A little seed sowing

Sowed some Parsley, Chives, Rocket and Tomatillos.

Garden coming along nicely, lots of flowers on the broadbeans.

Oregano, and mint survived winter, coriander is doing well though thinning a little and starting to bolt.

Gardening update X?

So yeah getting close to end of winter, last frost date is like 2 weeks away and then I am going to plant lots of seeds.

What the garden looks like currently. nasturtiums rebounding. mint doing ok, oregano doing well ish.

Got some strong wind that knocked most of the broadbeans over, with some of the stalks being damaged or blown off.

Lots of flowers on the plum tree from downstairs as well as the ornamental pear trees on the roadside. its very pretty.

third and fourth shelves install

assembled and built a 3rd and 4th set of shelves and put terracotta 17cm pottery planters on them. balcony now has 7 X 30cm pots, and 4 shelving units with 48 X 17cm terracotta pots.

Have another 2 sets of shelving to assemble going to put them on the second balcony. though it does get very hot out there during summer as it is a small balcony. maybe putting some shadecloth over it will be a good idea. something to think about i guess.

Update on the balcony garden

Balcony garden going ok, middle of winter here so not much is growing other than the broad beans.

Chilli plants not looking like they will survive the next two months of winter cold. leaves are starting to dry out and fall off as well as black appearing where the sap should be. for now there is a ground covering of local weed varieties, mostly saladable. I am leaving them there to see if they maybe help the chilli plants.

Coriander going well, nasturtiums recovering from the caterpillars, mint and oregano chugging along slowly. going to move them into an area that gets a little more sun.

Broad beans doing really well. One of the pots showing signs of being too well nutriented with the wrinkly/dancing leaves.

Quick update

Coriander doing ok
nasturtiums recovering from caterpillars
Mint and oregano chugging away but not really growing that much in the cold.

Vine doing ok, starting to take off.

broadbeans growing well should be able to replenish bean seedstock from this growth. no sign of chocolate spot yet (had that problem last season)

Chillis coping ok, they really not liking the colder weather. at this location they are not usually able to survive winter, i am guessing they hang on here because it is a balcony.

bought another 17 pots and stuff and some more seeds, loufa gourd green tamarillo seeds.

Gardening update 03/07/25

Quick update on the garden,

Broad beans are doing well. Coriander is growing but starting to yellow which indicates a nutrient lack in the potting mix, not sure what nutrient is lacking maybe nitrogen… either way more research is required.

Mint and oregano are growing slowly.

Vine has sprouted some new leaves but old leaves died…

Aloe vera is recovering from being transplanted and is growing as indicated by the lighter green in the floret.

Nasturtiums seem to be slowly recovering from caterpillars

Third Gardening update

Currently growing, Nasturtiums, Oregano, Mint, Coriander.

So far coriander growing the best
with oregano a close second.
The nasturtiums did really well at the start until they got eaten by caterpillars

Broad beans doing really well
Friend came over and gave me a Kangaroo Apple that I planted in a pot. also planted 2 almond seeds that went green and a heap of seeds from longan, non have as yet sprouted. Also have some seeds from Custards apple that I am thinking of planting. they are said to do good in this weather.

Have a vine that grew from a grasping took two leaves from the violet to get it to take though as I didnt use petes recommendation of using rooting gel.

Also with this the UV stellation that caused caused maple leaf to become pink around edges.

I also may have added B vitamins to the larger pots due to an argument with a friend. also added a can of crab to the Older san pedro cactus and a can of red kidney beans to the smaller cactus. as well as a royal jelly gel cap to the Older san pedro cactus. after the disagreement had ended I removed all the B vitamins But some had loosened so some of those vitamins will have ended up in the soil.

So, doing some calculations.

My water allowance per year in the unit is 50,000 Litres

Each Rack of shelves has 4 shelves
Each shelf of pottery planters can hold 3 pots
Each pot I think will use around 2 cups of water per day to maintain hydration
There are around 4 cups of water to a litre
I have 5 Large pots not on shelves they use around 3500Litres of water a year at most

I think I can reasonably expect to use less than 15000 Litres of water for the garden per year

With the spare set of shelves I have I am wondering should I assemble them or give them away? if I do assemble them it will make the Balcony somewhat cramped and I wont be able to place them where they can get natural skywater.

I do have a second balcony that I use for meditation currently. I could assemble a planter rack there However I would have to haul water through my bedroom over carpet to do so.

Update on garden

Garden is coming along nicely. coriander and nasturtiums are doing well so far. chives did not seem to sprout, mint and parsley sprouted but are not growing much as yet.

Broad beans are growing well but the leaf curling indicates the soil is getting too rich for them