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