Tag Archives: balcony

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Gardening

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One might think I went a little overboard on the plants this year.
I've planted all my seedlings outside because the weather permitted it. We've had a lot of sun, very summer-y, for the past month or so. I did however appreciate the amount of rain we got this week and my plants did too. Every year I seem to end up with a lot more plants than I can place, especially because I also get some plants from TG's father who has an allotment and usually plenty of extra seedlings. I have about eight extra tomato-plants, on top of the ten or so I had already grown myself. I also got some lettuce and greens which comes in handy because my saladboxes seem to have stunted (probably the heat, the saladboxes seem to thrive in typical Dutch weather -- rain and a bit of sun). I'll resow them and see if I get some tasty greens out of them. I also received some melon-plants. I wonder how to deal with those...
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Mouse near my house.

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A mouse on my balcony.
It storms a bit today. Lots of rain and wind. I've decided to stay inside, apart from the quick trips with Nano. When I looked out of my window onto my balcony, I saw this little one. It scurried about, probably looking for either food or shelter. Managed to snap a quick shot of it before it ran of because I scared it with a camera in its face. It did come back a few minutes later though, trying to access the house. Hmm...
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Easy peasy beans.

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Put beans on paper.
I've grown a few bean-plants on my balcony (more than a few actually) and have looked for the best way to get them to germinate. In the beginning I tried sticking them in the ground and just keeping the ground wet, and though that did work for some beans, it also failed plenty of times. Lots of times my beans got eaten by the larvae of the bean-fly (oh how I hate them!). I went looking for a better way and found something that works very well. This will probably work for other seeds too, and will give you a good idea about the germination rate of your seeds (if you have old seeds you sometimes want to check). I've had no problem transplanting the resulting sprouts, just keep in mind you will have to transplant them at some point. Not all sprouts like that. Kids will usually love this too. Use beans though, they sprout fast :) You will need: - a ziploc bag (or another type of firm plastic bag) - some toiletpaper or paper towels - something to spray water with - beans! (more...)
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So many tomatoes!

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Harvest :-)
Yesterday I harvested 241 grams of cherry-tomatoes. This brings the total for this one plant to roughly 450 grams. And this is just one plant. Very pleased with how much it produces. I left a few orange ones on yesterday, but from the looks of it, I could probably harvest those today too. These cherry-tomatoes taste so much better than the kind I buy in the store.
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New addition to the garden.

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Apple or pear tree.
The latest addition to my balcony-garden is a pear-or-apple-tree. We don't know yet. It might take a year or two before we do. I placed it next to the bay-tree, I'm sure they'll get along. I will document this tree as much as possible, who knows what it'll do! The plants in general grow really well. I can harvest roughly one salad per week, very nice :)
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The plants, they grow.

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Gardening.

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Bee on my flower.
My balcony garden seems to do well. The weather goes from sunny to cloudy to sunny again, and I have watered when needed. My seedlings seem to grow very well, I blame this on the southern location of my balcony. My drawing-rhythm seems disturbed so I use my garden as my creative outlet. Seems to work out well. I keep a gardening journal at MyFolia which helps me track the progress of my plants. Still very tired and barely have the energy to do the stuff I need to do, not to mention the stuff I want to do (the gardening seems my max now). Going to the doctor again on Tuesday, for recurring eye-issues. I wonder when my body will stabilise... (dear body, it's about time. Really!)
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Playing with photos.

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A collection photos of my balcony
This past week I've mostly played around with my digital photos (I have so many...). I bought the bundle at the MUPromo and it came with Posterino. Playing with it for a while I managed to create some cool collages of photos (from my balcony) and combining it with a template I made in Pixelmator I created a little card with a polaroid-effect. I may have overworked myself a little cause I went a little nuts with scanning paper for the effect and the colours and such. But at least I enjoyed it :)
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Balcony finished (basically)

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Seeds.

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  • Seedlings .
  • Seedlings .
  • Seedlings .

Over the weekend I planted some seeds for plants I eventually want to plant outside on my balcony. I started out with courgette (zucchini), sage, thyme, rosemary, Tropaeolum, mustard and several types of beans. Some have already started germination, even the tiny thymeseeds start to look green. Others, not so much yet. Patience….

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Hurray for home-grown veggies.

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20090506 Bonsaibasil 001
I got the confirmation from the tax-company that I'll get a (preliminary) tax-return which should mean the money arrives in my account tomorrow or so. To 'celebrate' we went out and got some stuff for my balcony: pots / containers / soil), and seeds and plants. I got four long wooden containers (they look great!) and the following plants: 4 tiny celery plants 4 tiny parsleys 4 tiny corn salads 1 big cucumber plant (with baby cucumbers) 1 small sweet pepper plant 1 bonsai basil (very nice!) 1 small lovage and seeds for: * spring onions * rosemary * garlic chives * corn salad * courgette (or zucchini or summersquash depending on where you live) Through a friend I got three tomato-plants, seeds for beetroot, basil, parsley, peas and several types of beans. I'm still looking for pinto-bean seeds, but they seem somewhat unavailable in the NL. I also still have rocket-seed, Tropaeolum and tons of seeds for sprouts (alfalfa, garden cress, etc). I think I have enough.... (though boyfriend promised me oregano and thyme plants / seeds) I want a bunch of smaller pots to put herbs in. It'll look nice and helps to sow in phases. I'm looking forward to seeding and growing, especially the sprouts. I seem to be able to eat bread again, so that would mean nice summer sandwiches with veggies and cheese and herbs and such :D I have a balcony on the south, and even though most Dutch people think we do not get any sun, I can assure you we do. It gets pretty hot on my balcony, which I hope will help with the somewhat exotic plants (cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, courgette). Now I only need a garden-hose, cause I'm not dragging water over every day :P We haven't set it up yet, but will take pictures when we do.
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A balcony garden.

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With the weather getting hotter I looked at my balcony to see what I want to do with it this year. I browsed the internet and find a whole site about Square Foot Gardening. Though I have limited space, I think I can manage a few boxes about 30cm x 30cm (1′x1′) in a row. Not technically what the site mentions, but close enough.

I have a bunch of strawberry-plants that could go in, and I want more fresh herbs (I hate buying them in the store). Mmm project!