Strawberry

I bought a strawberry plant because it was on sale in Homebase. I find strawberries very confusing when reading about them. So i am not sure what I am supposed to do with this one. I have transplanted it into a bigger pot but i need to ask Hilary about the runner thingys that are hanging down.

The picture shows it in its old pot along side the mint which has gone mad in growth since it was repotted.

Radishes

As we had emptied the pot which contained the potatoes, I decided to clean it up and get it back into use. We had had some success with the first sowing of radishes so decided to grow some more of the same variety.

They are “French breakfast 3”. They should appear in about 7 days. I have planted less seeds in the space this time as they were quite congested and I didn’t really get to grip with the whole “thinning” process.

You can plant this variety right up to September so if I get some more free space then I may plant some more.

They should be ready to harvest in about 4 to 6 weeks.

Potatoes - Pentland javelin

As I may have mentioned, I bought the pot of potatoes because my daughter thought it looked nice! Well to be fair, it has looked very nice and has helped fill up the appotment.

As the foliage was beginning to look a bit jaded, we decided to harvest the spuds and to see what £5 worth of home grown veg looked like.

I have to say, digging up those spuds with our mini trowel was worth every penny. It was so exciting seeing them appear. They varied in sixe from tiny to a good size for a new potato.

The resulting yield weighted one and a half pounds. I ate some of them for my dinner, boiled with mint out of the plot, along with home grown lettuce. I had to buy a tomato as mine are not quite ready but it was wonderful to eat what we had grown.

I have to admit that I ate the rest during the afternoon as sweets because they were so yummy

Shallots and lettuce leaves

As we had just harvested the potatoes, we were on a roll so decided to see what the shallots looked like. We first of all had to trim back the lettuce. It looked lovely, some red and some green but all very healthy.

We then cleared round the shallots and laid them on some newspaper. I had already perused several articles to see what to do with them and this seemed to be the generally accepted idea. This was the yield from 4 bulbs

I waited for the soil to dry off a bit then brushed them clean and laid them out in a row. Not bad for a first attempt. Now I have to go back to the books and find out what I do with them now as they can’t stay here they are.

Once I have found out the next step then we can harvest the other pot which just has shallots in with no distractions.

Lettuce

I have planted a new pot of salad bowl mixed lettuce in a round pot. The last lot that i planted has grown really well but has been made difficult to harvest as the shallots have been getting in the way. This should be a nice neat pot of lettuce (hopefully)

Sow outdoors March to August

Seedlings will appear in 7 to 14 days

For baby leaves, thin to 2 inches apart, for mature plants, thin to 10 inches apart. I will probably do very little thinning as i want the plant pot to look full and over flowing

Pak Choi

First thing to be planted for ages. Seedlings will appear in 14 to 21 days. Harvest unthinned as baby leaves or thin to 10inches apart to produce mature plants.

Can be used in stir frys or salads.

Plant every three weeks for continuous crops.

Sow outdoors from March to October

A new brown bin

My new brown bin has arrived at last. Our council will collect garden waste once a fortnight so I am planning on using them rather than setting up a compost bin at the moment.

The first sad addition to the bin was the remains of the courgette plant. Still not sure what happened to it. Maybe a combination of not enough soil for two plants, not enough water and food, too many black fly and all manor of other things that i don't actually know about. On the plus side, i did get 5 courgettes which are on the menu for this week.

I have also put in the bin the first of the mile a minute stuff that Lianne has cut down. I cant remember its proper name but it is growing over the fence from next door. This is part of the appotment expansion scheme as we clear the patio ready for use.

Courgettes - good and bad!

11th May 2010

6th July 2010

The first courgette

13th July 2010

15th July 2010

So in the beginning were two little plants. They grew and grew and looked great. They produced 5 courgettes. Then they went yellow. What went wrong??

Potatoes, carrots and peppers

After a shaky start the carrots look nice and leafy. There is probably going to be a yield of one carrot but they look nice. I really thought i was growing soil so it has been nice to see the wonderful feathery foliage appear.

The potato was bought at a garden centre, already in a pot. It cost me £5 which is stupid but Lianne wanted it so i gave in (lol). Next year i am going to get a potato bag or two. I may even have my garden up and running by then.

There is a redskin pepper and a yellow banana pepper. They have not really done much so maybe they want more space.

Micro toms and yellow pepper

There are two micro toms in one pot and as normal for me, that is too many lol. Next year, I am going to have one thing in each pot but as i will hopefully have a garden by then , it shouldn't be a problem. There are several tomatoes vi sable but nothing like the yield promised on the label.

The yellow pepper has a pot to itself but my gardening guru suggests that if i get chance, i should move it to a bigger pot. Roll on getting the patio sorted so i will have some more room. It looks nice and green but no sign of a pepper!

Shallots and salad leaves

In one pot is just shallots, planted in a nice circular design. In the other there is a cross of salad leaves with shallots in each quadrant. This was fine while the plants were small but now the shallots are so big, the salad leaves are hard to harvest as they are hidden. Even so we have had three cuttings so far and they tasted wonderful.

I would like to sow more like they recommend but i simply don't have the space. Once the patio is cleared then i will be able to expand.

Tumbler tomatoes

I planted three plants in one pot as they were really small. I now

know that they need a pot each!!!! They have really bushed out and look great. There are lots and lots of green tomatoes that hopefully will one day turn red. i am feeding them every week but may up the feeding as they are needing so much water.

Chives

This was one of the original pots. The chives have a regular haircut. There are several ice cubes in the freezer containing chives. I have placed the pot on a brick and put it in the shady bit as it doesn't seem to mind.

The big pot

This pot contains coriander, sage, golden feverfew and an alpine strawberry. They were all bought as little herbs and i guess because they got the biggest pot , they have grown the most.

It takes an entire watering can every day in this dry weather and the coriander keeps falling over but I am still pleased with it

Long gap

It has been over a month since i posted anything. The balcony looks amazing. There is barely room to move. We have harvested radishes and lettuces.