My little garden in japan November 2010

We are starting the month, so here is my update on how my little balcony garden has done lately.

My little balcony is more and more crowded every day

With the arrival of November the weather has changed noticeably. The days have shortened quite a bit (the sun sets around 4:30pm). Also, the stormy days are gone, no more wind or rain for some time. And, while it feels more chilly in the morning, there is still enough sun and the average temperature remains perfect for sprouting some last minute crops, getting some nice blooms and just letting all the plants grow nicely and prepare for winter.

This is the herb corner

• One new thing I have done is I sowed a bunch of new lettuce, komatsuna and chives in starting pots. I will have them growing there for a while and then transplant them to the big vegetables planter. To help them sprout, I made an attempt of building a coldframe. I put together a tray, a fabric bag/box and some sticks. Hopefully the fabric will be enough to keep the heat inside.



• Also, like I had mentioned before, I wanted to get a red rose to have more flowers and to keep my cliché levels high enough. Well, I did. It is still a stub so no flowers until next year, but it seems pretty healthy so far. I will talk more about it on a later post.

The latest strawberries seem healthy

• The latest strawberries seem to be doing well (fingers crossed for not jinxing it). I have six varieties now, one of them must make it. For now most of them are scattered around several little planters, but I think I will eventually put some on their old one. I already wash with scalding water and scrub it well, hopefully that will be enough to keep whatever strange thing that happened to the others at bay, but i will still take precautions.

All the herbs are doing great

• The herbs are doing great! All of them are growing well. I think this is the most prolific part of the garden right now. I just love how the mix of scents gets into the room every time I water them, or also, at night if the window is open enough.

The overcrowded planter of komatsuna, lettuce and
coriander must be thined down

• The old lettuce pot is still overflowing with green, even when I have been going at them knife first every time I can. They are still more than half full and they have grown so much that they got all tangled.
  Of course I have learned my lesson, Don't overcrowd seeds. I will thin down the other planter before it gets to that level, which will be soon by how they are growing.

The flowers are great! I turn the planter around every couple of days so they get even sun.

• The maple and the grape show no sign of dropping their leaves or even turning color anytime soon. I guess they still have plenty of sun and not enough cold. I shall wait a bit more.

The geranium has new blooms, I hope they will be ready for
blooming day!

• The flowers keep on growing well, and blooming nicely. I hope they make it until end of December. Oh, and even the red geranium is getting new flowers, he made a nice recovery from being so pale, I think he liked the company.

All the rest of the plants are doing pretty well. It seems like this days my little garden in japan is a very happy garden.

how is your garden doing lately?