The third year dawns

So, a new year, at least in gardening terms, has dawned. Andrew and I ventured out onto the balcony today to clear the winter debris and get some veg, and fruit(!) planted.

We are now the proud owners of:

• an apple tree. In a pot, so maybe not a tree but it's an apple shrub. Looks very happy installed in the corner of the balcony.
• 4 long pots of salad and lettuce
• seed trays with: peppers, chilli, tomatoes, chard and courgette
• a tub of carrots
• two clematis
• two ivy
• more box tree plants that you can shake a sculpted shrub at

The potatoes are on their way from the seed supplier, and I'm poised to plant some more things in the coming weeks.

This is now my third year doing serious veg growing. Year 1 focused on tomatoes, hence the title of this blog. Then the second year ventured out into all sorts of veg. And now this year we're including fruit, and also thinking of trying more delicate plants like roses.

For some reason I'm really set on planting some onions and cauliflower! Next weekend is currently completely free so I think a visit to the garden centre is in order.

I love when it a plan comes together

As Phil remarked, 'it's all come together'. We cleared the decks, did loads of planting, and the annotated photo on this posts shows the full range of what we now have on the balcony. Can't quite believe it's all come together in a couple of months.

It was great to get the potatoes planted out today in their bags, the peppers into their pots, and now 4 chard plants in pots. The courgettes are flourishing although they have very weak stems, so I was a bit concerned to read on another blog that people get 40, yes, 40 courgettes per plant!

Also added a couple more lobelia to the window pots. Should be great when it's all trailing down over the top of the tomatoes. The lettuces are doing fine, but I think we're going to need a bit more salad and lettuces, so going to buy another two long pots to grow those in. And plant a couple more courgette seeds in case we have a stem snapping disaster.

Another addition to the blog - check out the planting calendar where I'll be adding all the things we've planted and when. Will be good to check back and see how long everything took to germinate / fruit.

To be in England

Oh, to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge -
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
- Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

By Robert Browning (1812-1889) , from "Home-thoughts, from Abroad".

Photo update - part II

Couldn't resist including some photos of the acer and the seedling peppers, chard, tomatoes, tarragon and basil. Trying to give them some extra light and warmth during the day, when the weather's good. Note the super straggly chard seedlings. Going to give them about another week and then consider re-sowing.

This is the acer which survived the hard Hamburg winter. -18c at the lowest point, and this pot was entirely covered in snow. I was convinced it was dead but with spring came the first little sign of life and now this! Quite miraculous.

Photo update

The new lemon tree enjoying the sun next to the carrot seedlings on the right, and salad and lettuce on the left. The carrots aren't visible here but are now just poking about the soil. Counted 10 tonight.

Salad leaves in the long pots I used last year. As with everything else just 2 weeks since sowing. Don't buy shop salad - this is so easier and will last the whole summer!

The aggressive climbing courgette, only two weeks from the point of sowing. Looking fantastic here in the tomato pots from last year.

The left corner of the balcony with, left to right, clematis, herbs, another clematis in the corner, and then 6 courgette plants. Some of the courgettes looking a little sorry for themselves while they grew accustomed to their new environment. (Don't worry, they had some helping twine today.)

Looking at all these photos makes me think about how much space we have left. We still have the chard, peppers, tomatoes, pea wigwam and 3 sacks of potatoes to fit in. The potatoes will go in next to the acer, which I'll post a picture of in a minute. The pea wigwam probably next to the carrots, and the peppers and tomatoes will probably have to fight for space with the courgettes in the sunniest spot. Actually, lettuces aren't great fans of sun, they might get moved round the corner with the potatoes, and we'll give the tomatoes and peas prime time sun position. This weekend is going to be buying big pots for the chard, creating wigwams for peas, and actually sowing the peas providing I can get hold of some seeds. And ... going to buy some long pots to hang outside the balcony to fill with trailing flowers. Phew!

Digging

The return to Hamburg has been a good one: the balcony has really come on and in my next post I'll be putting up a lot of Phil's photos. The good news is that everything grown from seed has sprouted (only one pepper seed though), and the seed potatoes and sacks are en route from the U.K. The only concern at the moment is the limp and leggy chard - advice much appreciated. The aggressive courgettes have been potted out to start climbing up the windbreak, and all the other balcony plants seem very happy, including the new member of the family, Phil's lemon tree. He's also ordered all of the kit for our veg blog live webcam. Not only will this be streaming live balcony video on this blog, but we're also going to try some time lapse photography to catch the summer in action. An odd blend of the back to basics grow your own food, and modern technology.

On a rather more romantic old fashioned note, as I was flying back this evening thinking about our potato crop, Seamus Heaney's wonderful poem came to my mind. I hope his publishers don't mind me sharing it here:

Digging

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun.

Under my window a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.

By God, the old man could handle a spade,
Just like his old man.

My grandfather could cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner's bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, digging down and down
For the good turf. Digging.

The cold smell of potato mold, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I've no spade to follow men like them.

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.

- from Death of a Naturalist (1966)

Tearaway courgettes

When Phil got back on his two day epic, something had stirred in the land of seeds.

The courgettes, in only 10 days from seed, had literally lifted up the top of the propagator. I don't think I've seen seeds accelerate like this before. Looks like climbing courgettes are going to be taking over the balcony this summer.

On other fronts: tomatoes, herbs and chard have shown through. Nothing to show on the carrots or pepper side yet, but the carrots are predicted to take 14 days. And it has been truly horrific weather in Hamburg.


Can't wait to get back and do some tendering.

Small spaces

Couple of small things to give an update on:

1. The garden is currently stranded as Phil and I are in the UK, awaiting volcanic ash to clear. Although Phil is going on a 2 day mission to get back and do some watering. Sterling effort.
2. I find this good book for balcony growers: this book
   

When I return to Hamburg I'll get posting photos and hopefully they'll be some sign of germination.

Thanks to Phylis for posting about side shoots. Look forward to getting lots more people posting about their vegetable growing exploits this summer. With the aircraft ban maybe grow your own is the only way out of the crisis?

Some hints about sideshoots

I grow tomatoes in Cheshire, some in the greenhouse and some outside on the patio. They usually go into pots the size of buckets, which means they can be moved around, often necessary to ensure they stay watered when I am not around.
No matter how vigilant I am hunting for sideshoots on my tomatoes, there's always one I miss. They even re-grow sneakily where I think I have already pinched them out. If I go away for a few days, there can be shoots several centimetres long, they grow at such a rate. But all is not lost. Instead of putting them all in the compost, I stick a few of the shoots into a glass of water and in about a week there are lovely little white roots, all ready for growing on. Free plants! They are particularly useful when the original plants are getting rather tired, as by then they are big enough to start fruiting. Last year I was able to extend the season for Sungella very successfully with a second generation and the cherry tomatoes Red Cherry grown from the shoots were still bearing heavily outside right until the frosts, though the taste was rather sharp and the skins tough. They were still useful cooked and pureed. Perhaps they were so small that they were still able to ripen despite the shorter days.
This year's plants, started on the windowsill in January, are coming along quite nicely, especially Legend and Marmande, but there is a long way to go to match the Hamburg crops.

The new season

We finished up last year's blog on August 11th. The tomato season had been a good one; plenty of sun on the balcony and a bumper crop throughout August and September supplying us with plenty of salads and roasted tomato soup. With all of the green tomatoes I had left over, and with the wintry nights drawing in, I decided to make Delia Smith's green tomato chutney. Pans, sourcing vinegar and a food processor caused a few problems, but we prevailed and ended up with 6 litres of chutney. 6 months on and the maturation process has done it's job. Delicious.

It's been a long hard winter here in Hamburg, but with the first glimpses of summer showing through, veg started to re-enter my thoughts. Phil's parents had very kindly bought me Vegetable Growing Month by Month for Christmas, so yesterday I browsed through and picked out some veg suitable for the balcony. We came up with chard, lettuce, salad leaves, rocket, courgette, peppers, tomatoes, peas and carrots. Although the limited garden centre didn't have everything, we found most seeds. Just potatoes and peas to source next weekend, and the peas have some time yet before they can go in.

So, 3 seed trays are sitting under the protective warm of the radiator. The carrots were planted direct into a new big pot. And as for the salad and lettuce: back in those trusty long boxes you saw last year. It's going to be a big gardening season...

2 pots - peppers

1 big pot - chard

2 pots - climbing courgettes

1 big pot - carrots

2-4 pots - tomatoes

2 long pots - salad and lettuce

1 medium pot - peas

The Colour of Passion

Phil and I have been away from the flat for a few days, and so the thought of tomatoes burning dry in the hot Hamburg sun has been preying on my thoughts.

But, the weather gods were kind over the weekend providing enough rain to cover the 4 days of non watering, and evidently enough sun to produce a surprise when I returned home this evening.

As you can see in the photo quite a few hit ripeness at the same time, on various plants. We now have quite a few gearing up to ripen so I think the next few weeks will bring a glut. They don't seem to have minded the rain or the wind too much although I've been trimming back the browning leaves on a regular basis. I thought this was probably tomato blight but Grandpa Jock's post makes me think it might be a bit of wind burn. Anyhow, with the plants focusing on fruit at the moment I'm not concerned about cutting back excessive leaf growth.

It has been a truly satisfying experience taking these from a packet of sutton seeds in a dorset garden centre to a tomato glut in Hamburg. Happy times indeed.

I also planted a few additional lettuce seeds on Friday, and they've already sprouted so we should have some fresh lettuce to accompany our tomato glut in later August.

Grandpa Jock's Guide to Growing Tomatoes

This is a guest post from Grandpa Jock (my Grandpa) who has been growing tomatoes at Deepwell in Somerset for as long as i can remember. Happy reading! Andrew.

General

Before you even start to grow tomatoes, you have to understand that they need constant attention through watering, feeding and ‘pinching out’ if you want a good crop. The variety of plant you choose is dependant on how much space you have to grow them: the larger varieties need height (about 4 feet) to fully develop, though you can ‘pinch off’ the tops to restrict upward development. If you are tied to a ‘window-box’ or restricted area, bush varieties are probably best.

Starting Out

If you have the time and patience, perhaps the best way to grow toms is from seed. At least, then, you have full control over how they develop. Buying ‘starter’ plants from a garden centre or B&Q type supplier can be very ‘hit and miss’ as many of their plants have been ‘forced’ and tend to run out of growing steam very quickly. Best way is to find a trusted supplier of young plants early in the season (early to late April) and then gradually bring them on.

Positioning

Toms need as much light as they can get, so try to place the plants in a position that gets the maximum amount of sunlight. It’s also important to keep them protected from the wind if you are growing them outside…. ‘windburn’ will quickly shrivel leaves and affect the health of the plant.

Watering














Tomatoes need lots of water…… typically, a good ‘soak’ every couple of days to keep the growing medium moist. You will be amazed at how quickly moisture is both taken up by the plant to grow the fruits and also lost through evaporation through the leaves. Don’t be afraid to saturate the pot….. next time you come to water, the soil will be almost dry (particularly during a hot spell).

Feeding













Whilst most growing mediums provide all the essential nutrients a tomato plant needs, a helping-hand in the shape of liquid fertiliser will go a long way to ensure that you get some well-developed fruits. I’ve tried many over the years, but tend to use ‘Tomorite’ which is a concentrated liquid fertiliser which I dilute in the watering can (don’t under-dilute!!) and apply every 2 weeks or so during the growth cycle.

Pinching Out












Depending on the variety of tomato plant you are growing, some of the bigger plants such as ‘Shirley’ (shown above) need constant manicuring to ensure that the plant’s ‘growing effort’ goes into producing large and succulent fruit, and not into additional shoots. You will see from the picture that I’m ‘pinching out’ a new growth shoot which, if unchecked, would develop into a new stem, which would divert growing effort away from the rest of the plant. ‘Pinching out’ is an art in itself, and where and when to do it only comes with experience!!.

Harvesting












Pick fruits as they ripen…. By doing this, you ‘relieve’ the plant of having to divert moisture and growing effort to already ripened toms and allow the developing fruits to ripen. Towards the end of the season you will be left with a number of ‘green’ fruits which probably won’t ripen on the plant but may be of a reasonable size: harvest those before you consign the plant to the compost heap, as some will ripen in a drawer (with a banana for company……trust me, it works!!), or use them for cooking or making chutney (Stuart’s Green Tomato Chutney recipe available at no cost!!).

Conclusion

Sadly, this year hasn’t been good for tomato growing at ‘Deepwell’. Lack of constant sunlight slowed the development of the plants, and whilst we’ve still got 2 or 3 plants which will probably yield some decent fruit, we’ve had better. Good luck, and if you have any problems with your plants, let me know and I’ll do what I can to advise.

Grandpa ‘Jock’

The Full Blush of Summer

We have arrived. In the space of a few hot days flashes of red have graced our balcony. It was only one at first, just visible on Sunday. But upon checking this morning I could spy no less than three fruits ripening with at least ten more showing serious intent. With forecasts of 26 today and 28 throughout the rest of the week I think by the end of this weekend we'll have quite the crop. All of the action is happening on the cherry tomatoes, but the normal tomatoes have surprised me with their rate of progress; I expect they'll take longer to ripen, but will still be ready in the next few weeks. For seeds planted late in the year, to bear fruit in mid to late August is impressive - the effort has been worth it. From humble beginnings.

Even more exciting news is that we should soon have some guest postings on this blog from some tomato growers with a little more experience than me. I'll keep you posted.

A little taste of the country life

Since I last posted the summer has arrived in its full glory and the additional rays on the balcony have spurred on all the plant life. A 60 pence packet of mixed salad leaves has germinated and exploded out of the box and the lettuce is in full flight. The tomatoes have continued to grow and we now have about 50-100 small green ones happily ripening away. While I was in France there was a minor disaster with a clothes maiden but Phil's expert surgery (with medical tape!) soon put things right. Tomatoes are hardy fellas.

It really is amazing what can be achieved with such a small space. A balcony which seemed only a minor addition to the flat during the winter months now sports a bbq, an acer, a clematis, a herb pot, 18 tomato plants, a salad box, and about 10 lettuces. Oh, and you can still sit 4 people comfortably, and 6 if needs be. City living isn't so bad.

Tonight I sat on the balcony listening to Ryan Adams, drinking red wine, eating fresh home grown salad with lashings of dressing, and savouring the local delicacies of trout pate and charcuterie. Ok, not exactly local, but sourced from our local wine shop.

Speaking of city vs country living I came across a blog recently which is the essence of country living romance. I've read through every blog post already and completely captivated by their life in Devon. http://locksparkfarm.wordpress.com/ - if you want to be carried away to a world of farming when the city is becoming oppressive take some time out to dig through their archives. The desire to start a smallholding one day is beginning to become a very real dream.

Hopefully the next time you're invited to dip into Hamburg balcony life there will be a blush of tomato red to grace the blog.

The Constant Gardener

Gardening is a never ending task, even with a little balcony. But a joyous never ending task none the less.

The tomatoes have started to accelerate with the slightly warmer weather, and to protect them against the wind I've tied them to the stakes, and tied the stakes to Phil's fancy new windbreak. Every morning new shoots have grown between the main growth stems on the plants so they need to be pinched out. They also soak up quite a bit of water so need a check most mornings. Very therapeutic.

As they seemed a little lonely, even in their herd of 18(!), Phil decided to accompany them with a very friendly Acer in a lovely new pot, and also take his herbs to the next level with a decent pot and some fresh soil. Hopefully the parsley will come back to life.

When I was in the UK last weekend I did the obligatory trip to the garden centre (Geoff will understand), and was browsing through the seed packets thinking about what I could grow should I have an allotment. I came across some quick grow salad leaves, and spied that some lettuce could still be planted, and harvested in August/September. So, the seeds came back to Germany and this morning I bought some nice long pots and some more of the wonderful tomato compost they sell here. The girl in the shop spoke excellent English, even enough to explain to me that using wire to tie up my tomatoes would damage their stems. So, twine it was.

The salad and lettuce have now been planted out and have 'completed the square' giving us nice plants all the way around the balcony. I've been surprised at how much we can get on without it getting too cramped, which gives me a lot of inspiration for next year. Seed trays will abound come February, to ensure everything has a better headstart than it did this. Der Frühjahr ist sehr schön in Hamburg! Der Winter ist kalt und ein bischen mies! (German lesson on weather and the seasons today.)

Flowering too early?

I wanted to put some shots online to get people's opinions on whether some of them have set flower too early? I'm a bit worried they wont grow any taller. Only the more bushy variety appearing to be doing this. I've pinched out every side shoot that's appeared so far...

Opinions?

The non bushy non flowering yet plant is at the top.

So what's been going on over the weekend with the little chaps? Well, we've had a lot of rain in Hamburg, which has been tough for them, and the wind has been blowing strong. But, we had some sunshine late this afternoon and early this evening, and as you can see they look very healthy in the sunshine. Let's hope that Hamburg delivers some more sun over the coming months. Thanks to the advice of a certain Mrs. Chambers we might also be planting some other 'Gemüse' of the cucumbers and peppers variety over the next few weeks. Will keep you posted.

Time to step it up a gear

So, what hasn't featured on this blogspot yet is the secret youth squad Phil and I have been holding back ready to unleash on some more pots. We now have 12, repeat 12, pots and 6 tomato plants in a grow bag. Needless to say things are getting a little out of hand... I hope everyone likes tomato soup!

Why did this happen? Well, I was loathe to throw so many good plants away, and as they'd done so well in their little greenhouse I thought they deserved a chance in life.

A wet and windy week

Well, here we are, a week further on. They've been through the mill with the potting process, have established their roots and are now starting to accelerate. I've noticed a thickening of the stems, plenty of strong leaves and I now expect them to be shooting upwards. I've noticed the odd side shoot trying to make its way between the side branches and so have pinched it out immediately.







It has been a difficult week in Hamburg for those of the tomato species. Windy and cold weather, particular felt on a balcony high above St Pauli. Tough living. But, I think with this kind of upbringing we will breed tough tomato plants which will generate succulent fruit in the sunshine of July and August.



You've so far seen 6 in pots. Tomorrow is a big day as I'm going to buy another 6 pots and plant out the remaining plants from the seedtray that been growing ever more vigorously. Photos to follow.

Some context

I thought this might be a very relevant link, as during the progress of this blog, I'm bound to have one. Everyone needs to be on board with the concept. 

Photo diagnosis

This is what they look like now...

And this is what they used to look like...