Harvest Time

 

Taking into account how many litres of water I had to carry through the flat from the kitchen to the balcony during the hot weeks of the  summer, I’m not sure the harvest from my tomato plants this year can be considered “worth” the trouble. Only three or four fruits (did you know they are fruits, not vegetables?) reached even a shade of red while still on the plant. Today I had to harvest the rest, green as they were, or the next wind would just have scattered them over the balcony floor.

22 July. The tomato plants are the big one in the right hand corner and the smaller one in the black pot to the left of it.

17 August (“big” tomatoes)

 
8 September (the same pair as above)

13 September - Cherry tomatoes from the small plant (the size of cherries)

 
Yesterday I ate the red ones. To be quite honest, the ones I buy at the supermarket taste better…

This was my first attempt where I live now to grow tomatoes. At my previous flat, the balcony was a little bigger and more sheltered, but had less sun. I never managed to get the tomatoes red on the plant there either. But some years I got enough of green ones to make a few jars of green tomato marmalade from them. The recipe includes lemons and ginger (and sugar, of course).

Well, this year at least I got a blog post out of them!

 

It’s A Jungle Out There…

 

… on my balcony. It’s been a hot summer, and lately also some almost tropical nights. In spite of rain last night and this morning, I still had to feed the tomato plant another big bottle of water this evening… Some sunny days I’ve had to water it two or three times! 

Cultivated “woodland” strawberries.

Furry, silky clematis seed heads.

Nasturtium flower after the rain.

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And here’s the theme song from the TV series Monk from which I stole the title:

I just finished season 7 on DVD and am about to start on the 8th and last, so if you have already seen it, please do NOT tell me how it ends!

A Nearly Perfect Summer Day

 

Lilacs (Syringa)

Lilacs for me are connected with the end of the school year, more than any other flower, ever since my childhood. (Because they usually bloom around this time.)

Today was a perfect summer day for all students celebrating the end of the school year and the start of their summer holidays: The sun shining all day from a clear blue sky, and still not too hot – just over 20°C, and with a nice fresh summer breeze.

Before noon I walked into town to get some groceries. When I got home (by bus, because of then having things to carry) I made a salad for lunch and was able to eat it sitting outside on the balcony. In fact I spent most of the afternoon on the balcony, reading, doing a soduko and listening to mp3/radio (using earphones).

 

 

I did not need to use my mp3-player all the time to shut out noise though. It was a quiet kind of day in the neighbourhood. I was also able in between to just listen to the gulls in the sky above, and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees nearby… Relaxing summery sounds.

My clematis plant (photo taken a couple a weeks ago; the flowers are withering now)

Later on I went for short walk just “around the block” (well, a few blocks). Spring was late this year, and we’re still really only just on the verge of entering into summer. There is still a freshness about all the greenery; and a lot of trees still in bloom.

Horse Chestnut
(Aesculus Hippocastanum)

In July it will be two years since I moved to where I live now (this apartment/ building/ part of town). Last spring and early summer was somewhat chaotic, connected to the death of my mother at the end of May last year. But this spring, I’ve been able to pay a bit more attention to my surroundings. Like how many different kinds of flowering trees are actually planted in the park-like area around these apartment buildings.

Crab apple tree (Malus)

From my kitchen window, I can see a horse-chestnut tree, a rowan tree, Swedish whitebeam, and lilacs, all blossoming right now. (Plus a number of “anonymous” trees in the background.) When I go outside, there are also Japanese cherry blossom and crab apple trees, as well as tall birches and lime trees (linden) and maples; and probably several other kinds of trees that I’m not able to identify.

 

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
~Martin Luther~

Clematis Progress

Feels a like a miracle after the long hard winter to see my clematis on the balcony bursting out into lots and lots of flowers!

I’m even more excited because this plant has a history. Click the link to read what I wrote about it last summer.

I know I have some readers with a very keen eye for detail, so in case you wonder about the different leaves at the bottom, those are false. (One is supposed to protect the part near the roots from the sun.) And the plant on the left is a geranium which has spent the winter indoors in a window, and has just been moved out.

Slow Spring

We're still having chilly, even frosty nights here, and spring is slow.
My clematis on the balcony however is coming along...
(Picture taken tree days ago.)

I'm not feeling at the top of inspiration at the moment. Tomorrow I have another hospital appointment - not related to the eye problem and not of emergency kind, but I'm not sure how much waiting around etc it might include. I also have some income tax forms waiting to be dealt with within the next few days (for myself and for my father).

I have a couple of more Picture Book posts already pre-scheduled, though, so they will (hopefully) be showing up even if I'm actually busy with other things.

Balcony Gardening

April 2010

Every spring when the sun comes back, so does the itch to plant things...!

On my previous balcony, which was a little bigger than the present one - and also a bit more protected from sun, wind and rain - I used to have quite a garden in the summer (see below). I settle for less greenery now (this flat, including the balcony, has other advantages). But of course it's early days yet, spring just getting started.  


July 2007

Enjoying the Sunshine

We're enjoying beautiful spring weather now, and they say it is going to continue over the next few days. So I was inspired to "move outdoors", i.e. to fetch my deck chair from the storage room in the basement to the balcony, for the summer season. My balcony faces south-west, which is perfect in the early spring and in the autumn. On a really hot and sunny summer day however it gets too hot there in the afternoon. But on the whole... comparing it to my previous flat, where the balcony had morning sun... It really prolongs the summer season to get the afternoon and evening sun instead. Monday afternoon I was out there for two or three hours; planting some more flowers, and then just sitting in the sun, and reading a bit - wearing jeans, but short sleeves. And it's not even mid April yet! After the long, cold winter we had... it's a very special feeling to be able to do that again!

And my clematis plant has survived the winter, too! :)

Cruel But Necessary

The geranium plant had been growing big as a bush on my balcony during the summer. It won't survive winter outdoors. There was no place for it full size indoors. Either it wouldn't get any light, or I wouldn't get any light... I had to cut!!! Remains to be seen how it recovers from surgery...







It's my own balcony in the background.
No peeping into the neighbours.
Best to be on the safe side (referring to previous post)!

From My Balcony

Nasturtium
(Collage made in Picasa 3)

Survival

Where I lived before, I had this clematis growing on my balcony, since three years back or so. When I moved last summer, it did not seem possible to successfully move the whole plant. I took a chance and just saved some cuttings from it, without even knowing if it was possible to propagate this kind of plant from cuttings. But it was! The cuttings took root and survived the winter indoors in one of my windows. I put it outside in May. It is of a kind that usually goes into bloom early in the spring, so I didn't really expect any flowers this summer. But now, one year after my move, in July, the clematis is flowering again on my new balcony!

Flying Off The Handle

We're in a heat wave here, but at the same time we've had very strong winds the last few days.

On Thursday, I was away for most of the day; and knowing it would be hot, but not knowing it would be so windy, I left two sunshades up on my balcony.

When I got home in the evening, looking up towards my balcony as I was approaching the house, there was no sunshade at all to be seen. Neither on my balcony, nor on the lawn below. Big mystery! No one else has a key to my apartment right now.

Out on the balcony, I found that the smaller sunshade had blown inwards and fallen onto the balcony floor, holder and all. (The holder had been attached to the parapet.) The bigger sunshade was nowhere to be seen. It had been standing upright in a big water-filled stand on the floor, not right next to the parapet but a bit further in. The empty stand was still there, but the sunshade, shaft included, was simply gone.

I was almost beginning to suspect the next-balcony-neighbour kids to have been playing some trick on me, when I caught sight of something white sticking up from some bushes below, a bit to the side. I went down to have a closer look, and found my sunshade resting peacefully upside-down in the bushes. The wind must have come in from below, simply lifted the whole thing, shaft and all, right out of its holder, turned it sort of sideways (because there is another balcony above), blown it over the parapet, and then sideways again down into the bushes. That must have been a sight. A sunshade/umbrella playing Mary Poppins all by itself...