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.