the summer growing season

Summer is coming to an end, and we're now seeing tomatoes on our plants. The summer started with tomato plants growing slowly and when they showed flowers, they didn't set fruit. The flowers withered or dropped. It wasn't until late into summer that the tomato flowers began to set fruit and eventually signs of tomatoes were popping up all over the place.


 


One of the black zebra variety finally ripened after hanging on the vine all summer. TH and I enjoyed it sliced into wedges, with a bit a quality fruity olive oil, basil, and salt. It was the best tomato we have had in a long time! So much so that's it got TH excited and pleased. Before he was a bit annoyed that the tomato plants weren't producing tomatoes.

 

The chili pepper plants have done well too. The jalapeno plants didn't produce to many peppers. The cayenne pepper plants are full of hanging cayenne peppers. They're long and still green. They should be turning red soon. And it's still producing flowers! The cherry pepper plants did well and produced some nice red peppers. Unfortunately, they were not producing enough to collect so I can pickle them. And it was susceptible to spider mites, too! And they too, continue to produce flowers. And the habenero plants are finally producing flowers, which will in turn become habenero peppers. I'm looking forward to collecting these hot babies!



 And lastly but not least, one of our pots of strawberry plants are producing another round of strawberries. This time, these are bigger than the last ones I collected. However, they lacked flavor and sweetness. Regardless, the fact that they are still producing fruit is welcomed.

strawberry plants: year 2 June update

Strawberries are a sign of summer. Im pleased to report that our alpine strawberry plants are doing quite well - constantly producing fruit. Unfortunately they're left hanging on the plant because TH doesn't think to pick and eat them. The alpine strawberries are tiny and hidden under the layers of large strawberry plant foliage. I have been eating the white ones, which have an unusual mix of pineapple and strawberry taste.

Some of the alpine strawberry plants are doing very while a few did not and I finally decided to pull them out of the planter. I think I will plant borage in those empty pockets, which are good companion plants. 

The pink galore strawberry plants have not been doing well. I was beginning to worry when I noticed the flowers fading without any berry production. Then towards the end of June, I noticed their signature pink blossoms dotting the top of the planter. A few have already started showing strawberry development. 

July should be a very productive month of fruit production. Hopefully, I'll have more positive updates to report. 

strawberry plants: year 2 April update

The strawberry plants are coming back and they seem to be returning with a bushier growth. I noticed one of the plants has a flower already!

There are a couple of strawberry plants that look like they may not have made it to the 2013 growing season but I remain hopeful.

From my reading sources of growing strawberry plants, the second year is supposed to yield more fruit as opposed to the first year. I'm looking forward to some tasty strawberries especially of the alpine kind.

update: borage and strawberries

Despite the recent discovery of black cherry aphids on one of the planters that are growing strawberries, the blossoms are turning into berries! The plants I got from The Strawberry Store are producing fruit albeit small. I'm hoping they will fill out.

The galore pink strawberry plants are doing great and I am finding new blossoms every weekend, and the strawberries are getting incrementally bigger.

Another bit of exciting news are the borage sprouts, which have developed a new set of leaves! I can't wait for the blue and white blossoms to appear! I also noticed some new borage sprouts, too! It's very exciting to see things coming to life with just a bit of soil, sun, and water.

update: strawberries

The galore pink strawberry plants are doing extremely well after planting them in the strawberry jar planter. They are producing flowers and developing into strawberries! I deliberately did not bother to remove the flowers from these strawberry plants because I wanted to see how greatly this lack of step will affect yield for this harvest and next year's harvest. I'm excited about the potential harvest of these particular berries.

I've also sowed borage seeds about two weeks ago at the tops of each strawberry planter. I sowed blue and white borage seeds. The brown planter has blue borage while the turquoise planter has white borage. It took about two weeks for the seeds to germinate and boy was I excited to see a pair of leaves sprout from the soil! I'm looking forward to seeing how they grow and produce the featured blue (and white) star-like flowers.

galore pink strawberries

I recently bought two paks of strawberry plants from Binder Farm in Union Square. These strawberry plants produce berries called Galore Pink. Unlike the other strawberry plants I bought from the Strawberry Store, the blossoms from the Galore Pink are pink! I thought this was pretty novel as thought it would be nice to grow these.

Because they are grown in paks, planting them in the strawberry jar planter was easy. The root balls of each plant were small enough to fit into each pocket.

This particular breed of strawberries seems to be produced by a company called Ball Horticultural Company. They seem to produce new varieties of plants into the market. You can learn more about Ball by clicking here.

They're happy in their new home and already producing some strawberries. More blossoms are also on the way. I can't wait to taste these guys!

strawberry plants

The strawberry plants I ordered from The Strawberry Store are doing well repotted in the strawberry jar planter. In fact, they are spouting new shoots (I don't know what is the correct terminology). And some of the strawberry plants have bloomed adorable white flowers. I think that is a good sign the plants are happy.

I've ordered some seeds to grow borage, which are supposedly good companion flowering plants. I had started growing thyme from seeds but am unsure if they are some of the successful sprouts. Worse case, I may just buy a thyme plant from the green market in Union Square. I also bought more thyme seeds so may attempt growing them from seeds.

I have reserved space at the top of the planter for the borage and/or thyme. I'm hoping to plant borage because I've read that they have pretty blue star-shaped flowers. It seems to be the main attraction of the borage. The flowers also attract bees but I doubt they will find our balcony.

strawberries

photo by Elke Rohn

Strawberry plants are what I want to acquire next for the balcony garden. I love strawberries! I question the character of people who don't like strawberries unless they're allergic to them. The thought of starting with seeds was considered but I think I may be a bit late in the season to do it that way so I'm going to start with plants. While doing my research, I came across an excellent website about strawberries, Strawberry Plants. This is a great resource about strawberries, growing them, and where you may find/buy certain types to grow in your own garden.

I didn't realize there are a great variety of strawberries to be had. There are even white strawberries! They come in different sizes and shapes. The only thing I seem to notice is there aren't a discernible difference in taste between strawberries. Almost all say they are sweet but what kind of sweet? How are they sweet? Are they flavorful? The strawberries seem to be described if they are firm, or hardy winter growers, or if they have runners, how bountiful they are, and if they are resistant to diseases.

photo by swirus71

The other thing I noticed is that most of the websites that sell strawberry plants sell them in large quantities for a price. They seem to sell 25 plants per price, which is a bargain but then again, I don't have space to grow 25 of the same kind of strawberries. Plus, I want to grow a variety of strawberries. I eventually did find a website, The Strawberry Store, that sold individual strawberry plants as opposed to bulk purchases. There are seven varieties I want to grow. Two varieties are white. I'm just so curious about white strawberries and how they taste compared with the red ones.

But first, I will need to find containers to grow them in...