Last frost is this week (or so I am informed by hearsay) so I transplanted the harbinger and cherry tomatoes out in the balcony greenhouse.

I first planted the tomatoes in seed trays in February. Then, in early March I moved two of each type (harbinger and cherry) to their own containers (10-15 cm in diameter).  They grew much bigger than the ones we maintained in the seed tray.  Indeed the tomato plant that was transferred to the largest pot was considerably larger than the rest after a couple of weeks so I would recommend transplanting out of seed trays into 15-20cm containers if you can manage the space.

Transplanting to the Greenhouse

Today I transplanted the tomatoes into much deeper pots in the balcony greenhouse. The transplanting procedure amounted to:

1. Find a container about 40 cm deep to transplant into, one for each plant.
2. Fill 2/3 with compost.
3. Make a well in the centre of the compost as far down as you can. My well was about 25 cm.
4. Upend the tomato plant’s current pot to remove it. You may want to gently loosen some of the roots to encourage them to spread.
5. Place the plant in the well and fill around it with more compost. Don’t worry if some leaves are covered. The deep transplanting encourages root growth throughout the container. Maximizing space and resource usage is the name of the game!
6. Place a stake of some kind (I used bamboo) alongside the stem of each plant. The tomato can then be tied to this as it grows to help it stay upright. Adding a stake later may disturb the roots so it’s best to do at the same time as transplanting. With little wind in the greenhouse, the stem will not strengthen as it would outside.
7. Water the plants with some tomato fertilizer. Generic fertilizers might have too much nitrogen and cause excessive foliage growth. A good deal of water will help the newly transplanted plant to bed-in well.

I put the two large containers for the harbingers at the base of the greenhouse and the two cherry plants in hanging baskets at the top. I may hang the hanging baskets out at some stage but for the moment I’m letting them aclimatize to outdoors in the greenhouse. Putting them vertically above the other tomato plants again saves on space.

The greenhouse is very flimsy so I have my fingers crossed as to its durability. Putting the heavy deep containers on the bottom shelf at least adds stability and prevents a high centre of gravity-related disaster.

I am also slightly concerned at the short time for which the greenhouse gets direct sunlight (about 10:00 – 14.30 each day). I guess only time will tell whether I am being paranoid or I’ll have to rethink the light issues. And this is before the plants start doing complicated things like putting each other in shade with their leaves!

It’s worth mentioning that the the harbinger tomatoes are indeterminate. This means that, all going to plan, they should deliver their tomatoes in a steady flow rather than all at once. This is a bit better than the prospect of eating tomato bread with tomato soup for three meals a day all summer (he said optimistically!).

The peas have been down now since early February. They are now several centimetres tall and complete with tendrils so it’s time to make sure they have adequate support as they start to climb.

We have the peas in quite a deep container – about 40 cm – as their roots can be extensive. In order to maximize the growing area, I planted the peas in a circle only a few centimetres from the edge of the container.

Building a Trellis

I aimed to maximize space by building a trellis out of bamboo and twine. Here are the steps I followed:

1. Place a number of bamboo canes around the very edge of the container so they are pointing straight up in the air.
2. Counterbalance the bamboos by tying a piece of string (twine, rope, yarn etc. – whatever takes your fancy) around each bamboo at it’s base, leading it under the container and tying it to the base of the bamboo directly across the diameter of the container from it.
3. Tie the bamboos together tight at the top. This adds stability and as they are now counterbalanced, they won’t just all move into the centre. There should be a slight bend in them caused by the tension.
4. Finally, tie some twine at the bottom of one of the bamboos (I actually tied it to the container handle) and lead it up and around the outside of the bamboos. Maintain a reasonable tension and tie off at the top. I looped it around some of the bamboos on the way to give it a bit of extra grip and stop the spiral slipping.

This should give the peas enough stability and support to grow. Maximizing space usage means we maximize the light our plants get and (hopefully!) produce.

Spring Onions

I planted some spring onions in the middle of the circle of pea plants so there wasn’t good soil going to waste in the container. They require much less root room and if all goes to plan will get sufficient light to grow in the middle of the peas. They’re only just coming up now so set your eyes to strain!

Last week I put together a trough out of my parents’ old kitchen for growing potatoes. Today I made a box out of some kitchen press doors so we could have some outdoor storage for gardening paraphernalia on the balcony.

In an apartment, any space-saving measure is a good one. In particular, anything which helps avoid domestic disputes arising from traipsing mud through the living room is a step in the right direction. Hence I thought building a box for storing outdoor things outdoors was a sensible idea.

Ingredients and Equipment

• 4 cherry wood kitchen press doors
• 4 short battens and 2 long battens made from maple floorboards
• A drill and 1 1/4″ wood screws
• 2 end pieces made from a fifth press door
• 2 hinges
• 4 wheels left over from some Ikea purchase

Method

As you can see from the images, the box again was made in a similar fashion to the trough last week, using battens to strengthen the structure and allow for some easier screwing – it was quite tricky to screw the cherry wood directly into cherry wood.

I used some old simple hinges for the door. I’m not sure what the origin of the hinges are but I suspect it was an old press or wardrobe, rather than a door, as they are quite small. I attached the door so it opens downwards with the hinges at the bottom. This meant that I needed some clearance underneath so I attached four wheels we had leftover from some piece of Ikea furniture. This allows the door to open down fully.

To complete the door I screwed a screw into the top and attached the doorknob to it with an elastic band. Not the most exotic solution but it does the trick.

Conclusion

If after making it for 3 hours and with a very sore back someone had asked me whether this a better option than say buying a box for twenty quid, I’m not sure what I would have said. Nonetheless, we have a box now and I’m proud of it. It also looks better aesthetically in my opinion than anything you might buy. Well it definitely has character. We are contemplating painting or stencilling the outside of it but have no concrete plans as of yet.