Pickled Cucumbers In July

It was time to pick the cucumbers. They were a good size and by the time I got around to making pickles there were a couple more ready to pick. I should get a few more batches before the end of the summer.

The little micro-dwarf tomatoes are growing well. These plants grow as if they want to stretch out but can't because of gravity or some magical force holding them back. The little vines twist and curl and stay close to the main stem of the plant. Hidden beneath the leaves in tight clusters are lots of little tomatoes. And as soon as they ripen I'll be able to tell which plant is which.

The Jalapeno peppers are starting to pop out too. I've got too many of these plants.

Survived the Storm

It actually wasn't much of a storm but for a few minutes the wind gusts were strong enough that I was convinced I was going to loose something. I quickly ran out and tied up some of the black cherry tomato vines which is something I should have done a while ago. There are two plants in this tub and it's starting to get a little wild. Several suckers have been left to grow too long. There are a few tomatoes in there too.

I have a few jalapeno pepper plants growing in this large container. Too much shade in this spot next to the outer wall of the balcony to grow peppers but I don't normally keep them here. Even in a sunnier spot on the floor of the balcony, it still won't be enough light. They will eventually produce peppers but not as vigorously as they could. I've thought about building stands to get my containers off the floor and high enough to receive direct sunlight for most of the day. But doing that would block the sunlight my taller trellised plants at the back of the balcony receive. The truth is I just don't have enough space.

The Cucumbers Are Coming

Eureka cucumbers have never let me down. My plants have been flowering like mad and now some of the first female flowers are fruiting. And without any help from me. The plants do appear to be struggling in the afternoon sun a little more than I'm used to seeing. Maybe over-watered. I tend to do that a lot early on in the season.

Micro Dwarf Tomatoes

I planted three kinds of micro dwarf tomato plants this year: Rosy Finch, Fat Frog and Laura #5. As usual, I planted too many and did not want to part with those I did not have space for. So I kept some in smaller containers inside under a growlight. And I followed my age old tradition of forgetting to label them so I will have no way of knowing which is which until they set fruit. So far the first plant to set fruit is this one that has been growing outside and I think it's a Rosy Finch.

The plants kept inside appear to be fine but they are growing much taller. I suspect they don't get enough light so I'll be moving them outside soon. They are also in much smaller containers and I might transplant them to something larger. The plant on the left in the image below has been outside for the past few weeks and it has grown much stockier than the one on the right that has been kept under the growlight. I'm pretty sure they are the same plant.

The plants I put out in my big planter are even more stocky. They don't appear to be growing as fast for some reason. Perhaps less nutrients or cooler soil temperatures. I'm not sure. But they look healthy so I'm not worried. The more compact the better. I don't want them to crowd out the jalapeno peppers that are growing in the same planter.

Progress on the Balcony

Everything is  doing well on the balcony so far. The cucumbers survived the transplant and some hot sunny weather and are starting to climb. I had to shade them for the first week but they're fine now, especially with the return to seasonal temperatures. The tomatoes look great, as always.

I was at a garden center a couple weeks ago and noticed a sale on potted raspberry and blueberry plants. But they also had a few of these "red lake" red currant bushes. So I found a nice one and brought it home. My expectations are low and I'm not expecting to harvest any currants this year, or next, or whenever. And if I did, I wouldn't know what to do with them. I just wanted a (cheap) bushy plant on the balcony. I potted it into a 5 gallon bucket and we'll see how it does. 

Planter Upgrade

Took a while but I finally finished the upgrades to my 20+ year old cedar planter. I planted this container with a pair of micro-dwarf tomatoes and jalapeno peppers. I predict the tomatoes will eventually dominate the container. We'll see. I am hopeful the peppers will grow tall enough to stay above them.  

I built a tub to hold water in the bottom of the planter using old coroplast election signs and half a tube of sealant. I wasn't sure about having the paint from the signs in contact with the water so I lined that with a few layers of plastic (garbage bags). And I installed an overflow port at one end using a bulkhead I had lying around from a previous project.

Above the top of this tub I placed a couple of unused lids from some storage boxes. I drilled a few small holes for drainage and made larger holes for small plastic containers that can extend down below the deck and into the water. I drilled several holes into the sides of those little containers. Now when the planter is filled with potting soil and the reservoir is filled with water, moisture will be wicked up into the potting soil and the plants will send their roots down to find it. 

To fill the reservoir I made this crude fill tube from the cover from an old school binder, held into shape by a few plastic cable ties. I also lined the inside of the planter with plastic to protect the wood. Although I'm not sure that was really necessary. This planter has survived a couple decades of use now and has yet to rot out. I plan to trim out the top edge of the planter to hide the plastic, someday.

Finally time to plant

It was time to get some plants in containers. I was entertaining guests from out of town this week and the forecast for the next five days looks sunny and clear. My starter plants look starved for nutrients and root space so out they go. But first I have to deal with the boring part of gardening : cleaning up from last year. 

I reuse almost all of my potting soil, usually just sending the clump that comes up with the old root balls down to the compost bin. Then I top up with new potting soil or reused soil from another container I'm not using. I mix in a good amount of organic granulated fertilizer, water the surface a few times, then plant.

The old potting soil in these totes is very very dry. Like dust. As I stir it I can usually taste it in my mouth. Lots of little root bits are still in there. I pick out the largest clump but the rest just break down into tiny bits over time. Sometimes the surface of the potting soil is caked in salts from tap water or water soluble fertilizer. I scrap off the top inch or two when I find this but these totes are self watering, with a watering reservoir at the bottom. For most of the season water is not added to the surface of the potting soil so the top layer in these containers looks pretty good.

Doesn't take much to clean things up. I actually planted two cucumbers in this container. I usually plant more than one seed in my starter containers and then have problems committing to pruning the container down to just one plant. And when I go to plant them outside I have the same problem. I have a hard time parting with the extra plants so I usually double plant my containers on the balcony. It gets crowded but if one plant dies, I always have a back-up.

After a few years in the sun and snow these storage totes start to breakdown. It's hard to see in this image but the this blue tote is covered in cracks. The walls of the tote have softened and it's starting to bulge out against the weight of the potting soil. It even has a split running up the middle. So this is probably the last season for this tote. Still holding water in the bottom though, for now. Good for one more go.

Seedlings

The pepper and micro dwarf tomato seedlings have been doing well in the kitchen window for about a week now. The peppers look a little spindly but I'm used to that. They tomatoes look great. You can tell they're determinate varieties. Very compact looking. Probably about time for all of these little guys to move up to a bigger homes. Not quite yet. Soon.

My cucumber seedlings are just putting out their first true leaves. I keep them under the grow light. I won't be putting these out for a while. Not until the end of May.

Time to refurbish my favorite planter

I built this cedar planter over 20 years ago and I must have done something right because it hasn't rotted out or fallen apart yet. I over-built it, using 2x4s to hold it all up. And I coated it generously with an outdoor grade clear-coat. At some point I made it deeper and I can tell I didn't put the same care into the extension because it's breaking down much faster than the original wood.

My plan is to add a water reservoir to the bottom and turn it into a wicking box: a self-watering container. And while I'm at it I want to scrape and sand down the outside of it and apply a few more layers of wood finish. 

 

I was surprised by how much potting soil this thing holds. I filled two large garbage bags, which I plan to put back into the container when it's finished. The bottom of the box was lined with a yellow garbage bag and that must have helped protect the coated 1/2 inch plywood bottom of the box. Even the ends of the 2x4s that poke up into the growing area were still solid. Lots of clear coating and silicon sealed joints kept if protected over the years.

When I attached the second layer of cedar boards to the original container I used some 2x2 blocks and nails to hold it together. Those were not treated in any way and years of being under the potting soil have rotted them. I'll have to fix that up. 

Something I found interesting was the moisture distribution in the box. The potting soil on the side that sits along the outside of the balcony, where it is more likely to be kept moist by rain, was nice and damp all the way to the bottom of the box. But the potting soil in the side of the box away from the edge of the balcony that doesn't receive as much rain was bone dry, all the way down. I would have thought the moisture in one side of the box would be pulled into the side that was drier but I guess not.

Neglect

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.

New Pigeon Netting

Our old netting was removed during some building renos. It had been up for a long time and was ready to be replaced. The install on the new netting seems to be better. It's a nylon mesh fastened to a cable the runs around the outside of the balcony opening. We probably could have went without it. I haven't see pigeons hanging out on the building for quite some time now. Might have something to do with the occasional hawk I see in the sky around the building. I kind of miss the view without the net. But I remember what a pain it was to clean up pigeon mess on the balcony so the net stays.

Sprawling Tomatoes and Cucumbers

This is what happens when you're lazy and don't plan ahead. I kept meaning to put up some kind of trellis to hold these tomato and cucumber plants but I never got around to it. I got a few tomatoes and cukes from them. Nothing close to the harvest I could have had, had the plants been propped up off the floor and into the sunlight. 

With the pigeon netting guy coming this week I figure it's time to get rid of these plants and clean things up a bit. So this is the end of tomato and cucumber plants on the balcony this summer. 

Despite my poor effort I did manage to get a few tiny jars of bread and butter pickles made. These are wide mouth 250 ml (half pint) jars. Their size lets me process them in a hot water bath in just about any pot. Sadly I don't think I put enough sugar in these :(

I think the beans are done

My poor bean plants are being overtaken by spider mites. Nothing I can do about it now. I've picked a couple of bowls of beans off the plants over the past two weeks and I think there might be a handful more but that's it. The leaves are yellowing and falling off the plants. They look tired and defeated. But that's ok. I didn't put much effort into them this year. One less thing to water every day.

These were blue lake pole beans. I found the pods didn't grow as long as the Kentucky wonder pole beans I've grown in the past. They tasted fine though. I left some out on the plants a little too long and those had a less desirable flavor to them. 

Beet Pickles

We ate a couple and canned the rest. I just wish I had some larger jars on hand. These little half-pint jars are not big enough for beet pickles.

Beet Harvest

It was time to pull these beets and I was happy with what I got. After trimming and rinsing I was left with 2.5 lbs which I'm ok with considering the container I grew them in has less than three sqft of growing space. Only a couple didn't result in a root worthy of calling a beet. 

I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with them. I was thinking about pickling them and I should be able to get a few half-pint jars from the bunch. But I think instead we'll cook and eat half... less than half, and pickle the rest. And I'll reseed the container to grow more. I'll have to add more compost or just mix in lots of fresh fertilizer. With luck I can have another little harvest like this in October.

My peppers are doing well and that will probably be the next little harvest. But my beans are trying real hard too. I'm finally seeing lots of flowers and a few little beans. I feel sorry that I couldn't give these plants a taller structure to grow on. These blue lake pole beans put up some really tough vines. Most of the cords I tied up to support them untied in the wind a long time ago. No matter. These things aren't going anywhere.

Neglected but not entirely forgotten

It's been a strange summer on the balcony. You would think with everything that's not going on in the world right now I'd have lots of time to play on the balcony. But that's not the case for some reason. I just haven't been all that interested this year. For a while we were hopeful we'd be able to get in a vacation before September so maybe I wasn't fully committed to gardening. But I did manage to get some beets growing and I've got peppers that are doing ok.

When I cleared everything off the balcony last year I had to get rid of all the support structures I had constructed for holding up various plants. It was probably for the best because it was getting really junky out there. But I really missing have those structures. Look at this pathetic black cherry tomato plant. It's an indeterminate variety. It's sprawling pretty bad and I've haven't been pruning it. There are tomatoes but not as many as there should be. I'm just too lazy to got out and buy some sticks. Or anything really. I was looking for some poles last week but they were all sold out.

I'm growing pole beans this year too and they are supported but not flowering for some reason. Timing and weather I guess. I also started cucumbers back in early June and they got off to a terrible start. And I don't have anything to support them. Probably won't bother. Even so, I found this cute little cucumber on one of the vines that was just trailing down onto the floor of the balcony. Some hope I guess. Maybe it's not too late to trellis those vines.

Almost time to plant

Getting closer to that time. Nighttime temperatures around 4C but we did have a frost advisory last week. The weather hasn't been that great actually. Cloudy. Rainy. Windy. But at least it's been consistent. Still a little early for my leggy seedlings. They need a bit more time. 

Whenever I plant too early I get caught by a frosty night or a windy day. I can never seem to get a head start. So these tomatoes and peppers will wait another week... week and a half. Actually, I might pot the tomatoes into larger containers first then wait two more weeks. I should do that now. I also have cucumbers growing in the window sill. Those I will definitely keep inside until the end of May. 

Just realized that I forgot to start my basil. Getting hard to find window space. Too many succulents. 

Germination Test

I started a little germination test over the weekend. I've got a small hoard of seeds from years past and I needed to know which, if any, were still usable. When I get new seed I always forget to write the date on the packet. Sometimes it's already there but not always. Most of the seed here was 4+ years old. And most appear to still be ok. So maybe I won't bother buying any new seed this year. I should probably just use what I have while I still can.

The only seeds that aren't germinating (yet) are 12 year old bell peppers and some watermelon seeds which must be around 10 years old. No surprises there. There are other melon seeds here that are still fine. Some greens, radish, onion and beets. And green tomatoes. I really wish I had more space on the balcony.

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.