The Little Balcony: Recipes

'The Little Balcony' idea was always about eventually creating a cook book, and as I've been writing about my experiences in growing the ingredients that appear in recipes I love to cook, I've also been sharing these with you. Here is a quick guide to all the recipes I've been using, from the home grow vegetables, herbs and fruit that I've been growing:

Basil

Preserves: Infused Oils
Leftover Pesto (coming soon)

Cabbage
Cabbage & Leftover Vegetable Soup (coming soon)

Chili

Preserves: Infused Oils

My Sisters Spicy Tomato Soup

Linguine & Chargrilled Veg in a Passata Sauce
Chilli Jam (coming soon)

Courgette
Linguine & Chargrilled Veg in a Passata Sauce

Cranberry
Cranberry & White Chocholate Cookies (coming soon)

Garlic
Homemade Bolognese Sauce (coming soon)

Onion
Preserves: Easy Tomato Chutney
Homemade Bolognese Sauce (coming soon)

Tomato

Preserves: Roasted Tomato Passata

My Sisters Spicy Tomato Soup

Preserves: Easy Tomato Chutney
Linguine & Chargrilled Veg in a Passata Sauce

Strawberry
Homemade Fruit Icelollies (coming soon)

Sweetcorn
Homemade Popcorn (coming soon)

Readers Feedback

@little_balcony check out our garden in Jersey City, NJ.. Toms, cucumbers, peppers... yfrog.com/klv1ywtj

BlueFishBaker - Via Twitter (Sept 2011)

'@little_balcony awww strawberries! yum!'

fred_mckenzie - Via Twitter (July 2011)

'@little_balcony time to start feeding then...'

PopupGardener - Via Twitter (July 2011)

'Awesome blog, LL. I just started a balcony garden myself! I'm def trying some of this stuff out.'

BlueFishBaker - Via Twitter (July 2011)

'I think u should come to mine a plant stuff in and look after my garden loving ur little balcony garden'

L. Shepherd - Via Facebook (July 2011)

Daily Garden Tips

Tip One: Use soapy water in a spray bottle to kill greenfly on fruit and vegetables, use 5-6 drops in a 500ml bottle, mix together and spray.

Tip Two: Natural Insect Repellent on your plants, mash several garlic cloves into paste, and then mix the paste slowly into a gallon of water. Let your water season for half a day, strain the garlic pieces out, and then spray your plants for a natural insect deterrent.

Tip Three: Control Slugs by creating a Slug beer trap. All you need is a saucer of beer and then place this around the plants so they can't get to them.

Tip Four: Old ice lolly sticks are perfect for labelling plants, just eat the lolly first.

Tip Five: Hang old CDs amoung crops and from fruit trees to scare away birds

Tip Six: All plants should be well watered during the summer months. Watering is best done in the evening or early morning, using recycled water whenever possible and may be required at least twice a day during very hot days.

Tip Seven: Chili Plants should be watered very little and fed once every two weeks with a little tomato feed. A little help with pollination may also be needed, use a small paint brush to tickle the inside of the flowers or place outside during the day.

Tip Eight: To help encourage tomotoes to ripen and to give them a little bit of sweetness, add a teaspoon of sugar to feed.

Tip Nine: Use old egg / fruit cartons or toilet rolls as seed trays. Once planted out they will decompost in a few weeks, leaving less waste.

Tip Ten: For shaded plants that need a little extra sun, cover some cardboard with aluminium foil, to create a light reflector.