recipes that use just vinegar, no water, which seems a little hash to me. And next time I'll skip the herbs. Any flavour they added was overpowered by the peppers.

What's going on out there?

2010-07-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

I was out yesterday morning watering plants before work and when I came home in the evening I discovered my Hungarian Hot Wax plants had decided they couldn't take it any more. I'm pretty sure I watered them. Maybe it wasn't enough. Maybe the combination of aphids and heat and lack of nutrients got to them. So the plants are a write off. I harvested the peppers which were just starting to ripen into yellow. I got a dozen. The longest was six inches. I'm going to pickle them.

The sugar pumpkin is going through a tough time. My guess would be a nutrient deficiency. But which nutrient? I would guess all of them. Or maybe an imbalance. Too much of one and not of the others. The vine has pretty much stopped growing and only the leaves on the last few feet of it are still completely green but as you work back down the vine, the leave get more and more yellow and black. This plant needs help but my guess is it's already too late. And like the hot wax peppers, this was a rather sudden change.

The brandywine tomato plants are getting big - over 6 feet tall now and half a dozen tomatoes on the go. My beets are coming up nicely. And although the jarrahdale pumpkin has yet to produce a rflowering female (i see one on the way though) the plant look great and is growing fast. I might not get any pumpkins from it but it sure looks good. So things are all that bad.

Flowering like mad

2010-07-12T07:46:00.001-07:00

I counted 13 male flowers open on my sugar pumpkin vine this morning with no female flowers even close to opening on either of my pumpkin plants. Up until now I haven't seen any more than 2 or 3 males open at a time.

Waiting for Beets on the Balcony

2010-07-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

I planted some beets last week: Chioggia and Yellow. The Chioggia came up fast; all of them. But only a couple of the Yellow beets have germinated. The temperates this past week have been very hot. A heat wave actually. That could have been a factor. Anyhow, I planted some more seed and I'll see what happens. It would probably be better to wait another week or two to stagger the crops anyways. In between the two groups of beets I planted a few baby carrots which have started to sprout up also. The whole crop is planted in a 1'x3'x ~1' deep box up against the "rail" of my balcony in the sunniest spot I have available. I have some Bulls Blood seed here also and maybe some other variety. It's a few years old now but I might eventually try some of that at the end of the month in the spots where nothing comes up.

Finally... Tomatoes.

2010-07-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

My pumpkin pollination attempt was definitely a success. Now I just need to wait. I see another female about to open but it looks a weak and I think it might fall before opening. Would be nice to get another pumpkin on the plant.

My brandywine tomatoes are coming along nicely also. The plants are just under 5 feet now. I didn't do a good job of staking and pruning and they're starting to get a bit bushy but I can live with it. First few tomatoes started popping out last week.

The aphids are winning the battle on most plants now. All peppers and eggplants. Neem oil is doing nothing for the peppers or the Bambino Eggplant but it does appear to be working on a small Casper Eggplant I've been mostly neglecting. The spider mites are doing well also. All herbs I purchased from a large and very popular garden center are infested. Still finding mildew on the pumpkins but it's managed. The only plants without issues are the tomatoes.

First Pumpkin?

2010-07-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

A new female flower opened on the sugar pumpkin a couple of days ago and there happened to be a couple of males open and ready on the vine also. I used every bit of pollen I could from them to pollinate the female. Still not sure if it worked. If it did I might have some trouble in the future trying to support this thing. It's at the top of the trellis off to one side.

My bambino eggplants are growing well but the plants are absolutely crawling with aphids. The neem oils isn't working fast enough for me. So i clipped off the pair of eggplants that had formed - probably should have done this a while ago to promote further fruiting. And I brought the plant to another family members condo. There are no plants on that balcony so there the aphids can live in peace and I don't have to worry about mass infestation on my balcony. I'll hit it with some more neem oil and keep it watered and feed.

Last year I had a similar issue with bambino eggplants. The aphids were everywhere. And then one day, they just disappeared. The plants shot out lots of new growth, flowers and fruit and did quite well until fall came around and the aphids returned.

Just another day on the balcony

2010-06-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

My hot wax peppers are coming along well. Just need them to plump up a bit and ripen. I planted some chocolate peppers a while back and I thought they were bell peppers but coming they seem to be coming out quite long. Nothing like a bell pepper. Maybe I had the wrong seeds. I cut one open and had a taste and it wasn't hot. Just have to let them ripen and see what I get.

I've been spraying the odd spot of mildew I find on the pumpkin leaves with neem oil and it appears to be keeping it under control. So far so good. The one female pumpkin flower I attempted to pollinate didn't take but I see another higher up that is getting ready to open.

The neem oil seems to be working well against the aphids on the eggplants also. I still see some on the new growth but nothing like I would expect to see. I've been spraying the new growth on the pepper plants also - aphids everywhere. I've got too many peppers anyways and I don't know why I decided to grow eggplant again. I should have used the space for more beans and peas. A watermelon would have been nice.

And it's time to say good-bye to the snap peas. They've come to the end of their season. No new flowers or growth. I've been snacking on them for the past couple weeks and have a few more to go. I think I'll be planting some more in August for some fall snacking.

Pumpkin Pollination

2010-06-20T06:25:00.000-07:00

The first female flower on my sugar pumpkin opened in the night and lucky for us, a single male flower was open too. I clipped off the male flower to get good access to the pollen. Then with a small artists brush I delicately transferred all the pollen I could collect from the male flower evenly over the stigma in the female flower. A few days from now I should know if it worked or not.

Trellis for the Pumpkin

2010-06-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

With a quarter sheet of plywood and a few 8' 1x2's I was able to assemble this trellis for my one and only sugar pumpkin. When it reaches the top I'll train it around and back down the trellis and by then I should have another side vine growing up somplace. The first female flower on this plant is ready to open. Perhaps tomorrow. There is a male lower down on the vine that also looks like it will open soon. Maybe too soon. That's the problem with only growing one plant.

Progress with Peppers

2010-06-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

I planted a pair each of California Wonder, Chocolate Bell, Hungarian Hot Wax and Klari Baby Cheese. The wonders and the chocolate bells are flowering and trying to fruit but the plants look kind of ragged after being wind blasted over the last couple of days. But the hot wax and klari peppers are doing great with lots of peppers coming out.

I sprayed my eggplants with a a diluted Neem oil solution to combat the aphids. The recommended dose was 0.5% Neem to water and a bit of detergent. Too early to tell if it's working. There are a few dead aphids on the leaves though. Don't really know if they're dead but they don't seem to be crawling around or doing anything. Might just be the result of the detergent in the spray. I've read that Neem is also good against powdery mildew which I've spotted on one of my pumpkin vines so I gave it a blast of Neem here and there also.

Speaking of pumpkins, I constructed a proper trellis for my plant. Just need to get it set up. With the trellis I will be able to maintain the vines vertically which should allow the leaves to collect more sunlight given that all of my sunlight pours in from the west and not overhead.

Hacked Website

2010-06-13T21:26:00.001-07:00

I discovered that a "change" was made to a number of my websites including mybalconyjungle (but not this blog) on June 6 that I have just learned about. It appears this change would have attempted to convince viewers of my site to download a malicious pdf file but I'm really not sure what it looked like. My virus scanner caught it for me every time. I hope nobody was affected by this attack. I've removed the offending code and contacted my service provider. I'm going to have to keep a closer watch over things for a while - hate it when this stuff happens.

Frustration

2010-06-11T15:08:00.001-07:00

So early in the season and I already see problems starting. I found a spot of mildew on a leaf of one of my pumpkin plants. Not a problem yet but I've seen what happens when it gets out of hand. On the other pumpkin the new leaf growth is coming out a lighter shade of green with a few tiny dark spots - doesn't look good. The bambino eggplants are officially aphid infested. I'm trying to keep them away from everything else for now and squish out what I find when I find them. And most of the beans I planted that have come up have root rot - too much water. What was I thinking.

On the positive side though, the snap peas are doing well and producing lots of flowers. The broad beans are up and looking healthy. And I'm getting lots of blossoms on my pepper plants.

First Pumpkin Flower

2010-06-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

Temperatures have been a bit cooler this past week. Bad news for the peppers and tomatoes, good news for the peas. And everything is trying real hard to flower. I noticed a single flower open on my Sugar Pumpkin this morning and the vine is barely two feet long. I don't even have a trellis up for it yet.

Aphids On My Eggplant

2010-05-30T07:28:00.001-07:00

I potted a pair of bambino eggplants last week and already there are aphids sucking on them. These were plants I started indoors back in April or maybe even late March and never saw an aphid during their time indoors. I used new potting soil in the container they went into. I can't recall using that container last year but I'm sure at one time something in that container had aphids but I don't recall what it was or when.

It wasn't a complete infestation of aphids though. Just a few that were easily eradicated. I found them when I notice a few spots of honeydew on the lower leaves - a dead give away that there are aphids feeding on the upper leaves. The plants are looking healthy so if I can keep them that way and get rid of any aphids I see whenever I see them, everything should be fine. Of course, I say that now. I might not be as attentive come late July.

I've also discovered spider mites on a small container of Golden Hops that I picked up at a nursery last weekend. I bought it on a whim, picturing a container with huge hops vines stretching up over a trellis. The plant sat for a while before I finally had a really good look at it. A couple of the lower leaves were dried up and curled and I could see the fine webs that the mites leave on the undersides of the leaves.

Spider mites are incredibly small but if you stare at a leaf that has them long enough you'll notice them moving around. They are also an absolute pain to get rid of for balcony gardeners. So I have to decide what to do with this little plant. Hop vines can reach lengths of 20 feet so you can imagine the trouble I'll have if this plant were allowed to grow up and became infested. The mites would quickly spread to my other plants. Not good.

I'm still in the process of potting my started plants. It's a never ending process. Was looking at some Klari "Baby Cheese" Pepper plants I have yet to pot and noticed the lower leaves are yellowing and falling off. I should have re-potted these a long time ago. I have been applying a mild dilution of fertilizer but it's just not enough. Time for a more permanent home.

Busy on the Balcony

2010-05-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

In the past week I've been planting everything I had started indoors into containers on the balcony. Even reusing potting soil from last year still requires bags and bags of new soil. Nothing special this year, just potting soil. Tomatoes are planted as well as 4 different pepper varieties, sugar pumpkins and some bambino eggplant. Still more to go and I'm a little behind in getting some seed started out there also.

I didn't have plans to grow any herbs this year other than a few basil plants but some oregano, thyme, rosemary and mint found there back here from a local nursery. And my mother brought over a big pot of chives.

Chilly Night Ahead

2010-05-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

It's going to be a cold Mothers Day here. The daytime high is suppose to be around 5C and there is talk of frost tonight or tomorrow night. But by next weekend we should be free from any more frost threats. I might have to cover up my snap peas tonight.

I'm a little behind in my balcony gardening activities. Normally by this time of year I've got the balcony cleaned up and a few containers going. Not the case this year but usually when I get started too early... it's too early and a frost knocks out a few early starters or the cold containers just don't produce. For most of what I grow there's no rush and I can afford to wait a few weeks before putting everything out.

In my window sill I have a number of pepper plant, some bambino eggplants, some brandywine tomatoes and just up a couple of days ago, some sugar and jarrahdale pumpkins. The peppers and eggplant are getting too big for the window: tall and spindly as they usually do when started there but not too bad actually. I'm quickly running out of space and I still have some herbs and cucumbers to get started.

Seedlings on the Sill

2010-04-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

I started these pepper, eggplant and tomato seedlings about a month ago. In the past I’ve recycled drink containers for seedling growing but this year I couldn’t find anything suitable when I needed them. My peppers and eggplants were started in recycled square plastic containers used to package mushrooms. Once the second set of true leaves appeared I transplanted the strongest looking plants into these 3” round containers. It’s still too early to put them out but they are already getting too tall and skinny for the window sill – not enough overhead light. I think I might start sitting them outside soon although I hadn’t planned to plant any out until the end of May.

Outside I’ve got some snap and shelling peas started in a couple of large containers. Night time temps have been down around 5C and the daytime highs in the mid to high teens. I expect to see a pea shoot in the next week or so. In the coming weeks I want to start some radishes and make some self-watering containers from 5 gallon pails for pole beans. I also need to get my pumpkins and cucumbers started.

Time to get the season started

2010-03-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

That time of year again. The balcony has been looking rather barren all winter and with the warm weather coming fast it's time to start planning and planting. Every season I grow on the balcony and this year I've decided to go all out. Last summer I held back because I didn't think I'd have time for some reason. I managed a few peppers, some greens and eggplant. But I felt I was missing something. It's better to start big and trim back as the season progresses. In my region, you can start a tomato in late July but it won't be ready by the time the frost comes. So better to start big and downsize later as necessary.

I've gone through my seeds and received orders from a couple of seed places months ago. This year I'll be growing beans (pole and fava), peas(snap and shelling) brandywine tomatoes (after a couple of years absence on the balcony) and pumpkins. I'm also going to grow a few beets, some radishes, a few greens and the usual herbs. I've got some peppers and eggplants already started inside. The challenge will be the pumpkins although I suspect the true challenge will be getting it all to fit in the space I have. Everything will be going vertical on the balcony this summer. I'm going to grow it all from seed. No starter plants from the garden center this year. And whatever seedlings I start that I don't have room for on the balcony I’m going to give away to friends, family and strangers.