Re-potting and making a mess

Lemon Drop on the far left, Tigerella in the middle, tiny Poblano to the right

Three weeks after planting, the Lemon Drop chillies and the Tigerella tomatoes have grown enormously and need to be re-potted. The Poblanos, however, are taking their time. Only two tiny plants have appeared.

tools of the trade

So, after a quick trip to the local DIY store after work, carrying a bag of soil and a 10 kg book bag home on a moving bus (wearing heels!), I was ready to proceed. This is what I used:

• about two dozen biodegradable little pots which will stay with the plant once it moves into a bigger pot
• a tablespoon (to act as a mini shovel)
• good quality all-purpose garden soil
• and, of course, the plants!

 Ready, and eager to move to a new home! These little tomato plants desperately needed more space. Some of their roots had already become entangled.

 The difference in size between the tomatoes and the Poblano chillies is astonishing. I had planted them on the same day! But I haven't given up on my "chocolate chillies" yet.

The Lemon Drops, on the other hand, look a lot healthier than their cousins. It's (hopefully) going to be a hot chilli summer!

 After clearing my living room table and getting everything, including the camera and tripod, ready, my first-ever big re-potting session was about to begin. I was really scared of damaging the roots, they looked so small and fragile! But with the help of my trusty gardening book I think I managed quite well in the end. So here's exactly what I did:-

1. Fill the little individual pots with soil, up to about 1cm below the rim
2. Using your finger, make a hole in the middle of your soil
3. Loosen the soil around the plant with a spoon
4. Carefully move under the plant and lift it out
5. Put the plant in your pre-prepared hole, so that the roots are covered
6. Pat down the soil around the plant, topping up with more if needed, so that the plant is stable
7. Once you've finished re-potting all your plants, carefully water them. I actually used an old spray bottle which creates a fine mist rather than drowning my delicate seedlings in a torrent of water.
8. Put them somewhere sheltered, away from direct sunlight and water regularly! That's it.

 The result of an evening bent over my dining table: 15 Tigerella seedlings and 11 little Lemon Drop seedlings.

 An unholy mess! Soil everywhere :)

 With a bit of luck and lots of sunshine and care, these tiny seedlings SHOULD grow into tall plants full of delicious chillies and juicy tomatoes.

Of course, my balcony would not be able to cope with all these plants, so I've been spending the last week or so taking some to work and distributing them among colleagues, students and neighbours! :)

I think 2014 will be known as the year of the stripy tomato, the year I took dozens of plants on various trains round the Ruhrgebiet to distribute what my boss jokingly called the "Tigerenten-Tomate" (if you're German, you know what he was referring to, if not, look no further than here!)

For more information on the tomatoes and chillies I planted, look here:  Tigerella, here: Lemon Drop and here: Poblano. Have fun! :)

I'm off for a well-earned rest.

The Big Clean

The weekend was quite busy. A few weeks ago I started re-organising and cleaning the balcony, getting ready for the summer. But it was only after the end of a cold spell and enough rainfall to have me seriously considering building an ark that I was able to finish the big spring clean. After nagging the best boyfriend in the world for weeks about bringing his Kärcher, a fantastic high-pressure cleaning tool, we finally got to work last Saturday. And by "we" I mean him splashing around with the Kärcher and me pointing out the bits he'd missed. :) Delegation at its finest. So, after much shuffling around of incredibly heavy plant pots and the garden furniture, it was done and the result looks fantastic, if I may say so myself.

the herb corner

We moved all the herb boxes to the windowsill to create more room on the floor. "Tumbling Tom" in the hanging basket is coming along quite nicely. The enamel pot in the middle has now been filled with lamb's lettuce and the little bowl next to it with coriander. Now the herb/ salad corner includes:
 on the ground:

• sage (big flowering plant at the front)
• coriander
• lamb's lettuce
• chili (blue pot)
• mint (red pot behind the chili)

on the blue shelf:

•  basil
• chives
• oregano
• rosemary
• curry plant 

beautiful flowering sage

And on the windowsill:

•  lavender
• thyme
• garlic

I know I've also got radishes somewhere, let me know if you can see them! :)
Incidentally, the big climber at the back is a Tayberry, a raspberry x blackberry hybrid. Last year I managed to pick about three berries, I hope there will be more this year!

 There will definitely be a big redcurrant harvest again this year though! I'm looking forward to experimenting with redcurrant chutneys and jams once more.

redcurrants

Last year I bought about a dozen antique forks, knives and spoons on Ebay because I had seen pictures of silver cutlery being used as plant markers and I thought this was a fantastic idea.

Making use of my boyfriend's fully equipped tool shed and a complete lack of neighbours who might have complained about the noise, we used my newly-won silverware to produce some lovely plant markers ourselves. I think they look great amongst all the green, and after a year outside, the silver has aged rather nicely.

Of course, after so much hard work, we had to rest and recuperate! And what better way to relax after a long, hot day on the balcony than a nice BBQ? The day before I had picked my first home-grown (balcony grown!) courgette. So on the BBQ it went. :)

 Courgette, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic: delicious!

 And thus ended the first hot Saturday on the balcony.

The situation so far

This time last year I was taking my first, tentative steps into the world of gardening. Aided by my lovely, garden-mad boyfriend and fuelled by the desire to prove to myself that even I, a well-known plant killer, could successfully grow fruit and vegetables on a balcony, I set out to discover what it means to grow your own food. It turned out to be tremendous fun as well as hard work, but the experience of planting, waiting patiently (more or less!) for the first tiny seedlings to appear, to watching them grow and then to finally being rewarded with fresh juicy strawberries, hot chillies and multicoloured carrots was well worth it.

This season, I would like to build on this experience, try new plants, maybe plan the whole thing a bit more. I have already planted various different types of tomato and chili, the garlic is coming along nicely, as are the strawberries. As my balcony garden is growing I hope I can expand this blog and eventually include pictures, tips, recipes (I need to do something with all this fruit and veg that's been taking over my balcony after all!) and anything else gardening/ food related that I find.

My first serious attempt at growing vegetables from seed: tomato "Tumbling Tom Red" , a cherry tomato suitable for hanging baskets and a nameless courgette I was given. Fingers crossed!

 I planted them in a little greenhouse in my living room in mid-February, tried to remember to water them regularly and generally drove my long-suffering boyfriend mad by checking if they'd grown a bit more every five minutes. :)

Finally, last week I was able to put them outside on the balcony. It's been unseasonally warm so it didn't take long for the chili plant to join them. Now it seems that every time I look, there's something new out on the balcony!

The first courgette is almost ready as well:

Things are looking good. Now if somebody could turn off this incessant rain, that would be great. When I said I could do with a bit more rain I did NOT mean days and days of non-stop rain!