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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Salad, homegrown (sorta)Weighing and measuring the harvest.Part of balcony, over the past few weeks.I got a pretty good harvest today, thanks to the sweet pepper-plant I bought. I harvested two of those small peppers, one small cucumber and three little tomatoes (I grow mostly small varieties because the plants usually also stay smaller).
What started out as a way to keep the sun out in the summer has turned into this contest with myself, seeing how much of my own food I can grow on my own balcony. No need to blame the recession here, I enjoy doing this ;)
I have watched tons of movies on Youtube and read websites about growing your own food and the more I watch the more I realise I could still grow more!

I have this feeling people start to look at me oddly, as if I’ve gone crazy… I haven’t, really ;)

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20090523plants00320090523plants004Tomatoes, peper, lamb's lettuce, peas.20090523plants00220090523plants001



Today I installed the last bits of my balcony. I got some more small green pots and planted rosemary, a bay tree (more like a bush), two new types of oregano (makes three in total) and I planted the beans and peas. Also planted the courgettes, and put the rest in pots to give away.
My left lower box hasn’t got anything in it yet, and I plan to sow some lettuce, spring onion and beetroot in it. The lower right one has lamb’s lettuce and scallions.
I have some basil seeds left (and mint, coriander, parsley and then some) which I plan to sow by the tomatoes, I hear that works out well.
This morning I harvested my first mini-cucumber and ate it on a cheese-sandwich, tasted excellent. Looking forward to more of that :D

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Bonsai basilI 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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I’ve missed eating pizza since surgery. I did, a few times, but it only went well if I ate take-away pizza from one of those pizza places, not the kind I can buy in the supermarket. I could only eat 2 or 3 slices, and it seems a bit expensive to order in and only eat 1/4 of the pizza. It has to do with the dough, although I don’t know the details of why it doesn’t go well. Can’t eat bread either, same problem. I get really ill.

Today I made a most excellent discovery. Gordita’s (small, thicker tortilla wraps) work really well as a pizza-bottom. I tossed on some tomato sauce, chopped up veggies and mushrooms, added shredded cheese and popped the whole thing in the oven for 15 minutes.

Best pizza I ever had.

So I made another one just now. Two pizza’s in one day. I like to spoil myself.

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Gordita (small thick tortilla wrap), tomato sauce, veggies and cheese. 15 minutes in the oven. Tasty!
Improvised pizza.

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I wanted a simple stew to put in my lunchbox for a busy day tomorrow, so I basically took some stuff I had in my cupboard. It approximated this:

Tomato-lentil stew.

Ingredients:


  • 1 cup water

  • ½ cup lentils, red

  • ½ cup lentils, brown

  • 14 oz tomatoes, chopped, with herbs

  • 2 tsp maggi sauce

  • 1 tsp marmite

  • 1 tsp pepper, grounded

  • cup parrano, grated (50 gr)

  • cup parmesan, grated (50 gr)




Directions:
Cook the lentils and mix together. Simmer with tomatoes and spices for about 45 minutes.
If needed drain excess liquid, and serve with grated cheese on top.

(Serves 4)

Note: I used a can of Bonduelle (brown) Lentils, dried red lentils and Heinz Tomatoes chopped, with herbs, in juice.

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