The Balcony Garden and the Move

Our move to D.C. started back in June, where I ventured alone to start my new job. I got an amazing job as a mother/baby nurse, but they wanted a June start date. We had not anticipated moving until August, and our house needed to be dealt with before we both were able to move. 

I spent the first six weeks of my time here in Woodbridge, VA with my husband's cousin and her roommate, who graciously offered me a bedroom and allowed Heidi to join me. I got to try about five ripened cherry tomatoes before our move, and had to leave the rest of my fully planted summer garden. 

July marked our 5th wedding anniversary, and my husband surprised me with a grocery bag full of tomatoes. He brought anything that looked like is was about to ripen. I was able to share some delicious tomatoes with my new housemates, and couldn't have gotten a more appreciated gift.

I brought along a sucker from one of my last Cherokee Purple seeds from Jeff at Our Engineered Garden. It went through a lot (including over 100 degree heat by being left in a car in PA during my move here). My husband also later brought our watermelon plants in a container, and my dwarf tophat blueberry plant. 

Planting my balcony garden was a pretty high priority with the move, and I had it seeded within the first week of our moving into our apartment in Alexandria. 

Here are some recent pictures of the garden:

So far, I've got my Cherokee Purple tomato plant, Zucchini, cilantro, radishes, green onions, garlic chives, blueberry plant, snow peas, spinach, and several types of lettuce.

Peas, lettuce, and spinach

I recently removed the watermelon plants from this bucket, and replanted with lettuce and spinach seedling which are making their appearance.

First pea blossom! (Strange to see a CAR in the background below the plants)

Romaine lettuce

Red Sails lettuce seedling growing on the left from Daphne at Daphne's Dandelions, radish seedlings on the right

The radishes (and hidden spinach and lettuce) in white planter near the railing had originally been in the other over-the-rail hanger, but with watering, it was bending the wires which had me too nervous to put it back. So until Spring, when Dollar Tree carries the other planters again, that side is going to be an empty eyesore. 

This is the first (and only) Cherokee Purple tomato to pollinate on my plant. I didn't think it'd happen after all that it has been through, but I'm excited to see it even though it probably won't have time to ripen before frost.

And here is the second salad we're going to enjoy from the balcony garden!

100th post and a Garden Update

It is officially my 100th post! I absolutely intended to get to this post before the start of 2012. Quite a bit late on that one... A lot of people do exciting giveaways and things like that when they hit these milestones. If I had something worth giving away, I would.  If I think of something, maybe I'll do one on a random day.

It was getting dark out when I ran outside to snag these photos. Sorry for the low quality.

Here are my scallions, red onions in the back right, Burgundy bush beans, radishes and lettuce that have come up. I planted a few more rows to the left of this area yesterday with cilantro, more lettuce, more radishes, and more beans, to try to stagger some of the harvest.

Tomatoes and peppers, yearning to be in the ground with more space.  After this weekend, they'll be planted. Tomorrow night's low is in the 40s, but I should be safe after that, and the plants are ready to be in the ground. I've got some blossoms on some of the tomatoes starting to form, and that's never happened before I put them in the ground before. I've been pinching off the ones I see.

My dwarf tophat blueberry bush getting acclimated to it's first of what will probably be several pots.

The lettuce and spinach growing down the center of the garden. I seeded several more feet of this yesterday as well. I love blending the red and green lettuces.  The red lettuce really doesn't get touched the way that the spinach does right next to it. 

Mammoth broccoli plants for April.  I did some clean up of most of the maple seeds since the last picture that was taken. They are just about 1.5 to 2 ft tall now. They're about a month and a half ahead, if not more, of what they were last year. I'm certainly not complaining. I love broccoli, and I'll love getting to use that space for pole beans when they're through!

 The broccoli has begun to shade the red lettuces planted around it. It's hard to even see the plants from this picture, but they're there!

My zucchini and yellow squash are growing so slowly, I decided to put some new seed in these pots to see if they do better. The seeds that are growing (slowly) are from a old packets.  The squash did so well last year in these pots, so I want to give it a second try. The last pot in that row is my garlic chives with some cilantro growing around the edges.

The peas growing up the fence behind the pots are doing well. Neither these peas, nor the snow peas have any blossoms yet, but it shouldn't be long!

Documentation Post.

 I took all these pictures several days ago (save a few at the end from today), and never got the chance to upload them. So here they finally are.  Completely random, but I know I'll want to look back next year, and see where the garden was this time of year, so this is more of a "documentation" post. It's incredible to me because I know how much growth I've seen even since these were taken!  We had had some "normal" temperatures this week, which shows me just how spoiled I've been. I've had to bring IN plants, something I haven't had to do for about a month!  Plants are back outside tonight though, with a low of 50, I think they're alright.

I had my first problem with rollie-pollies as we grew up calling them, pill bugs, sow bugs to others. I have never had a problem with them, but they absolutely destroyed my pepper plants! I may have about enough to not have to buy them from the store, but I may not even get off that lucky, and I planted over double of what I wanted to plant for myself!

This particular container I used to carry the plants did not have a full bottom to it, so one day I moved it when I saw several chewed up plants and they were swarming. Literally, swarming.  This container has stayed on the patio table after that incident, and they haven't seemed to sustain any additional damage, though I'm not sure many will recover. The other containers for my plants had a lip to them, and I think that's what kept them away from my others. 

New strawberry plants have taken. The old ones have fruit set already.

I looked through last year's blog, and my earliest FLOWER was April 11, this year they are already covered with growing berries!

Tomato and pepper seedlings, broccoli and peas

My broccoli is as big now as it was at the end of May last year (I got a pretty nasty freeze/snow just after planting last year)

Radishes and peas (the radishes have been incredibly mild flavored this year, and have really filled out nicely)

Alright, Granny-- you were right! Here's a carrot seedling!

Broccoli and lettuce -- I'll need to take an updated picture, broccoli plants are touching now, and we've had a full container worth of lettuce harvested since this photo. It made for two delicious salads, but I definitely forgot how long it takes to clean each individual leaf!

Tomato seedlings getting bigger! I've had some issues with what I think is nitrogen deficiency and have tried to keep them fed-- the new growth is really LIGHT green, almost yellow.

This picture shows how much my broccoli has grown since I planted it. This is an extra seedling that didn't get planted, and has pretty much stayed the same size as the plants were when I transplanted them. 

Zucchini seedling popping up in my buckets!

Radishes popping over the soil.

 One of my favorite things about early spring-- pea tendrils. I absolutely love how delicate they are, but are still intensely strong.

 Happy Birthday Heidi! She's 9 today!

Quick and easy way to gain the title "Messy Garden"-- Maple seeds  Sometimes it sounds like it's raining when the wind blows. They're almost finished falling, so it'll be time to clean them up soon!

Gardening in the Dark - Updated with Photos

This is probably a first for me. No pictures, not tonight anyway. Photos added 3/27. I did garden most of the day as well as in the dark tonight. I was hoping my dwarf Tophat blueberry bush would arrive today, and was sort of waiting on it to finish up my work, and it won't come until tomorrow now, so that meant I left a bunch of stuff out and just a bit more work that needed finished. I could have waited until tomorrow, but I got started on finishing up my newspaper pots and just went ahead and filled them by my back porch light.

Things accomplished today:

• Potting up of 81 tomato/pepper plants in newspaper pots
• Run to Walmart/Dollar Tree for more seeds, potting soil, fertilizer, and hanging baskets (I couldn't pass up a few packets of $0.20 seeds at Walmart... and I think I was short on pepper seeds anyway...
• Mixed potting soil with fertilizer
• Filled and planted summer squash and zucchini in my Dollar tree buckets from last year 
• Made remaining 25 newspaper pots
• Potted up remaining 24 tomato plants and 1 lone basil plant in the dark on the patio

I've been dreading the potting up stage. Partly because I do so many at a time, but also because, once again, I was late in making my newspaper pots so all of that had to be done at once.  My hubby helped out tons with the newspaper pot making last night, which was a welcomed first.

I know it's early to get those zucchini and summer squash started, but they worked so well in the buckets last year, and it's been so consistently warm. I noticed a few volunteer watermelon plants growing in the compost pile the other day, and found a squash of some sort (probably zucchini) that already has its first true leaves back in the turtle pen. I figured if they grew in nature on their own I could risk a few seeds now. The pots are portable too, so that means a trip to the garage or even the dining room if we get a temperature drop. I just about wrote "late" temp drop, but Spring has come so early, that I feel thrown off, it wouldn't be "late" it'd be normal.

Squash volunteer in turtle pen

Spinach seedling (excited with how much growth I have so far, spinach is not one I've had much success with)

Lolla Rossa lettuce seedling

Valerie lettuce seedling

Broccoli and lettuce

Snap peas, radishes, and the non-existent carrots

I feel like my tomatoes and peppers are "behind" because they are so small in this potting up stage (they do have a phosphorus deficiency at the moment, but that will clear up with the fertilizer and fresh soil...). Realistically they are way ahead, they are completely hardened off, seeing as how they have spent MAYBE two days inside at the very beginning. IT'S STILL MARCH. I have to keep telling myself that. 

Solomon on the compost pile

The turtles think Spring is in the air. There shouldn't be any shortage of fertile eggs (at least next year..), I'll just leave it at that. I'm wondering if there will be early egg laying... May 18th is the earliest Eleanor has ever laid. We'll see... 

Harvest Monday

Thanks for hosting Harvest Monday Daphne-- head over to her blog Daphne's Dandelions to see what others are harvesting!

A few of the things harvested in the past week!

Bell peppers and bush green beans

Funny zucchini (another unpollinated-- though it has seeds forming in the FLOWER... picture below), basil and another bell pepper

I promise, this blossom NEVER opened... I tore it open!

A handful of cherry tomatoes (Sweet 100, Sweet Million, and Sundrop)

I'm loving the start of the tomato season!