Space and how you use it

Following up on queries about just how big my garden is and how I fit so much in there, here are some pics, and some points to help shed some light. This is my balcony from each end:

So you can see it is quite long, not so wide, and shaded in 1/3rd of it by some slats. It is about using whatever space I can to plant the things that I want, and throwing out all sage gardening advice about planting spacings. Here are some more pointers:

• I once saw this amazing lady on Gardening Australia who has a 'proper in the ground' garden, i.e. a plot with ample space, and she used every square centimetre. Traditional plant spacings went out the window as beans heaped upon more beans and lettuces sidled right up to herbs. And you know what - despite the fears of gardening gurus - her garden was magnificent. Things grew and fruited and flowered and all was well. So, in honour of her, I say to hell with the garden advice, do what you like and plant as closely as you darn well feel like it (just remember which plants are good and bad neighbours.) I mean, what's the worst that can happen? They might die? Well I hate to break it to you but plant death is just a part of gardening. But so is experimenting and finding out what varieties work at what spacings and in what part of the balcony. And really, if they don't work out, then don't plant so much  next season. Don't believe me? See the lettuce below - they should have a good 25-30 cms between them according to normal logic - but that's only a 40cm long pot and that's at least 6 plants in there. Sure they didn't grow massive, but they have lasted several weeks worth of meals, and when they're done, I can grow two more crops in their place before the summer is out (new soil, new or cleaned pot of course.)

• Or you could grow corn and beans in a medium sized pot. Two of the three sisters in action right here:

• Better yet, grow 6 types of tomatoes, basil, lettuce and celery in the same pot, I dare ya! (to get an idea of size, this is two large polystyrene containers placed together. We call in megapot here in the balcony garden.

• It is all about having a mixture, of plant types (vegetable, fruit, tree, flower, native, succulent, etc) of plant heights and planting spaces. Big pots, little pots, vertical pots, hanging pots, fit them in however you can.

• Don't scrimp on potting mix, if you want lovely flowers and ample veg in small spaces you have to have or make the best. It isn't cheap, and on a student budget I find it tough, but it is something I wont budge on.

• Vermiculite is also your really, really good friend.

• Grow things that you like to eat and look at. If you don't like tomatoes, or are allergic to strawberries then don't waste space on them. Can't stand lobelias, then don't plant them. And don't get stressed about free range planting and letting the garden wander where it wants. Worried that those tomatoes could grow to be over 2 metres high and simply wont fit the trellis - awesome! Let's see where they do once they outgrow the trellis. Let the garden amaze and inspire you and lead you to where it wants/can go.

• Always check the amount of weight your balcony can carry - we don't want it crumbling under the weight of soil and pots and taking you down with it. Plastic pots are a balcony gardeners best friend.

So really just have fun with it and keep experimenting. You'll fill your space and just when you think you can't fit any more plants in you will find more places and ways of getting them in there.

Up with the old and in with the new

 

The saying is usually out with the old and in with the new. I definitely got the last part right this week in the balcony garden, but the first bit was a little different. Instead of removing plants, I potted some up into bigger surroundings, leaving their pots vacant for newcomers. Oh and I guess I threw out the dead plants from megapot and a few others but who's being pedantic anyway?


Out - Winter greens such as broccoli, kale, snowpeas.

Up - Lime tree and Mr Fig twig into the biggest possible pots
        Hibiscus into the Lime tree's pot
       
In - Lots of Basil
      Mini White Cucumbers x 2
      Jerusalem Artichokes x 2
      Mixed Lettuce
      Corn x 2 lots of 5
      Purple Bush Beans with the Corn x 2 or 3 per pot
and ...

MORE TOMATOES!!! So many tomatoes. I might be dooming myself to failure, but fingers crossed    the varieties take off. Including the earlier planting discussed in this post, the varieties thus far are:

Red: Mortgage Lifter x 4
        Cherry Red x 2 (plus one more seedling but I might give that away)
        Red Tumblers x 3
        Oxheart (plus again I have a spare seedling which I might give away)

Green: Green Zebra x 2
           (seedling procured but yet to be planted) Aunt Ruby's German Green x 2
   
Yellow:  Golden Cherry Tomatoes x 3 (two in a large pot with the two red cherries and one on its own)
             Yellow tumbler (I wanted more of these but alas their hardly ever in the shop)
             Wapsipinicon Peach Tomato

Black: Black Krim x 2
           I had a black russian planted but it was very sickly so it got pulled early.

I have my eye on this dwarf heirloom mix from diggers, which would bring the tally, once all planted up to over 20 plants. That's a lot of tomato plants to die off if things go wrong, which they tend to do in this precarious little environment. Fingers crossed we have success this year.  

There is one megapot of tomatoes yet to be planted. The peach tomato, aunt ruby's german green and most of the heirloom mix are earmarked for it. Also, possibly, my lovely other half's mother may have a couple more seedlings for me which we will squeeze in somewhere.

Apart from putting cucumbers into the garlic pots once the garlic is harvested there isn't much more planting to do for the next few months. Time to sit back and  nurture this rather massive and diverse crop.

Harvest Monday

I am so so so close to getting the first full draft of the thesis done, but yet so far from the end goal. In the meantime here is what I have been harvesting of late ...

There have been cucumbers, plenty of cucumbers, enough that I have to eat them every day to keep up, but here is just one. I am going to post soon about the world's funniest cucumber which is shaped like a piggies tail but for now it is normal cucumbers.

The seeds were a little big, maybe I left it on there too long, but it is hard to keep up with them. Tasty in a salad.

That was my lunch, these little red lovelies went in something else,

my breakfast!

I have been going through a phase of eating fruit salad in the morning, usually blueberries and rockmelon with whatever else is affordable at the markets. It was lovely to be able to supplement it with my own home grown strawberries.

In the garden harvest there were eggplants and beans, both of which made it into curries.

I am planning on trying salt and pepper eggplant with some of the rest. I have been harvesting chillis to give to friends, basil leaves for lasagnes and silverbeet as needed. Even in this strange weather it seems to be putting out some good food. With more eggplants, the crazy corn possibly beginning to come good and the figs turning colours it might be an interesting harvest next week. For more harvests from around the world pop on over to Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday Extravaganza

I finally found my camera cord and uploaded the goodies so here is a parade of recent harvests and this week's harvest. It even has some golden globes! These harvests date back to just before Christmas, even so this little balcony garden has produced a lot.

Here was the pre-Christmas harvest and it saw the last of the snow peas. I actually picked a lot more tomatoes than that, several punnets worth, all from 2 little tumbler bushes. They died once I got back from Adelaide, as happens each year from some disease, but not before producing one large crop. I will certainly keep growing these.

And the New Years harvest which was massive (a.k.a. bye bye tomatoes) Most of this went into various salad dishes for a little new years eve shindig I had at my place. It was 42 degrees that day, so salads were all we needed. I was just glad that the garden survived my 10 days away, but with the wonderful garden sitter I have it was no wonder it was bursting with goodies when I returned.

And the most recent harvest which included 3 pumpkins, who were too infested with white fly to reach complete maturation. If only I could find more seedlings I could do a second crop :( I also thought I planted leeks, to my utter surprise turns out they were white onions!.

If you would like to see more harvests from around the world head on over to Daphne's Dandelions. A lot of these plants got ripped out of the garden yesterday in a big white fly control clean up, so harvests may be a little lean for the next few weeks, but we will see.

Garden Bloggers Blooms Day

Well yes, I haven't posted much in the past two weeks and now it is 2 posts in one day, but then again that is what happens when it is garden bloggers blooms day and harvest monday on the same day. What is blooming in the garden at the moment? It has had to withstand some warm weather and some major downpours, and a slight amount of neglect from an overworked postgrad. Still there seems to be some lovely flowers out there at present.

There are some pretty annuals such as pansies and cornflowers and a white succulent

Perennial lanterns just keep on flowering as does the lemon scented geranium

Vegetables and herbs are unfolding in great numbers now too, pumpkins, zukes, purple bush beans, tomatoes and sage.

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And the piece de resistance - the orchid, is still blooming!

For more garden bloggers blooms days from around the world head on over to May Dreams Gardens.

Little harvest Monday

Ok technically some of this wasn't quite this week's harvest.

I harvested the zucchini Saturday week ago, before the big storm, which was lucky really because the host plant literally melted into a puddle of rotten, brown sludge after the hail stone infused deluge. Bye bye Zucchini, we have had many happy times together, the risottos, the pastas, the occasional frittata.

The habaneroes and beans on the other hand were harvested this week. The beans went into a cous cous dish while the habaneroes, they, um, well, they're still in the fridge. Still in good condition, looking at me longingly. Problem is, I don't think I want to cook with them or eat them. I am really not sure why I grew them, except perhaps for their aesthetic value. I will say it for all to see, I am not really a super hot food fan. A bit of chilli is great for flavour but I've never been a 'heat that could blow the roof of my mouth off' kind of girl. My neighbours may end up in posession of these, or someone else, who knows. Maybe, just maybe, I might try cooking with one.

I've been harvesting lots of carrots. One a day usually and they are crisp and delicious. It is only the yellow ones which are ripe at the moment but I also have white ones and purple ones in the garden. In the above picture is a small daikon which I harvested alongside the carrots in all its dirty glory. Usually they are ten times bigger, but this one was a little trapped around a sunflower so he was midget sized. Added a tastey element to my lentil and tuna salad. Yum!

Sorry the posts have been few and far between. The thesis writing is keeping me busy. However, I did manage a good few hours in the garden this weekend, taking out the debris and storm-broken plants and adding some good autumn crops. I'll post on that this week.

A Very Family Harvest Monday

The holiday came to an end a week ago, and only half an hour after my plane landed I found myself back on the balcony garden which had been ably managed in my absence by my special housemate H. She had watered it well and tended to the sunflowers that were blowing away and ate plenty of veggies from it.

Seems she missed this lovely bit of produce - which I will share with you here. It was a week ago so it counts for my harvest Monday, if only just. On the night I got home I noticed two, very large, cucumbers! They went into some salads and a dinner, and some was intended to be grated as a side to currysotto (a strange mix of risotto and yellow curry, divine!!!) but it was all eaten up by the time I cooked that delicacy. Here is the rest of the haul, grabbed this morning after watering. Loads of chillis, and the habanero is loaded too, just waiting for it to ripen.

Beans, both purple and green and slightly over ripened but still edible.

Two eggplant, both a bit small and cracking were wonderfully tasty.

Tomatoes, kind of old and cracked and will be the last of the haul at this stage, but good cooked up in the currysotto sauce.

One small zucchini, probably not pollinated but taste nonetheless. Housemate H showed me she had learned well and can identify the boy flower and girl flower on the zukes but had the usual problem of them not appearing at the same time.

Now I also have some lovely cousins and an aunt and uncle with massive vegetable gardens. I visited them yesterday before heading to Hanging Rock Harvest Festival, a festival in which producers local (and not so local) to the region show their produce, and the rellos did not let me leave without loading me up with veggies. The festival itself was mostly stalls filled with wine and olive oil but I did find some lovely Yarrawonga fetta. I put it on my salad tonight.

along with a yellow carrot from the balcony garden,

tomatoes from my Aunt's garden,

and cucumbers from my cousin's garden! So not only is this a harvest post for the balcony garden, it is a harvest postfor my relatives' gardens!