Under the Lights

I picked up this LED grow light last year. I didn't really have any place to put it or real need for it at the time. It emits a fairly narrow blue and red spectrum of light which the plants enjoy but it's not that great to look at. I started some cucumber and melon seeds last month and normally I just place them in the window but not this time. I placed half under the LED light on a metal shelf in my kitchen. And they appear to be growing well. Much more compact than the plants growing in the window.

The problem with the light fixture is that despite its size, the lighting strip only runs down the middle of it. Even with two rows of pots beneath the strip I still see the plants leaning towards the light in the middle of the fixture to maximize their exposure. I could probably lower the pots a bit at this point. I don't think they need to be that close to the source. But I'll probably move them all to the window soon to make room for a tray of pepper plants. They probably need the light more than these guys.

A Few Beets

These have been festering in the planter with the celeriac for a while now. There were more but the ones closer to the celeriac were very small. Too much shade next to their towering neighbours. These ones got more sunlight. More and bigger would have been nice but I had low expectations. These were planted in some extra space created by harvesting a couple of heads of radicchio a few month ago.

I think these will just go in the oven as they are. Easier to peel that way. They will make a little snack for someone. I think I'd like to grow enough next year to make some beet pickles. With the right amount of sunlight I know I can grow bigger beets. Enough for a couple of small jars of pickles I think. I can also save myself some time and just buy a big bag for a few dollars and turn those into pickles. Not as fun that way.

Not over yet

I didn't think I'd get any tomatoes this year, but the brandywine plant I started late did eventually put out some fruit for me. This is the largest and it has lots of visual character. I cut the first tomato from this plant a couple of weeks ago and it was very meaty. Juicy, with few seeds. Just what I like from a brandywine. There is one more large tomato out there I'm going to let ripen for another day or two. Then I'll be ready to take the plant down.

I've also got beets and celeriac to pull. The weather is getting cooler now. Doesn't feel quite like autumn yet, but it's coming.

No Tomatillos.

Getting late in the summer and I'm getting tired of cucumbers. I picked a dozen the other day and turned them into pickles. At least that way they will be eaten. The cucumber plants are getting a little tired looking and they'be been discovered by the spider mites so they're probably done for the season.

I planted a pair of tomatillo plants each in a 5 gallon bucket in the spring. They grew fast and put out lots of flowers. Lots. But I've had a terrible time getting them to set fruit. I've tried hand-polination, taking one flower from one plant and transferring pollen to the flower on the other plant, but it's not producing results. There are only a few tomatillos on each plant and I don't think they'll ripen before the plants finally pack it in. The leaves are yellowing and there are spider mites everywhere. Sometimes I forget to water them. But I do like the smell of the plants and they make the balcony look green and leafy.

The celeriac is still growing though. I think it's time to maturity is something like 110 days. I was reading that the roots don't really fill out until the weather starts to cool off so I might have to wait a while. I don't think I'm at 110 days yet.

In the empty space next to the celeriac I planted some beets. They struggle but a couple might make it and that's all I really need to be happy with them. I had to put up a little fence to keep the celeriac from drooping over on the beets. Does the job nicely.

Bread and Butter Pickles

I've got no shortage of cucumbers. Too many actually. So I decided to pickle a few of them. These are 250ml jars. Kind of small actually. I managed to get three sliced cucumbers into these three jars. The recipe came from my mother but it's not unlike other recipes found on the internet, like this one. I cut it down by roughly a quarter, using only 1 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of sugar. They turned out fine and the jar lids sealed nicely without requiring a hot water bath. Doesn't really matter though. We'll have these little jars eaten by the end of the week.