Balcony garden update 08.02.10

This weekend's Maker Faire at the Henry Ford was phenomenal. I'll have a few pictures and highlights for you tomorrow, but today a little balcony garden update…

First off the annuals… we put in a lot more flowers this year than last. We ended up not planting corn this year and doing a lot more herbs in individual pots rather in the long window box style planters hanging on the balcony rail. This left plenty of extra room that has been filled with flowers. I also planted the box that grew spinach in the early season with nasturtium seeds and in no time they were full and blooming. I'm so glad we went this root as it's brought so many more butterflies and bees — happy friends to have in the garden and beautiful to watch.

A happy new addition this year is tomatoes. We have two huge plants that are loaded down with ripening tomatoes. The first ones started to rot on the bottoms and thanks to the interwebs, I quickly diagnosed that they had the common blossom-end rot. This is usually caused by inconsistent watering causing the fruit to be unable to draw enough calcium in. I smashed up a few of my own calcium vitamin tablets by placing them in a ziploc bag and crushing them with a rolling pin. I then sprinkled this over the soil and gave the plants a thorough watering. I changed up my routine to give the tomatoes less frequent but longer waterings and these steps seemed to have worked. The rot has stopped and the newer fruits show no signs of it.

We've had a steady stream of tasty petite carrots since mid-July with still more to harvest. And to date we've made three huge batches of pesto. It's best to use smaller basil leaves as they tend to get bitter the larger they grow and it's been difficult to keep up with — a welcome challenge!

The lettuce held out for quite some time despite the heat. But I've now let it start going to seed and hope to harvest them for next year's crop. The heat was just too much for the cilantro and dill, too, and they have now gone to seed. The jalapenos have been very slow-going and this is our first and only pepper so far.

It shouldn't be long before I have beautiful sunflower photos to show you. I have to say that at this point in the summer, I don't want to do much more in the garden than harvest tasty veggies and cut flowers for vases, but I have been thinking about a couple of cold crops we could start to sew soon. Stay tuned!

Balcony Garden update 06.15.10

I love this photo — it epitomizes our little balcony garden. One lovely delicate poppy framed by the concrete floor. The garden is going like gangbusters — I'm so happy with it. We learned a lot last year and have had some happy accidents along the way.

My resident basil farmer is very pleased with this year's crop (left) — even while we're still eating pesto from last year! The spinach we grew was very short-lived, so I pulled the stalks that were already going to seed and threw some nasturtium seeds (right) into the box where it had been. They're one of my favorites and I can't wait for the blooms.

The tomato plants are lookin' good…

Carrots and scallions are just about ready…

The lettuce is a heat-tolerant variety and just keeps on coming! And the peas…

Oh yes, the peas. Last year I harvested exactly eight pea pods. 8. I saved most of them to plant again this year and it's an entirely different story this go round. We are in pea-city! I've been battling a little powdery mildew, but the peas keep on coming!

I wanted to give you donuts, but all I have are …

Whoa is me, the butter is frozen.

I've barely been able to get a full meal on the table this week and haven't shared a single recipe with you yet. I said I would. All morning long I was stewing about it and finally I knew just what I would make for you: doughnut muffins. I haven't had many recipes jumping out at me, begging to be made lately. But this one was softly, quietly calling my name. Doughnut muffins. I knew the ingredients are mostly basics that I would have on hand and felt I owed it to you to bake up a batch. I raced home this afternoon to make them just for you, lickety-split. But…

The butter — all 12 tablespoons of it — is frozen.

And so I give you … peas.

Inspired by Jen of Indie Fixx's post over at Craft, I put together a makeshift trellis for our snap peas last night. You can find full instructions here. I used some twigs I found around the yard and tied it all to our balcony. Voila! Instant trellis.

So just know that I have been thinking of you and, tomorrow, for you: doughnut muffins. It'll be Friday and it will be worth it!

Garden Balcony Update 04.27.10

Lettuce and first radish of the season

There is a definite chill in the air today, but nonetheless, the sun is out and the balcony garden continues to grow. I ate my first radish today and had chives in my omelet. There is plenty of spinach just ripe for the picking. See? You really can grow some food for yourself — even in an apartment!

Snap peas

Spinach

Our strawberry plant came back from last year —
in a window box — and is showing its first little flower.

The poppies are growing like crazy. I keep thinning them, but can't keep up!

Radishes and carrots share a half bushel basket.

Chives and dill.

Okay, so I didn't grow the chives myself. I was at Tollgate Farm in Novi recently and the chives were crowding out the walkways in the vegetable garden and creeping into every bed. A kind soul took pity on me and plopped a whole bush of them in a pot and — voila! I have a huge gallon of chives. Yippee! What are you growing at home?

The ultimate microgreen salad

Last year I wrote about my difficulties with thinning plants out effectively. I know, ridiculous. I'm issue-ridden over sprouts. But there it is. My friend, BE, sympathized and told me that she leaves hers on the lawn for the rabbits. But being in an apartment complex, we don't have a whole slew of rabbits — or lawn for that matter. This year, I vowed to harden myself and yank away at the little buggers. Then it came time and I waffled. So I came up with a better plan: we would have the world's microest of microgreen salads. I felt much better about pulling them out knowing they would be eaten, even though I knew all along that I was giving the other little plants a better chance of growing up to be big and tall and healthy. Parsley, cilantro, dill, spinach, radish and wee little lettuce sproutlets — roots and all, with a couple rings of scallions thrown in for good measure. No dressing required. I highly recommend it.

Garden balcony update

Hello! Summer is flying by and as you can probably tell by my lack of posts, I've been swamped getting ready for a full round of fall craft shows. I thought I would check in with everyone with a small garden update. Let me say, I'm pleased as punch.

1. The Corn

The ears are still a bit small, but growing away.

2. The Basil
After our latest harvest of 22 cups, the boy's new dream is to be a basil farmer. This is all from one window box! It quickly became pesto that should last us through the winter.

Pesto
3 cups basil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic
Throw all in the blender and puree. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Jalapenos
We've harvested one jalapeno so far, but after the short heat wave we had a few weeks back many more have sprouted. There are now about seven or eight coming along.

Stay tuned for another cucumber soup recipe — it's chillin' in the frig right now, so I'll post it when I can. If it's not before the weekend, cheers and have a great Labor Day!

Balcony garden update…

As promised, here is a brief balcony garden update:

Basil. It grows leaps and bounds every hour. The boy has found his calling: basil farmer. Acres and acres of basil. Imagine the amazing smell wafting in the breeze. We've harvested several large colanders full so far with no end in sight.
We have corn people. Yes, it has emerged, and again, growing like gangbusters. We planted two bushel baskets of silver queen and one is thriving, the other got beat down by the wind, I think, and is drooping like crazy. But several of them have the beginning of buds… yippee! One day we will have at least two wee little balcony-grown corn cobs. Can't wait.

Zinnias are my favorite, so we did some mini ones and they are up and blooming like mad. Had bountiful bibb lettuce, but that's about done. Carrots… haven't done so well. Radishes were a hti, though they are about finished up, too. Mint. Can't get enough of the mojitos we've been having. Next year, an even bigger pot for it, I'd say. Several more snap peas showed up unexpectedly. All in all, great success in the garden. May do some spinach plantings for fall… but now, I'm off to water. Ciao!