Sunday, November 8, 2009

Back to It

Ahhh it is good to be back and to make up for my absence this will be a long and winding post complete with pictures and races and Wilson's Prom and more. The balcony garden is undergoing its first major heat test with pretty much a week ahead (and half a week behind us) of 30+ degree temperatures. I am saving as much water as I can in the household, and with it the balcony garden seems to be holding up, just. I'll update in a week or so when it cools and tell you what was tough enough to survive on the balcony garden, and what withered. Suffice to say I don't remember such sustained heat this early in Spring before, but I could be mistaken. At the very least it is going to be another long dry summer.
For now I'll just post a few photos of the balcony garden. The race is on between the tomatoes to be the first to ripen. A thrip infestation caused some damage in the past week so setting fruit has been difficult, even with the trusty electric toothbrush. However the two clear contenders for first tomato this year are the red tumbler tomato in the hanging pot.



and the tigerella.

It would be rather fun for the fuller fruit to beat the cherry in the race to my dinner plate, and odds are surprisingly in the tigerella's favour. The other tomatoes are growing taller and fuller but still not setting much fruit. These pictures represent only a fraction of the 25 tomato plants on the balcony garden (19 full sized in pots, 6 tumblers in hanging pots.)

The zucchini keeps on producing, although hand pollination and thrip have again set back the production of fruit. Still baby zucchinis are so much fun to eat, when put with broccoli, snowpea and silverbeet infused lentils, roast apples and pork they make an odd happy face (and tasty dinner.)



The strawberries are fruiting like mad! I eat two or three a day (once they ripen of course!)

These purple flowers aren't on the balcony garden, they were from my trip to Sandy Point, but I thought I would add them anyway.

And some gratuitous scenery shots of the prom. It was such a lovely trip! I do hope to get back to Wilson's Prom again one day, or at the very least back to the beach house, it was such awesome value and perfect for our little group weekend away (especially because I got the room with bunk beds! Such a grown up balcony gardener, hehe.)

7 comments:

Lisa said...

My zucchini decided to just stop growing, did I tell you? The seeds came up lovely, I transplanted them in the ground, and then they have remained exactly the same size ever since. My calender tells me that the "crop" should be ready for harvesting next week - but they still only have three leaves each!!!!

PJ said...

Lisa - hmm they are aparently a bit fickle when it comes to transplanting - that said mine was a seedling and it took off, literally!!! I will plant your sunflower seedlings soon too! Maybe a new zucchini is in order? See what happens during this hot week.

Kalena Michele said...

Hot weather? Spring? Tomatoes? Where do you live, Prue? lol Anyway, welcome back :). Your plants look amazing. All of my green is gone now so I changed my Twitter page background to a photo of my salad greens to make me feel better.

Lisa said...

everything is so sad in this hot week! My latest round of sprouting seeds ALL appear to be dead.

AND I'm really annoyed now that you've mentioned zucchini hate being transplanted - because the packet SAID to plant them in pots first and then put them in the ground!!!

PJ said...

Kalena - it is unseasonally hot actually, record breaking stuff. Thanks for the kind words about the plants, they look a little wilty today, another 35 degree one tomorrow will make them worse (at least I am allowed to water tomorrow, grrr to water restrictions)

Lisa - Oh no that totally sucks. Maybe I am wrong about the transplanting, I mean mine transplanted fine. Do you want more seeds? I have some yellow zuke seeds. Otherwise I can highly recommend the floriana seedling range, I got mine from there and it is freakishly good.

Sandy said...

While many of us are heading to our winter break, you and your balcony garden is stepping into spring - the time to get our hands dirty and start our new projects. Ahhh, so exciting!

Kate/High Altitude Gardening said...

Deck strawberries! Now that's a grand idea. I have a little patch in the backyard. It seems to feed a lot of critters but I never get a nibble... All your veggies look terrific. :)