Gallery of Growth on Balcony
May 10, 2009
In this post I wanted to take a break from the recent tutorials to do a bit of an update on the growth on the balcony.
As you can see above the potatoes are looking good (at least the above soil portion is!). At the near end of the trough are the pentland javelins, coming in at about 50 cm and at the far end are the charlottes towering at 70cm. I have been filling in the trough with compost as they grew so the charlottes are now about a metre above where the original seed potatoes were planted. They have been down now for just under two months.
The french climbing beans have been less than enthusiastic in their climbing pursuits:
On the contrary, the berlotti beans are doing well. This comes as a bit of a surprise as I was worried that the berlottis would prefer something a little sunnier than Ireland’s East coast:
At the other end of the balcony we have our second crop of potatoes. I used the same varieties are before. Perhaps I should have used something later cropping – any spud experts out there? In the background are the peas which have climbed on the trellis to 60cm:
Clockwise below from left we have carrots, lettuce, lavender and sage. The sage is flowering at the moment which we are going to let go even though I suspect culling this might give better leaf growth. Note the lettuces are ones we bought as seedlings in the Farmleigh market in Phoenix Park after multiple failed attempts to produce homegrown seedlings. (Note the random cabbage top right we got as a surprise in the lettuce seedling batch!)
I am a bit concerned over the lack of light that the tomato plants are getting and I think this is reflected in their less than inspirational growth. The first picture below is the cherry tomatoes and the second the harbinger tomatoes:
The parsley plants are doing well as always – both flat leaf (left) and curled (top). Unfortunately our chives (right) got aphids. We washed them out with mildly soapy water on the advice of Google which seems to have done the trick for the moment.
Lastly there is the corn salad (front) and more lettuce (back). The corn salad seems to be growing quite slowly but perhaps this is normal. Despite the window boxes being quite small for the lettuces they seem to be doing well. We are trying to just take leaves from our lettuces rather than harvesting whole heads of lettuce in an effort to maximize the yield.
As usual send on any comments, advice, criticisms, observations etc. If you are growing any of the same plants I’d be very interested to see how you are getting on.
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Looks beautiful!
Everything seems to be growing great, especially the potaotoes. I finally gave in and bought parsley plants! i bought a samll tub and when I broke it up I got about 11 individual plants to repot.
Could you try putting up some tin foil behind the tomatoes to reflect the light on to them/
I love your potato planter! Everything looks great, I’m very jealous that I’m just starting to sow my seeds, when you’ve got such big beautiful plants already! I’m also doing all my veggies (and flowers) in containers, so I’ve really enjoyed seeing everything you’re doing!
It all looks great! I’m jealous of how far along everything is, especially the peas and lettuce – mine are on a go-slow in protest at the rain! I’m also trying to grow veggies & flowers in containers – a yard rather than a balcony. I’ve been trying the tinfoil behind my toms on the windowsill & it’s helping but they’re still teensy!
there’s some pics here tracking my progress:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/helenmm/sets/72157618007880074/
@luvswool Thank1
@Peggy I wonder would winfoil help alright. Where they are though I estimate they only get direct light for max 4 hours a day – I’m not sure any amount of tinfoil can rectify that!
@Jennifer We’ve just started sowing some flowers this week too so hopefully a bit of colour will be added in coming weeks!
@Helen I really like the blue wall and shelves in your yard – did you do that yourself?
@cheese thanks! inherited the wall, added the shelves
I’m very impressed with your garden! What exposure does your balcony have? I live in Southern California which is a dream for gardens – unless you have limited exposure. My balcony faces East, so the only potential sun is morning sun – I swear every year I’m not going to grow tomatoes because of the meager harvest – only to cave in and plant some the next. I have just two this year – both plants look great so far – hope springs eternal (though the annual June gloom looms – which means no sun in the morning at all).
I’ve got herbs that I start from seed under artificial light indoors – that’s been pretty successful. Other than that, strawberries left from last year. That’s about it.
Is it possible to rig up a grow-light outdoors for your tomatoes, if it’s safe?
Re: the tomatoes not getting enough light. The foil idea can make a big difference. Any light that gets past them will then have a second chance to hit them while moving in the opposite direction. Effectively, you could double the amount of light they get, though not the length of exposure. Besides foil, if you happen to have one of those silly windshield reflectors that are supposed to keep your car from overheating wile parked, that’ll work. (Hmm, maybe not an issue in Ireland.) Even a spare full length mirror would do it. I say give it a try.
Hello there balcony farmer! I found your site through this month’s Totally Dublin magazine. Really looking forward to following your progress, your potatoes are looking good!
I too have a city centre balcony, up on the fourth floor which I hope will keep the slugs away from my strawberry plants which have been growing since February or so. That’s all I’ve got so far! I’ll defniitely be looking to this blog for tips
Oh and you should holler at http://www.thedailyspud.com for some spud advice! She’s the woman for the job.
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