Tomato harvest

This season my best crop came from the tomatoes. I had tree plants and they just kept giving more and more. I had some setbacks of course, but over all the plants performed splendidly. Last year's season I only got eight tomatoes total, but this time I already got more than that out of the big tomato on the first harvest, I was very pleased. I really never expected to have so much out of them, it was great seeing that much difference. I can't wait for next year to try again.

Big ripe tomatoes ready for eating

The first plant I set up was a big red tomato which I put on the corner to give it the best sun . It grew really fast and thick and started giving flowers right away. Then, when it got a bit heavy with fruit, it slowed down a little, but after every harvest it started growing fast again.

The mini yellow tomatoes were my best success

The second one was a very rich yellow mini tomato. It was in the middle of them all and it very soon took over the spotlight. It grew very fast and so tall, that at the end, I had to tie it to the roof of the balcony. I got around 150 tomatoes from it alone which meant it was the most productive of the three plants.

This plant gave the most delicious tomatoes of all three

The last plant was a very tasty red mini tomato. It did well to, but I had a couple troubles at the beginning because the main stalk broke. The time it got to the tomato to recover delayed its crops a little and I got a bit less from it than from the orange one. It also was the one that got the most damaged from that week of drought I talked about before. Still, I had a nice crop out of it.

Ready to be picked

Because they where doing that well I wanted to measure the production so I counted and weighted every one and did the math. Taking reference from store bought tomatoes of the same kind my total crop was worth around 6000 yen (78 dollars), a very healthy sum for tree plants in a small balcony. And the best of it was that being home grown I had them all very fresh and they tasted amazing

Tomatoes are a must have for any garden

Now their season has ended and it is time to take them out. I liked how the combination of one big and two mini tomatoes worked, I might try something similar again. However I will start checking new varieties and planning what to do next year.

Any recommendations?

Summer crops

This summer was an amazing season for the edibles in my garden. All of the crops grew like crazy and even thought I got a couple setbacks there were still a lot of vegetables and fruits with every harvest. Not bad at all for a small balcony garden.

Every harvest gave me a full platter of food

I had four big harvest out the plants, and every time I got to fill a big plate with all the produce. I also got a lot of minor harvests because every time I needed herbs or more fruits all I needed to do is pick them from the balcony.

I got many fresh beans from the garden

This year there were many plants in the garden. The tomato plants were definitely my main crop, I had tree big plants, they grew a lot and gave a many fruits. I also have basil and some more herbs that took very well the summer and grew many new leaves.

The strawberries were few but good

Pumpkin flowers taste great with cheese

The chilies also gave a big crop although a bit skinny. I had my first batch of blueberries ever and a bit of strawberries. And the pumpkin, even thought it didn't fruit I got many flowers to eat.

Not bad for a very small balcony garden

It was amazing having so much fruits and vegetables, I had never grown so much food. I deeply recommend to anybody with a garden to grow at least a little corner of edibles. It is very rewarding, it saves a bit of money and it gives you very tasty fresh food to eat.

How to Harvest dill seeds

The dill in my garden is all gone. In late spring it started to flower a lot and it lost all of its leaves, then it dried and now is just a long stalk in the balcony. To not let it go in vain I picked up all the dead flower heads and tried to harvest the seeds. I got a bunch, enough to plant a new batch and a bit more.

The dill ready to be harvested

The way I learned to harvest the seeds is very simple.

• First, you need to wait until the flower heads get a bit dry while they are still on the plant. Just enough to see them mostly brown, but not as much that the seeds will start to fall.
  
  
• When they are ready snip off the complete flower branch and get them inside a paper bag heads first.

Just get it inside a paper bag to let it dry

• Let them be there a week or two until they finish drying and the seeds detach and fall into the paper bag. In case there are still some stubborn ones just give the bag a good shake.
  
  
• Afterwards just take away the spent flower heads from the paper bag and all you have left is the seeds

And that is all, enjoy your dill seeds.

Dill seeds ready for next season

I am not sure if I should grow dill again because, to be honest, I underused it a lot. In all the months that I had it growing in my garden, I think I only used it three or four times. The space on my balcony is very limited, and a the full grown dill was very big, almost my height. So, maybe I should put something different in that pot. But then, growing again might be a good encouragement to start using it more.

I don't know, I guess I will put a couple seeds in a starting pot and let mother nature, if they grow or not.

First harvest of the summer

I just cut my first batch beans from the garden. They were the first plants to give fruit and mature this season. I only have tree stalks growing along with the pumpkins, but I must say, they have performed admirably. Since the start, they grew like crazy, and they only stopped after the plants were loaded with bean pods.

First harvest of summer, beans

I was a bit worried for them at the beginning because I wasn't sure if they will give any fruit. I got the seeds from a batch of beans I bought to cook and I didn't know if they were viable to be planted. Also, last year when I tried to grow them I ended up with a planter with three very dry stalks of beans and no crops at all, they didn’t even put out any flowers. Lucky me, this year I was able to keep them alive and they succeeded giving a lot of flowers and a lot of bean pods.

I like growing beans because they remind me of back when I was a kid when I used to grow them in Mexico city with my dad. They are very easy to take care, give a nice harvest very soon and help many plants they grow along with. Beans are just a great plant to have in a balcony garden.

There is still plenty more beans to harvest

The fresh cut harvest already passed by the frying pan and into my plate, and I must say, they tasted amazing. I really recommend to everybody to grow their own vegetables, the flavor of homegrown food is much better than most of the store bought vegetables.

I think the next crops to be ready for picking will be the tomatoes and the strawberries. I will keep posted.

Time to harvest the seeds from the globe amaranth

One of the favorite flowers of my garden this year was the globe amaranth (gomphrena globosa). It had an amazing color, with a lot of flowers and buttons.

Globe amaranth is definitely one of my favorites

Funny thing, globe amaranth it is native back at my country, but I didn't knew the plant until I got to japan. They are very common here. Usually they are grown in gardens as cut flowers, but it is also normal to see them as a urban wild flower. I have seen many growing on some sidewalks or on the ground patch around the train tracks.

Their name here is 千日紅 (せんにちこう）, which translates something like a thousand days red. I think is a perfect name, because flower's color last so long. Even now that mines were so dried the little globes still have very vibrant colors.

My globe amaranth was almost completely gone

Because I liked them so much, I wanted to have it again next season. So I decided to harvest some seeds from my plant. I wanted to wait until the plant dried completely by itself. But I don't really had the space, so when I moved things around to make space for the new rack I had to take it out.

I took out the heads from the dead flowers and save them apart to let them finish dry. I could tell many of the lower seeds were ready to pick but they still had a bit of moisture on the tip of the flowers. I think is best if I wait a bit longer to set them apart. I really hope they will grow well next season and bloom as nicely as this past ones.

I will store this Globe amaranth seeds after they dry

I would recommend to any gardener to have some on their garden. Because of their height I think they will make very nice background flowers. It is a beautiful plant, very hardy and with blooms that last forever. They even add a nice touch of color even when they are dry.


And remember, the carnival is on the 17th!

Be ready with a post about what do you plan on doing at your garden this year, maybe about one particular plant you want to have, a renovation you will do, a special patch you will grow, a new gardening technique you will give a try, or any other project you have prepared for this new year.

Blueberries and autumn color in my garden

I got a bit busy this week so I will merge my Friday and Sunday posts into one today.

Ever since I started my garden, I have been wanting to get some type of berry bush, but because I didn't know much about them, and because I couldn't decide what type of berries I wanted, I didn't got any until now.

I chose blueberries after a nice trip to a ブルーベリー食べ放題「たべほうだい」（all you can eat）farm this summer, where we got a nice basket of very delicious berries. Also because, after some research, I found out is easy enough to grow some blueberries in containers, if you get them the proper environment.

Delicious blueberries!

So, finally, I got two nice looking plants at the garden center sale where I got the flowers for blooming day. I already set them to be on their own pot and hopefully they will grow well next year and start giving some berries soon. I will write about what I learned on how to take care of blueberries later, so keep posted.

My new blueberry plants

Along with the blueberries, one more thing also come to my little garden in japan. Some nice autumn colors.

All this past months I have been seeing a lot of very beautiful autumn photos from gardens around the world. They show amazing shades of yellows, reds, silvers, browns and more. I must admit, every time I saw so many beautiful images and plants, I felt a bit left out. Because my little container garden in a balcony doesn’t really have much foliage, and very few of my plants show much changes for autumn, I wasn’t expecting to have much colors for this season. Even my little maple was in bad shape after this summer vacation drought, so I didn't thought it would have much either.

The blueberry had a nice tone of red for autumn

Luckily, with the coming of the blueberries, I got a small hint of red. Some of the lower leaves were already changing, which I thought they look very nice and I even comment on it to the plant (yes, I do speak to the plants some times, I got it from my grandmother, call me crazy but I think it works). That little comment must have hit the pride of the other plants, because that same week some of the leaves of the maple started to change, the same for the grape, which started to get a nice hint of yellow. Just like that autumn had finally arrived to my little balcony garden in japan; Is always so nice when you get a nice surprise from your garden.

My grape got a nice hint of yellow

My little japanese maple, a bit roughed up,
but changing to beautiful colors

Now talking about the blog carnival. Remember it starts the 30th of this month. All you have to do to participate is make a post about your favorite flower, vegetable, bush, tree, cactus, shrub, herb, moss, algae, fern, fruit, root, creeper, climber, grass, weed, bulb or any other plant you love (or more than one if you prefer).

I will post a small widget here that will allow you to input a link to your blog or website. Send me a mail if you need more information. And have a great weekend!

Strawberries in my little garden in japan

If you visit this blog regularly, your probably know strawberries are one of my favorite plants to have, but also one of the most tricky to raise for me.

One of the strawberry pots in my little garden in japan

After some problems with beetles and little setbacks earlier this year, I found myself replacing my strawberry plants. Luckily it all finally seems to be going ok now. The only thing is that, I ended up with so many strawberries that I don't even know what to do with them (not that I complain).

Here are the strawberries varieties I currently have on my little garden in Japan. I found the information about them in the charts at garden center and also doing a little extra reseach.

女峰 （にょほう）Nyohou
From the first replacement batch, and currently on quarantine because the others on that batch got diseased. It got a bit down for some time, but it seems like it will make it. I will get a new shoot out of it and raise that one as the main just to be sure. It is already growing new leafs, so I think it will be ok. This is the same type as my old strawberries; I didn't realize this until after I had bought it. They have a good balance between sweet and acid and they give a big yield with a nice shape and color.

びっくりイチゴ Bikkuriichigo, 宝交早生 Houkouwase
and ひがり小町 Hikarikochou strawberry

宝交早生　(ほうこうわせ) Houkouwase
One of the most hardy of the bunch. It has a soft texture, with a bit of acid taste. It is supposed to be very easy to grow, so I hope it will thrive nicely. It also has the characteristic that it starts giving fruit early and its season last a bit longer.

びっくりイチゴ　Bikkuriichigo
The name translates something like "surprising strawberry". The main characteristic of this one is its size but it is also very sweet. It can grow as big as 7 cm. I got it because it will be fun to see how big it gets, doesn't matter if I don’t get many.

アイベリー　Love berry
I have tree of this kind. One is a little shoot I rescued from the first batch that got diseased; The others are from the second batch. They came in the same little pot, but I separated them to give them a better chance. It is one of the bests in terms of flavor. Very sweet, good size, nice aroma and a very rich texture. I will treat this one as my main crop. I hope it grows well in my garden.

My three アイベリー Love berry strawberry

章姫　(あきひめ）　Akihime
Like the love berry, this one also have very nice flavor and size, but it has a different texture. While the love berry has a firm flesh, this one is more on the soft side.

ひがり小町　（ひがりこちょう）　Hikarikochou
A well balanced strawberry, nice shape and color with a lot of sweetness and a strong flavor. It is also very hardy and disease resistant. Because it is one of the most resistant and balanced, this will be my wild card in case something happens.


Also, asking a strawberry guru from the garden center, I found out something about my old ever bearing. Turns out that it was not really one, it was just a lucky struck. Some of the strawberry varieties here in japan (like Akihime, Kunouwase, Nyohou and others from the same family line), sometimes develop ever bearing characteristics. It happens on one or two plants of each fifty or so. What happens is that they just start giving fruit whenever they feel like it, regardless of the season.

They must have some ever bearing genes that kick in now and then, but it is not something planned, is pure luck. I find it to be a very funny trait. I will double cross my fingers and toes so I get lucky again or at least try and get a hold of one of those if I see one ever for sale.

女峰 Nyohou Strawberries from my July harvest

On a different topic. I got some great response about the blog carnival. Based on your comments it will be about a favorite or special plant in your garden. I am not sure if I want to try to make the carnival post a monthly thing, I know for sure I would get tangled with the dates or I might get busy with school. But, I do want to have it now and then. This way more of your favorites will be able to showcase. Because ,like Green Lane Allotments said in the last post's comments, picking only one, it's like asking a parent to choose only one favorite child!

Maybe having one per season, or every couple of months will be ok. That way you get to show your beautiful maple or ginko in November, tulips in April, strawberries in June, etc., etc.

For this first one, because we are starting and also because it is a bit of the down season in gardening, lets make it about any favorite you have. It can be either your favorite for that month or any other month, other year, other life, you pick. Just choose one that you really like.

Now for the date, should it be Sunday 28 or Tuesday 30? Please let me know in the comments.

Happy gardening!

My lettuce and Komatsuna

One of the good things about having my little balcony garden in japan, is that I have been able to try growing a wide variety of plants. So many different ones that, so far, it has been a continuous exploration and learning experience. I find it very exciting to see how every new part of the garden is doing and see the way each one grows and develops.

The excitement and satisfaction one gets when a plant has sprouted, bloomed or even just got a couple new leafs is, well enough, a very good reward for anyone growing a garden. However, there is one more very nice prize for those who venture on the tricky task of growing edibles. That is, you get to eat something you are completely responsible for. The taste of a fruit, vegetable or anything that you have grown yourself would be much better if it has all your effort, patience and care as a background.

A little of my lettuce and komatsuna harvest.

Since I was a kid, back at my country, my garden has always had some edibles that my family enjoyed happily. I was always happy to pick and eat a papaya or an orange, and I always felt proud and accomplished by having them. But, even though I always had an active role on growing that garden, the main responsibility was always on my mom or my dad. Many times they had to tell me to go water the plants, or pick the lemons that the wind took down, otherwise the plants will dry or the fruit would go wasted.

I think it was not until now, when I have a garden that is only my responsibility, that I have truly understood fully the responsibility and the accomplishment of eating my own grown food. Eating my own strawberries or my own tomato has given me very nice feeling of success that I must recommend everyone to try, at least once in a lifetime.

Only half more to go, It really has been a nice harvest.

One of the experiences I have had with this is growing lettuce and komatsuna. This is the first time I have ever grown lettuce or any greens on any of my gardens, so, mostly my method was a "wing it" approach. Luckily, as always in my garden, they have been growing well, too well in fact. Right now I have two planters so full that I must, either thin out or cut out as soon as possible.

It all started because, in my eager to have a nice harvest, I put too many seeds in the first (the big)planter. They sprouted nicely, and continued growing with no problems, but soon was obvious that they were overcrowding the pot. I didn't wanted to waste any so decided to eat a little at a time to keep them at bay, however my appetite was no match for their fast growing and then the big planter really got out of control.

In here there is plenty of komatsuna and lettuce,
there is even some cilantro too

Now, even when I decided to thin them out, is too late. They grew so much that the leafs got tangled and now is very hard to take one without hurting the next one. I decided the only option is to cut them all and start again. I hope they can still catch the season and I get to reset the big planter.

Also, having learned my lesson a bit to late, I did the same on the second planter, I put too many seeds. Now it is almost at the point of no return, when I must thin out or risk another tangled mess. I will rescue this little planter before that happen.

Salad tastes better when you grow it yourself.
I grew the lettuce, the komatsuna and the basil, I hope someday I will grow the carrot and onion as well.

Still, because I don’t like to waste, I have been having a lot of salad every day. It is no problem, because I don’t get tired of it. It really makes a difference to have truly fresh vegetables. Is not only because they are my own grown, but I have to say, this greens are very good. They are really delicious, flavorful and tender, even the stem tastes great.

Like i said before, I really must recommend to anybody out there thinking about trying some gardening, to just try it, there is nothing like having your very own little garden.

My tomato harvest

Well, I finished presenting all the plants on my garden, this time I want to continue yesterday's post about the harvest i had this year.

Remember those tomatoes that managed to survive. Here it's how they looked when I got them from the plant.

My tomatoes ready for harvest

I took the tomato plant out this weekend, It might not had been the most successful crop, but I had a lot of fun, learned a lot, and I did got some tomatoes out of it.

Fresh harvest

I will sure try again next year. And with more than one plant. But, what kind?
Maybe some cherry tomatoes or some big ones.

My tomatoes from 2010

I don't know much about varieties, any recommendation?

Strawberries in August!!

This weekend I harvested the first strawberry of the august batch!

my strawberry harvest of August!

I don’t know why, but my strawberries just keep on giving fruit. I was surprised when they gave a batch in November, but now they have been giving since may and again now in august.

I think they might be the ever bearing type, but the label they come with says it is a June bearing. Also they continue to give out many runners, I have to cut some out every week, and ever bearing are supposed to give very few runners. So it's very confusing.

this strawberry was getting big in mid august

Last month after the July harvest I thought that was the end. The plant had given out a very generous batch of several branches and then stopped giving flowers. But this time I noticed some new flowers were about to come out early august. Another week and they were at full bloom. I artificially pollinated the first flower and let the others be as nature intended.

Last week that one strawberry started to ripen and the rest started to get some volume. And finally this last weekend I harvested successfully that one strawberry. It had a very funny pear shape, very different to the ones I got this July.

Pear strawbery

Now the rest of the batch doesn’t look like it will grow more, and they didn't got enough pulp, so I guess I should have pollinated those as well. But well I'm very happy with my one pear shaped strawberry harvest, it was very sweet, one of the sweetest of this year.

I wouldn't be shocked if the plant will try to fruit some more this fall. Like i said before, of all my plants it is the one that continue to surprise me every time

It was very sweet