A Fresh Start

I had to take a break from the balcony in 2020. For much of that summer we had a maintenance crew dangling from cables off the roof, replacing deteriorating bricks and patching/painting stucco. They were on and off my balcony a dozen times that summer. Mostly chipping out cracks in the concrete and refilling it. So for a big chunk of the year I couldn't have anything on the balcony. But I hadn't really planned on doing anything that summer because we had two family vacations planned that would have kept us away for most of the summer. Those travel plans had to be cancelled for obvious reasons so I was stuck at home all summer without a balcony garden. And I couldn't start one even if I wanted to.

Just a few containers left.

There were some good things to come out of the building renovations. I got the balcony cleared off and it was power washed and painted. Looks new again. It forced me to deal with a growing pile of junk that needed to go. And I had to give up the pigeon netting which wasn't all that bad because it was starting to come down on its own anyways. 

So once again I have to deal with that annual decision: what should I grow? I have some seed from previous years that may still be good. Might have to try something new though. I'm not sure. Depending on how things go with the virus and vaccine roll-out we might try for a vacation again this summer in which case I would have to abandon the garden at its peak. But I'm willing to risk it. I don't want to be stuck at home for another summer without a garden on the balcony.

Last Harvest

We were told to clear off our balcony for some building repair work. I think the last time we did this was 10 years ago. Just some minor repairs to bricks and concrete and I honestly don't think there's much to do on our balcony but some other areas around the building do need lots of work. Anyhow, I saw it as motivation to get rid of some junk that's been accumulating out there. Unfortunately it also meant I had to pick the rest of my peppers and tomatoes a little early.

I got quite a pile of green tomatoes and hot peppers and they're all slowing ripening in a large box I keep in the dining room. Last week I picked the last of the cucumbers and took down all the vines. They were pretty much done for the season. I thought I'd have to pickle all the cucumbers but we've been eating a lot of salads lately and it looks like we'll be able to use them all. The tomatoes will get eaten as well. But I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all those hot peppers. I grew way too many of those this year.

This was the first year I focused all of my balcony resources on just a few things that I know I can grow well; tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. That combined with an incredibly favourable growing season led to a fairly impressive harvest. I don't know what I'm going to do next year. I think I need a break but I'll probably feel differently next spring.

Lots of Tomatoes

My tomato plants collapsed some time ago. I didn't provide enough support so now they just lean forward and the vines grow up, then down and eventually up again. Some branches snapped but they continue to grow. There are lots of tomatoes but so far I've only been able to pick one. And then there was this rotten one that had to go. I'm not too fussed about them this year. If the plants want to sprawl and grow where ever, that's fine. Setting fruit wasn't a problem this year. Maybe it was the location or the fact I didn't crowd too many other plants around them.

Hot Peppers

I picked this little harvest of Hungarian hot wax peppers today.  Just a small batch today with lots more to come. The only thing I can think of to do with these is pickle them. I sliced them into rings and got the lot of them to fit in a single 500ml jar. We're going to be really sick of pickles once autumn comes around.

Balcony Bee

I almost never see bees like this up on my balcony. And never as consistently as this one. I refer to it as "the bee" but it could be a different bee each day or something. I never see more than one. For the past month I've seen a bee visit my plants each day. Perhaps it's the reason I have so many cucumbers this year. It's a timid little bee. When I get to close it just buzzes off.

In July I was seeing lots of small bee-like insects. Harmless little things that hover around the flowers. More than I've ever seen or noticed during previous seasons. Usually I just end up with hornets or yellow jackets or whatever they are, going after aphid "honeydew". But no aphids this year so far. Not even spider mites.