My Sisters Spicy Tomato Soup

When I told my family about the Cook Book I wanted to create, they started to come up with a few recipes I could use, with ingredients we all grow in our gardens. My twin sister Lisa came up with this Spicy Tomato Soup recipe, which she loves to make and as we all always have a ton of Tomatoes, this is idea for the book.

I did have to tweak the recipe a little, swopping chicken stock for vegetable and chorizo sausage for kosher sausage, as my boyfriend is Jewish and we keep a kosher home, but these were just small changes and I'm sure it'll taste just as good.

                                                       Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

For the soup I firstly added the olive oil, Onion, Garlic, Ginger & Chili and heated till they became soft, stirring occasionally. The cumin and sausage were then added and cooked for a minute or so, the Tomatoes, stock and salt & pepper were then added and all brought to a boil. The mixture was then simmered for 20 minutes, taken off the heat and left to cool over night. I then blitzed the ingredients to a texture I wanted, poured into sealable bags and put into the freezer for a later date. Alternatively this can be eaten and enjoyed straight away, with a little bit of cream if need be.

                                                       Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

Spicy Tomato Soup
x12-15 Tomatoes
x1 Large Onion
x2 Garlic Cloves
x2 tsp Ginger
x1 tsp Chili Peppers
half tsp Cumin
2 & half Cups Vegetable Stock or about 450 ml
x3 tbsp Olive Oil
Chorizo Sausage or Kosher Sausage
Salt & Pepper
(could add bell peppers too if want)
Cream if needed

Pour & Store Bags

Garlic & Onion Sets Planted

Last weekend I took the opportunity to get out onto the balcony and started planting the over wintering Garlic and Onion Sets. First I did a little tidying up, mainly getting rid of all the Aubergine plants, which I've given up on, I ended up with a lot of flowers, but no Aubergines themselves. I also potted up the Serrano Chili plant and the Pepper (Sweet) plant that I had in the large tub hanging over the balcony, so once it gets a bit colder I can take these indoors.

                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

This left me with five tubs I could plant into, two tubs hanging over the balcony and three large pots on the balcony floor. I gave the soil in each of the pots a good mix around to loosen it up. I then flattened the soil down to make sure it was tight and compressed and then I used my new Dibber to create shallow drills to place the Early Purple Wright Garlic and Radar Onion Sets in the soil, covering each of them so that their necks are just popping out from the soil, and with a 10cm gap between each bulb.

                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

In total I have planted two tubs of Garlic and three tubs of Onion Sets, all the Garlic was used up, but I still have a few Onion Sets left over. As a little added protection for the bulbs which are in the tubs hanging over the balcony, I've placed several canes into the soil and stretched some of the netting I used to protect the Strawberries over the top of the tubs, just as a deterrent to stop the birds from picking at them. I then gave them all a good watering and now I just have to wait.

The Big Winter Clean Up

The Big Winter clean up has been going on for a few weeks now; I've just about stripped the balcony of all the plants I have been growing. My handy new Secateurs and Pruning Knife have been put to some good use, during this time.

The first to go was the Baby Sweetcorn stalks; these did get pulled out as soon as the Sweetcorn was picked. Moneymaker and Gardeners Delight Tomato plants, which were starting to look a bit on the dead side, along with the Courgette plants were next, I only ever got one Courgette in the end, but next year I'll hopefully get a better crop. After that went the Aubergine plants, now they did flower a lot but much to my disappointment, no much else, like the Courgettes I will have another go next year.

                                                          Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

Other things done during the clean up included, repotting the Strawberry Runners which are now snug in the Mini Greenhouse and also potting up the Serrano Chili plant and Pepper (sweet) plant that I had in a shared tub hanging over the balcony, hopefully once it gets colder I can take these indoors and try to keep these for next year. The Pepper (Sweet) plants still have peppers on, which are just starting to turn red.

And last but not least the Mini Greenhouse has also gone up and it's now outside, not only does it contain the potted Strawberry Runners, but I've also potted up some Cabbage and Carrot seeds. The whole place has had a bit of a clean and alls I have to do now is cover up the Strawberry hanging baskets and a few of the other plants with fleece and we are ready for the snow, that’s if we get any this winter.

Preserves: Easy Tomato Chutney

As I still have a lot of Tomatoes left to eat, I wanted to make some sort of a Chutney and as I've never made this before, I started to do some research into the many different types that can be made, when I came across the below recipe on the 'Good to Know Recipes' website:

Easy Tomato Chutney

1kg (2¼lb) Ripe Tomatoes of any variety or size
3 Red or White Onions, peeled and chopped
2-3 Cloves Garlic, peeled and crushed
200ml (7fl oz) Red Wine Vinegar
175g (6oz) Soft Light Muscovado Sugar
1 level teaspoon Ground Ginger

Sterilised Jars and Waxed Discs

I used both Moneymaker and Gardeners Delight Tomatoes for this, but any ripe tomato will do. The recipe is simple you just add all the ingredients into a large heavy-based pan, bring to a boil slowing, stirring occasionally to help the suger dissolve. Once this is at a boil, the mixture can then be left to simmer for one and a half hours, or more, stirring occasionally until the mixture becomes thick and jam like.

                                                       Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

I then sterilised several jars, in boiling water for around an hour and then left these to dry out on the drainer. Once the mixtures was ready, this was spooned into the jars, sealed and left to cool down. Labels with the date of when I made these were stuck to the jars, as these then needed to be stored away for a month before eating. Once open they should be consummed within 3-4 months.

The End of the Tomatoes

October is now with us and I've been busy collecting all the remaining Gardeners Delight and Moneymaker Tomatoes I've been growing over the summer. Due to the lovely hot spell we had at the end of September, the last of the Tomatoes I though wouldn't ripen, have and last weekend I spent sometime pulling all the plants out which have now started to die away. Leaving room for the Garlic and Onions to be planted.

                                                                     Photo: Laura Lunt  Photo: Oct 2011

Re-potting Strawberry Runners

Over the last few months I've been carefully looking after the Strawberry Runners, that were taken from the mother plant. These have come on very well and after checking their roots, which had developed really really well, it was time to re-pot and store away for the winter.

I took some 30cm pots and added each of the four developed Strawberry Runners into these with multi-purpose compost, then watered. They are now ready to be placed in the Mini Greenhouse over winter.

                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Oct 2011

Preserves: Infused Oils

Creating Oil Preserves has always been something I love to do, but this can be a very sensitive area, as I've read that flavored Oils should only be kept for a certain amount of time, so normally I only create small amounts that I use within a few days. Having recently purchased the book 'Preserves: River Cottage Handbook No.2', by Pam Corbin, I found some great tips and ways to keep Oils for longer, so I thought I'd try some.

One of the best ways to keep Oils longer is to make sure the bottles are sterilised, for this I added the bottles to a pan with lukewarm water in and slowly brought this to boiling point, once the water is boiling I removed this from the hob and left the bottles in the water till needed. This does take sometime, but another way to achieve this is to simple put the bottles in a dishwasher and wash as normal, once done leave to dry on a drainer for when you're ready add the Oil and flavor.

The Chili Oil with Black Peppercorns was my boyfriend Zac's idea and for this he decided to use his Thai Dragon Chilies, which he has been growing over the summer, but any Chilies are fine. We heated Extra Virgin Olive Oil up (as this was all we had Oliver Oil should really be used) to a simmering boil, added the Thai Dragon Chilies, with a cut through each chili and the Black Peppercorns into a bottle and then carefully poured the Oil into the jar using a funnel, locked the lid and left to cool down and infuse.

The Basil and Garlic Oil didn't require the Oil to be heated, so we placed three peeled whole Garlic Cloves and a small sprig of Basil into a bottle before funneling the Extra Virgin Olive Oil into the bottle; again this was closed and left to infuse.

I also had a small bottle which I normally use for creating small batches of flavored Oil, for this I added the leftover heated Oil to dried Chilies I had in the cupboard from last years Chili plants.

                                                                                   Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Sept 2011

Thai Dragon Chili Oil with Black Peppercorns
x1 500ml Swing-Top Preserving Bottle
x3 Thai Dragon Chilies (fresh)
x10-12 Black Peppercorns
Olive Oil

Basil & Garlic Oil
x1 500ml Swing-Top Preserving Bottle
x3 Cloves of Garlic
x1 Small Sprig of Basil
Olive Oil

Chili Oil
x1 Small Bottle
x6 Small Chilies (dried)
Olive Oil

These should then be left to infuse for 14 days, sieved of there content, re-bottled and enjoyed, storing in a cool place and used within 6 months.

Poor Growing Aubergines

Part of creating 'The Little Balcony', was that I wanted to grow vegetables I'd never tried before, so the Aubergine was one of these and I thought it would be a great challenge. I started these off at the same time as most of the other vegetables, but I did have some difficulty with them growing at first, so I placed glass jars (my homemade Cloches) over them during the coolers months of the first part of the year and this did help them to survive, but their growth was still very slow.

                                                                                  Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2011

After months of watering and feeding, they start to grow steadily stronger and by July they were around 20cm tall and looking healthier every day. Finally after much waiting the first flower arrived which meant the vegetable would follow soon, but much to my disappointment, this did eventually die away and fall off the plant.

                                                                                  Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: August 2011

Its now mid September and even thought there are more flowers appearing on all the plants (I have four), due to the cold nips of weather we are starting to get, I'm not holding out for any fruit this year. I have learned a lot from this experience and like my Courgettes, which so far has only produced one vegetable, I will be planting these again next year to see if I can grow them better.

Winter Veg - Arrived and Ready to Plant

All the Winter Vegetables I'm going to attempt to grow this year, have now arrived from Mr Fothergil's and as a little added bonus, they also sent me two free packets of seeds, which they do with every seed order, this is what I have:

                                                                       Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Sept 2011

Early Purple Wright Garlic x2 buds
Radar Onion Sets x250g
Cabbage Advantage F1 Seeds x100

Free Seeds: Pepper (hot) Hotscotch & Mimulus (extra choice mixed)

I'm looking forward to planting these all out in the next couple of months, which will hopefully mean I'll have some great early Vegetables at the beginning of next Spring.

More Harvesting

Its been a busy time for 'The Little Balcony', I've been harvesting even more vegetables including both Gardeners Delight and Moneymaker Tomatoes, Red Chilies including Inferno and Thai Dragon and all the Baby Sweetcorn, which I may have left a little too late to pick as the kernels are very hard, but I may just try to make popcorn out of this, if not the birds will be getting a treat.

                                                          Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Sept 2011

These plenty more Tomatoes currently rippening away outside, which I'll be turning into a great sauce to store away and use over the winter months, as well as some great chutney and I have a great recipe for chili jam which I'll be using the Chilies for.

Of course all the recipes will be in the cook book.

First Courgette & Gardeners Delight Tomatoes

I've finally managed to grow a fully formed Courgette. After loosing the first two, which for some reason decided not to develop, I noticed over the last week that I had one which had managed to grow to around 10cms and this was picked this morning along with a batch of Gardeners Delight Tomatoes, which have been slowly been turning red for the last 10 days or so.

                                                                     Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: Sept 2011

Strawberries Over Winter

I've been a little puzzled about what to do with my Strawberry plants over the winter months, as most Strawberry plants have a life cycle of 3 to 4 years and as Strawberries are perennial plants, so will die back and re-grow the following year, I wondered if the harsh winters we have would effect them much. After a little research and some advice from the gardeners on the UK Veg Gardeners website, I've come up with a plan.

Last night I headed out onto the balcony and began to remove the netting and homemade brackets I made to hold the netting up, I then removed all the straw from inside the baskets, which has been protecting the Strawberries while they grow and I also started to cut off all the old withering or dead leaves. There were a few Strawberry runners still trying to establish from the mother plant, one of these was ready to be removed, which I did, but the other two still needs a little more time, so these have been left on.

As to what happens next, for now I've left the baskets hanging where they have been all summer, but once the weather starts to get a little colder, I'll remove these and place them in a sheltered place from the bitter wind and any snow we may get this winter.

One of the things I did read about is that Strawberry plants can also be covered with mulch (normally for ground plot based plants), straw or cloche's (poly tunnel, plastic or glass jars, fleece etc...) for a little added protection. As I have a lot of straw and I'm also planning on buying some cloche's for other delicate plants, I may also do this just to make sure they get through the winter safely.

Red Tomatoes - Gardeners Delight

Having come home from being away this bank holiday weekend, I popped on to the balcony to check how the vegetables were doing and I spotted my first Gardeners Delight Tomatoes turning red.

                                                                                     Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: August 2011

The End of Summer

Today is officially the last meteorological day of Summer and The Little Balcony has had some good and bad times during this growing season, with plenty more still happening.

But I'm looking forward to my winter growing, for early spring / summer next year and I can't wait to start exploring new Vegetable and Fruit ideas that I may have in store for next years Balcony.

Eating Peppers (Sweet)

When I got home last night, I started to prepare for dinner, thinking I'd cook a nice Stir-fry and I suddenly realised I had no Peppers (Sweet). Then I remembered the two Peppers that have been growing away on the balcony and I popped outside with a knife, chopped them off the Pepper plant and headed inside to clean and cook them.

                                                        Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: August 2011


The Peppers (Sweet) I used were Californian Wonder free from the Garden Kitchen magazine, when picked they were around the size of tennis balls and tasted delicious in the Stir-fry.

What to Grow over Winter?

Autumn / Winter growing has always been a mystery to me. I normally just leave the balcony bare and wait for February to come before planting seeds for the summer. But this year I have a few ideas about what to grow, normally I'm not a great Winter grower, but I've been researching some vegetables that can be grown over the Winter months, for early harvesting in May / June.

I decided on the selection of vegetables in the table above. For me Onions and Garlic were a must have, I've gone for Onion Radar Sets and Early Purple Wright Garlic Bulbs (soft neck), both easy to grow and won't bolt in the winter months, so I should get a good growth. It was pointed out to me that Onions can be planted in early March and still arrive June / July time, but I'd like to try these over winter and I will save some for planting in March just in case disaster strikes.

During my research I also found that Winter greens were good to plant, such as Spring Cabbage, Pak Choi and Leeks, now I'm a little late with the planting of my Elefant Leeks (this should have been done last month, as the packet states) but as I'm growing from seed in a propagator indoors, I'm hoping this will help give them a good start. The Pak Choi seeds, free from Garden Kitchen, have been planted straight outside and have replaced the earlier pulled carrots from their pot. These were just sprinkled into the pot, covered with a layer of compost and watered well. The Spring Cabbage I've gone for is Cabbage Advantage F1 seeds, these are good for planting all year around, from March to September, so I should be able to keep a very good supply going.

I also had some leftover Onion (Spring) White Lisbon Winter Hardy seeds, which can be planted up till September and will stand over winter so they can be used in Spring. The only thing left to sow in the propagator is of course the Carrots, I've opted for the Carrot Early Nantes 2 another variety that should have been sown in July, but fingers crossed, they should be fine in the propagator and hopefully I'll have some ready for Christmas time.

As I only have a small Balcony, I'm hoping this will be enough to see me through and keep me busy during the Autumn / Winter months and hopefully I'll have plenty to harvest, leading up to the Summer seed planting I'll begin in February.

Outdoor Peppers

Normally I'd grow my Peppers indoors on a sunny windowsill, along with the Chilies, but they don't seem to really produce a lot of Peppers, so this year I decided to plant them outdoors. As like most things these plants started life as seeds. They were planted in the propagator in early February like all the others and left to germinate.

                                                                     Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: June 2011

Once they got to a good handling size, they were potted into small pots and left to grow to around 10-12cms on a sunny south-east facing windowsill and watered regularly. These were then hardened off, during the day outside and brought in during the night chills, during March / April.

Peppers I've always found are easy to grow just like Chilies and as like, over the many years I have grown these, they grew very quickly again this year. The three Pepper plants have been outside now since mid April, when they were repotted into their larger final pots. These contained multi-purpose compost and water crystals and have been watered at least once a day and feed every 10-14 days, once flowers appeared.

                                                                      Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: August 2011 
Due to the restriction of their pots they have grown to no more than around 30cm and have been flowering for some time now. Along with the flowers I also have at least six Peppers growing, on two of the plants, which are almost the size of golf balls and are a luscious deep green colour.

Slow Growing Courgettes

Another vegetable I've never grown before is the Courgette, I eat my fare share throughout the year, so I though I may as well try to grow some. The seeds for these came free with the garden magazine 'Grow Your Own', which I did plant a little late in the season around March-April. These were put into small pots filled with Multi-purpose compost, watered and then placed straight outside in a tray which could be topped up with water easily. I did tend to bring these inside during the night, as I felt it may benefit them and it also helped to harden them off as they grew.

 

                                                                     Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: June 2011

I was surprised that they grew very quickly, I only grew four plants, as I'd decided to place then in one of my plastic circle planter bags, and four seemed the ideal amount. As I used quiet large pots 10-12cm pots, I kept them in these till they started to grow out of them and the roots could be seen appearing through the bottom. I then re-potted them in the planter bag, which also contained multi-purpose compost and the usual water crystals, and watered well. The Courgettes plants from this point on have been watered everyday and feed every two weeks with tomato feed.

These grew very well and seemed to thrive on the balcony, the flowers started it appear, but by mid June / early July, I still hadn't seen any Courgettes emerging. A little concerned I did some research on a few garden websites and found that Courgettes tend to grow male flowers first and later, when pollinated, the female flowers will emerge with the vegetables underneath. So I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

                                                                      Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2011

It's taken a few weeks, but now in early August I think I spotted my first Courgette growing, while out watering the balcony earlier this week.

Pulling Carrots

The time has come, tonight I pulled up the Carrots that have been growing since February. After pushing away some of the dirt surrounding the Carrots to check that they had turned orange, I then slowly pulled one of the Carrots to check it had grown correctly. I was so excited to find they had and then slowly and carefully pulled the rest out.

                                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: August 2011

This is the first ever batch I have grown and I chose a small variety just to see if I could grow these in a pot on the balcony. After I pulled these, the Carrots were then washed and the green leaves cut off, I can't wait to cook these and see how they taste.

I already have a new variety ready to start sowing for the winter.

                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: August 2011

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The Creation of the Cook Book

The idea behind The Little Balcony blog came from the idea that I wanted to create a cook book. I love cooking and I have so many recipes cut out of magazines, scribbled down ingredients from TV shows I've seen. Not to mention the small collections of cook books I already own, some of which hold some of my most favorite dishes, which I've adapted over the years to my own tast.

But also being a keen and not so adventurous vegetable gardener, usually only tomatoes, herbs, chili and peppers and the odd strawberry plant. I though I might see how hard it was to grow more exciting fruit and vegetables and use these in the recipes I had started to put together for the cook book, from the large selection I'd collected over the years and the many recipes my mother has taught me.

Having only a small balcony I knew this would be a challenge, but I started to buy the 'Grow Your Own' garden magazine, plus others, which sometimes come with free seeds, as well the RHS book 'Vegetables in a Small Garden' and I started to put a plan together to see which fruit and vegetables were suitable to grow in pots, planters and hanging baskets and this is how The Little Balcony blog and cook book started.

Now I can't take credit for the name, this came from my boyfriend Zac, but all the balcony garden planning and growing I have done, except the chilies. Having decided to create a book, I did a lot of research on creating your own book and remembered a friend had done this with a website called BLURB, I registered with them. I then spent sometime looking at other peoples designs on the site and decided I wanted to create a cook book of easy recipes that could be cooked any day of the week and would appeal to everybody.

Slowly I started to create a list of dishes and before I knew it I had nearly 40 recipes, ranging from starters to deserts as well as jams, dressings and drinks and all of which contain ingredients that I could grow on my balcony. I also started to develop a strong idea of how I visually saw the book. Now I'm not going to give too much away, but the ideas for the page designs slowly came to me, so from having an idea of what I wanted to appear on the pages I started to plan what I could grow and recorded this through this blog.

How to raise new Strawberry Plants from Runners

As you know my Strawberry plants came from Strawberry runners that I bought, in May of this year. As the plants have grown, matured and started to produce fruit, I've noticed one has sent out a new runner stem from its parent plant.

Now I'm not really sure when new plants should be created, I found one site that suggested September - October time, but as we're half way through July and I already have runners coming through, I'm already trying to raise new plants. As instructed by many garden advice websites, I've put well watered multi-purpose compost into some small pots and have placed the Strawberry runner stem on top of this, making sure its touching the soil, so roots are able to grow downwards. Sometimes a U-shaped staple or piece of wire can be used to hold this in place.

                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2011

Currently my Strawberry plants are in hanging baskets, so I've come up with an inventive way of attaching the pots with sting to the basket. The string has been wrapped around the edge of the top of the pot, tired off and then looped over the top, making sure that the string is also looped through the hanging basket, before being tired off again to the string around the pot. With the help of the protective netting and/or wire, the stem has stayed in place and enabled the roots to grow into the pots.

Once these have established and have become a lot stronger, I will cut of the stem to the parent and leave them to grow into new health plants.

Baby Sweetcorn Buds

Having just been out to check on the vegetables tonight and to give them a good water, I've just noticed the Baby Sweetcorn is finally starting to come through. So far these around three buds growing, one on each Sweetcorn plant.

                                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2011

Carrots All Year Around

Known to be one of the easiest vegetable to grow, I thought I'd have a try at growing Carrots this year. Now as I noticed when I headed down to my local garden center, these a very large selection of Carrot seeds, all shapes, sizes and not always the traditional orange colour. As I've never grown these before I went for a small variety called, Carrot Atlas.

As with all of my other seeds, these were sown in mid February, in the propagator. Not really knowing how many seeds to sow as they are very small, I just added a small sprinkle to five of the sections in the propagator and hoped for the best. As the weeks went by small little shoots started to show, once they grew to a suitable handling length, around March / April, these were then planted straight outside into a tall pot of multi-Purpose compost, with water crystals added and were then well watered.

From this point on I just kind of left them to it. They do say you should thin these out, to stop the carrots growing too close together, I did do this a little but I found the weaker shoots tended to die off naturally and of course I've watered these at least every day if not every other day. Plus I've fed with tomato feed every 10-14 days.

                                             Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2011



We're now in mid July and they seem to have grown very well, my last look saw a count of around eight Carrots popping out, they have also just started to turn orange underground and I hope they will be ready to pull soon.

Winter Carrots - I've already been researching a winter Carrot variety that I can start planting in Mid Autumn, Carrot Nando Seeds, I'm hoping to order these soon and start prepping for Christmas Carrots for the family.

My First Batch of Strawberries

After much waiting, I've slowly been enjoying the first couple of batches of plump red strawberries, that have finally grown and were really for picking. Now I haven't had millions, but the seven I've cut down have been delicious and I have a few more starting to turn already, with many more growing. Below is batch one.

                                                                      Date: July 2011  Photo: Laura Lunt

New to Baby Sweetcorn Growing

When I mentioned to a friend I was growing corn, they seemed to think it would be impossible, now I did explain this was actually Baby Sweetcorn not your normal Corn on the Cob type, but they still seemed to have the opinion that it wouldn't grow as we don't get enough sun in England.

As like most of my seeds, the Baby Sweetcorn started off growing in the propagator in early February and once they grew to a suitable handling size, they were then, replanted in small pots and left to grow to around 10cms. These were then hardened off, planted and well watered into a larger pot on the Balcony.

As the months went by out of the five plants originally grown, only three survived, at first they needed a little support, so green garden sticks were carefully and loosely tired to the plants, but later were not needed, as the larger they became the less they needed this.

 

                                                                                   Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: June 2011

Not knowing really how to care for Baby Sweetcorn, I've treated them the same as my tomato plants and watered as much as possible, everyday if not every other day and also fed these with tomato feed every 10-14 days. So far so good as they've continued to grow and thinking they'd never produce any vegetables at all, after checking the top inside leaves last weekend, you can now see the corn developing.

Strawberry Runners for Beginners

Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits to eat and I always loved the summer, when my Mum would grow these. Last year I decided to grow two small plants I bought from a local garden centre in a hanging basket I had, they grew fine, but this year I wanted to grow more.

I opted for the Strawberry 'Alice' variety from Thompson and Morgan, these came as runners, now I had no idea what a runner was, so after some quick internet research, I sort of understood what these were and how to plant these, for when they arrived. Luckily when they did arrive in early march, they had long roots and I was able to plant them up straightaway in the hanging baskets.

I started with a fresh basket liner, then I added multi purpose compost with water crystals mixed into each of these and then planted 6 runners in each basket, three around the outside of the basket and three in the top of the basket. These were then given a good soaking of water and hung up on the sides of the Balcony.

                                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: June 2011

Within weeks they started to flourish, out of the twelve plants I only lost one, which isn't bad and once these started to grow to a substantial size straw was placed around the inside of the baskets and I created a bamboo bracket that I attached to the top of the basket wall bracket and then attached fruit netting to this, to protect then from birds.

As these continued to grow I did start to notice they were becoming covered with small green insects (aphids), again I when back to the internet had a little bit of a browse and found a homemade soapy solution I could use on these to get rid of them, see Tips of the Day section.

                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2011

Much to my delight we are now in the beginning of July and both of the baskets have produced a great first batch of Strawberries, which are currently turning a ruby red colour.

Chili Plant Madness

My boyfriend, Zac and I started to grow Chili plants last year, neither of us had ever grown these before, but as I started to prepare my other seeds, Zac decided he wanted to grow something also, so off we went to the local garden centre and as soon he spotted the Chili section, he decided that was his thing.

This year, we have grown Serrano Chilies from seeds, which a local Mexican restaurant were giving away and I also ordered the Chili Plant Collection from Thompson and Morgan which contained two plants, of each of the three fiery varieties Tabasco, Inferno and Thai Dragon.

                                                                       Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: July 2011

The Serrano seeds were planted in the propagator in late February, along with other seeds and were moved into larger pots once they germinated and reached 5cm to 6cm tall. As with the other plants they were hardened off, outside for around two weeks. Once the warmer summer days started they were planted out into larger pots and planters.

                                                                               Photo: Laura Lunt   Date: July 2011

The Chili Plant Collection arrived as small plants in late May; these were planted into a large trough with starter compost and are currently sitting on a south-east facing windowsill. Now in Mid June, the first flowers are beginning to appear and I'm looking forward to our first batch of Chili's for my famous Chili Jam recipe and our favorite Chinese / Thai dishes.

Tomato Plants for the Summer

I have been growing Tomato plants for around 5 years now. My first plants came from my mother, like me she always grows more that she needs, I remember taking them thinking 'lets try not to kill these' and within a few months I had lush red Tomatoes growing crazily in the small back yard, which I made into great Tomato sauces all summer.

Due to this success, the following year I decided to grow my own and I headed to the local garden centre to pick up some seeds. I never really know which brands or types to buy, so I tend to pick the types I get at the supermarket, such as plum and baby Tomatoes, which I've grown successfully year after year.

This year I've grown Gardener's Delight and Moneymaker varieties from seed (both collected from garden magazines). In late February I placed 2 to 3 seeds in two rows of my propagator, which all germinated very quickly and any unsuitable weedy plants were removed. Once they grew to a suitable 5cm to 6cm, these were transferred into small individual pots, placed in a tray which was kept topped up with water daily and left on a very sunny south-east facing windowsill. These were again left to grow to at least 15cm to 20cm in size and once the frost started to disappear, during April, they were taken outside during the day to harden off, but always brought back in and placed on the windowsill during the night.

                                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: June 2011

After hardening for at least two week, the plants were ready to be placed in their last growing place, a very large patio planter bag, filled with muti-compost and water crystals. Due to my large amount of Tomato plants (12 in total) only 6 of these were put into the planter and another six were placed into larger plant pots, all with small cane supports, which will be removed and given larger canes as the plants grow bigger. These have been watered at least every other day if not every day since being planted out.

                                                                                    Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: June 2011

It is now Mid June, the Tomato plants have grown to around 4ft and the first signs of flowers are just developing. I've been pinching out the small shoots that have been appearing between the branches and as a little added bonus I have been feeding the plants with Tomato feed, a few times, just to help encourage growth and this will now continue every 10-14 days, while the plants flower and grow the Tomatoes.

From Seeds to Plants

Having just moved into a new flat with a great size balcony, late last year, the preparation for this years crops started in early February. As normal I tend to sow far too many needs, which I prefer to do rather that buying small plants later on in the year, with the exception to Garlic, Strawberry runners and a very hot Chili plant collection, containing Thai Dragon, Inferno and Tabasco.

My little propagator has been well used over the years and always creates great results. This year it held: Carrots, Peppers, Serrano Chili's, Baby Sweetcorn, two varieties of Tomatoes (Moneymaker & Gardener's Delight) and Aubergines and small pots held Courgettes.

                                          Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: March 2011

I grew these to a suitable size, before re-potting into smaller pots, making sure each plant had sufficient water to keep growing. Around late April - early May I started to harden these off, by placing them outside during the day and bringing these back in at night. After a couple of weeks of hardening, these were planted out into larger pots / vegetables containers, using multi-purpose compose and as an added water helper, I added a small spoonful of water crystals, which will soak up water and release slowly.

                                           Photo: Laura Lunt  Date: May 2011

My Balcony is a south-east facing balcony, so it gets sun all morning into mid afternoon, but as a large part of this is covered I have to make sure that I water the plants daily.

The Beginning of My Garden 2011

Gardening has been something I've been interested in and dabbling in for many years. Living in London I've found it very challenging, as many of the places I've lived in, mainly flats with small balconies, are not ideal for growing fruit and vegetables. But with a little imagination and some research, I've managed to grow many things in very small places, in tubs, pots and hanging baskets.

My inspiration for this years garden, came from my idea to create a cook book. I wanted to put together a book of my favorite recipes, simple dishes containing foods I love to eat and all of which contain the fruit and vegetables I love to grow in my garden or my Little Balcony.

I've created this blog to follow the creation of my first cook book 'The Little Balcony: Cook Book' and along with it, how I've grown the fruit and vegetables which will be used in these recipes.