My balcony garden has been good to me and my family. I’ve been continuously harvesting and eating tasty fresh vegetables etc. from my garden. It is amazing that I can now prepare a salad with lettuce, cucumbers, red peppers and cherry tomatoes - all from my small garden.
Freshly made salad from my balcony garden
While I was away on vacation, my wonderful neighbor tended my garden - watering and reaping as needed. In this post, I will share harvests, garden woes and more.
Harvests
The weather was hot, there were some rainy days and all the plants flourished. When I returned, I saw red – but in a good way.
Tomatoes on the vine
I immediately harvested an abundant amount of cherry tomatoes, vegetables and herbs.
Cherry tomatoes are now picked daily.
I also picked these 3 lovely red peppers
from these healthy pepper plants which still have many green peppers. You might be able to spot a pepper ripening here.
Pepper plants in the sunlight
These plants came from seeds of a supermarket-bought red pepper. The outcome is a nice surprise.
After picking the red peppers, my husband was so impressed by their size and beauty, that he went to the balcony to check the plants and remaining peppers. He thought that they looked too wonderful to be home-grown.
Mini-cucumbers were picked as well and and there are still many young ones on the vines.
Mini-cucumbers picked and growing on the vine
.
The first cabbage was cut, it looked beautiful and felt firm;
whilst the beans flowered, started growing and a handful was harvested,
also a few red beets as well.
)
These mini-pumpkins are quite special. Why? Because I helped Mother Nature by performing self pollination. The bees did not seem to like the pumpkin flowers. They were too busy with the tomatoes. I am very happy that the 3 self-pollinated female flowers thrived. I was too eager to pick the first pumpkin. I should have waited until it was fully orange. Now it sits in the sun to continue the ripening process.
Garden Woes
Powdery mildew
This is a photo of the plants by the trellis of the table-garden. The leaves look lovely and green. However, on closer inspection – something else flourished not only the plants - Powdery mildew!! Oh no!!
It's on the pumpkin leaves and some cucumber leaves have yellow spots. The weather fluctuated a lot and there was no chance to control its outbreak as I was on vacation. I’ve sprayed the least affected leaves with this home-made solution. The worse affected leaves were removed.
During the early stages, powdery mildew will not affect the plant or fruit development as there is still green areas on the leaves. However, it is best that the issue is contained before entire leaves are covered, preventing the necessary photosynthesis.
Thrips
Strawberry illness
The continuous harvests were totally delicious and thoroughly enjoyed - from my 36 strawberry plants. However, some leaves are becoming brown around the edges.
This could be caused by a myriad of reasons, such as overwatering, pests, fungus, too much fertilizer etc. As a result, further investigation is required. To be on the safe side, these leaves were removed as establishing the real cause can be tricky. Pruning is sometimes good!
The joys outweighs the woes on my balcony!!
I am always happy when I walk over to my garden on my balcony.
My table-garden with recently sown romain lettuce, pak soi, red beets, parsley etc.
This is not a big deal for someone with a backyard, but my balcony has been a great source of not only veggies but joy. I am truly amazed and grateful.
With summer over in just a few weeks – I will continue to appreciate, savour and enjoy everything I reap from my little haven in the city.!!
🏡❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗
All photos are taken on my iPhone 6S
🏡❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗
I'd say you are living a gardener's dream! You have abundant and a variety of harvests there. Amazing!
!LADY
I feel truly blessed. Yesterday I took a bag of cherry tomoatoes to a neighbor - he had a shocked look on his face as he could not believe that they came from my balcony garden. I am happy that I have not had too many dramas. It has been a learnign experience though.
Thanks for the tip.
It is quite unbelievable that they are from your balcony so I can understand your neighbor's reaction hehe. Tomatoes are really generous especially when there aren't any bugs that bother them.
Thank you too and happy weekend :)
Same to you.
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This is my kind of salad, I love it, especially when it is newly picked.
Yes indeed and the taste makes the planting worthwhile.
OH my goodness - wow - what abundance, and those peppers are just perfect! I can't believe how good your vegetables are, even if you've had issues with thrips and powdery mildew!
Yes thank you @riverflows - it is truly amazing. I feel so lucky and blessed. My husband could not believe it. I have shared with neighbours and they feel the same. I think I am lucky with the seeds and soil and of course I give my garden lots of love.
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Very cool!
@bluefinstudios - The is some arugula in the salad as well. This was my last harvest of arugula. Earlier I had lovely radishes as well.
Wahoo🤭🤭🤭
This is amazing @momogrow
You have a wonderful garden and all the veggies are doing great. Hopefully, the strawberry illness will be investigated and taken care of. Your harvest has been yummy, imagine those fresh veggies, a healthy lifestyle on point 🥰
I also have a backyard garden but not doing so well as yours, I think I needed some manure to help it grow. However, I have made lots of harvests from it for my home use.
Seems what you people call pumpkin is different from ours here.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful post👍👏
Thank you @nkemakonam89 - it is a wonderful experience planting food which I consume- from garden to table. Sweet that you shared a photo of your son (assumption) in the garden. It is great that kids know where food comes from as well. Manure or compost is needed if the soil is depleted.
Regarding the pumpkin - I do not know another english name for it but it is possible that that name is used for other plants etc. elsewhere.
Yeah, that's my second son watering the veggies 🧡
Aww sweet!!
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