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.

Aphids on my Komatsuna!

Aphids! they are back on my little garden. After I got rid of them last time with help from the ladybugs, I hoped they will stay away at least until the warm months, but no luck.

The komatsuna started turning orange

I had been noticing a couple of leafs on the komatsuna going brown and orange lately. Strange, but not that worrisome because the plants still looked healthy enough.

At first I thought they where just a bit dehydrated. . The wind usually takes away all the moisture on the upper planters and the days have been quite windy. So I just water them more and hope they will get better.

After a couple of days I noticed the leafs are still changing colors, so I blamed it on the cold. They are in the upper corner meaning they get extra wind and therefore cold. I wasn't worried because I have a lot of seedlings growing on the coldframe and also it will be time to change plants soon. I will have to harvest them anyways.

I wonder if I can still eat some after this, It still looks tasty

But then the other day, while I was sniping away some dead flower heads, I decided to take some komatsuna in to cook. There I found them. Aphids, a lot of them, going wild on the planter. Now I must get rid of them before they spread to all the other pots.

Lesson learned: I should have started paying a bit more attention from the beginning. I didn’t really check the plants until the end.

There are so many aphids in the komatsuna plants

Also, I found the guilty carrier this morning. I have been hearing some strange sounds on the outside lately but I wasn’t sure if it was just wind or what. Today I saw a big crow picking through the komatsuna. My guess is that the crow takes some leaves for making its nest and must have brought the aphids form some other place it visited.

Anyone with some recipe for getting rid of aphids?

My new herbs

I have been having a crave for herbs lately. So, this weekend I made a quick trip to the garden center and got a load of new herbs to go with the ones I already have.

It all started when I was reviewing online about how to grow the thyme seeds I brought from Mexico. I learned that thyme usually grows slow at the beginning, that together with the fact that I need to sow my seeds until spring and also since I am a bit of an impatient gardener, made me decided on getting a grown plant for the winter.

Then this Friday, when I was taking a stroll at the supermarket's gardening section, I saw they have a bunch of herbs for sale. I could not resist and bought a lemon thyme there, and definitely wanted more. So, I made a plan to get some new herbs and also took a trip to Tokyo to buy some wooden pots I know would fit the herbs perfectly. Then yesterday got the new herbs.

My new herbs with their planters

They had a great selection, and it was sure hard to pick which ones to buy. In the end of course, I ended up buying more than I should have, but no regrets.

The new herbs I got in my little garden in japan

From left to right in the photo above

• Dill No idea how to cook with this but I love the flowers


• Oregano For pasta, and for some Mexican sauces


• Lemon balm For some good tea


• Lavender I have always wanted a lavender


• Rosemary This one is still blooming


• Aloe I got this one from Mexico, more about that other day


• Lemon Thyme Its smell reminds me of my lemon tree back at home


• Cool Peppermint A nice addition to my current mint collection


• Thyme The one that started all

I hope they will grow nicely, I still have to set them up in their planters, but I can do that over the week when I have time. There is much to do in my garden, and they are so many new plants.

I also got a much needed rack to hang some of the planters up the rail, because I already run out of space on the floor. I choose to put there the planter that used to have the strawberries and now has lettuce and kalanchoe sprouts. Today I set it up and it works like a charm.

My new rack all set up with the lettuce seedlings

Back in Japan

Finally I am back in Japan and back to the screen.

It was a very good trip, sort out the things I needed to do, spend some time with my family eat tons of good food and had lots of fun. The only problem was that I neglected the blog a little, but I learned my lesson and I will try to get more organized for next time. I'm sorry I didn't post anything or commented on other blogs.

Also I haven't forgot I promised a post on my garden in Mexico, but don’t worry I do have a lot of photos I took, and I will post them next.

For now a little getting back on track and looking how my garden stood. I left them in very good hands so this time I had no casualties and everything's seems to have continued to grow nicely.

I do have to do a little tidy up and some sort around, because some plants need some trimming and also because I need to make space to organize what I brought from Mexico.

I had a very pleasant surprise when I got back, remember the lettuce and the komatsuna I just sowed before I left? Well they certainly have been growing when I was away, now I have too many, I must thin them out soon.

Komatsuna and Lettuce overload

On a side note, Komatsuna seeds are one of the most interesting seeds I have seen. I have seen a lot of seeds with very different colors and shapes, but I don’t remember other seeds with a color like this, It is a very nice blue/aqua with a glossy finish, they look great when they are all together in my seed jar.

Komatsuna and Lettuce seeds

Lettuce sprouts

Back to gardening topics, here is a quick post.

The week after leaving from Tokyo I had sown some lettuce and some komatsuna. I was wondering if it would be able to sprout since those days the weather just started to change, luckily they came out just some days before I left. Right now they continue to grow nicely.

Komatsuna sprouts

I went a little crazy putting to many seeds on the planter, and now I have too many plants, so I will have to thin them out when I get back, but I think is better to have too many plants than less. I hope they keep on surviving these days.

The lettuce and the komatsuna keep on growing nice, a bit too many though

The only problem is that I'm not sure how to do that, should i just pluck out some? or, is there any special method?  any suggestions?

Also, I'm still trying to get around the garden here, I will probably do some work this week.  

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?

My vegetables

Back at my country I had grown food many times before. At my parents' house we have lots of lemon and orange trees, papayas, and once we even had a mango and a watermelon. However vegetables are something I had not tried since I was a kid (well we do have a chili pepper bush but it practically grows itself).

Here in japan I was convinced I wanted to try to grow some vegetables in my garden. Apart from my tomatoes here I also have beans and peppers.

My peppers

My peppers finally got some fruit

I have a red and a yellow ornamental pepper. I got them from the trash of a flower shop last fall. I wonder why they threw them away, when I got them they still look good, I think the flower shop just needed the space. I didn't have any problem with them all winter, even though I kept them on their starter pots. They continue to flower and fruit thought the winter and into early spring.

I wasn't sure where to put them, but finally I did change them into a bigger pot. However when I change them I used some leftover banana milkshake fertilizer and I think it was too much because they stop giving fruit after that.

After the re-pot they had a couple weeks of rapid only leafs growth, then they started to bloom like crazy but dropped all flowers with no fruit. They continued doing that all spring and early summer and only until recently the amount of flowers diminished. Still no peppers though, well only one.

My beans

The beans never fully recovered from the drought

I like to grow beans because they remind me of my childhood. I always remember when I was a kid and I used to walk between the very tall bean stalks at my house garden. I don't think they were that tall, but when I was a kid they felt like giants.

Here in Japan I first sow some beans on late June. They grew like crazy, and started to take over the balcony fence, they were growing really good, and I was already counting how many I would harvest. Sadly, the beans were one of the most damaged plants on the week of the draught. Now they are only thin stalks with a couple of leafs. I guess I should get them out and try to sow some more but I haven't had the heart to do it.

For this winter I want to get some more vegetables, something that I can grow in my little balcony garden. I was thinking コマツナ (Japanese Mustard Spinach) and onions but I haven't decided yet, any recommendations?

My tomato

Tomatoes, one of the favorite crops of all gardeners around the world.

My tomatoes early in the season

 
Of all my plants, my tomatoes are by far the plant that has taught me the most.

It all started on a small trip to the garden center this spring. They had the whole entrance dedicated to only tomatoes. So many varieties. I was instantly convinced and bought a small seedling for my garden. 

This time I tried to be more prepared. I wanted to be able to harvest something so I research online how to take care of tomatoes. I got some basics, but as I found out later, there is so much to master if you want to have nice tomatoes.
I got a mid size pot and some support trellis. Set up the tomato and hoped for the best.

Being a completely newbie on tomatoes, I struggled from the start. I learned the hard way that tomatoes suck up more water than other plants. I usually water every two days in spring, but my tomato wanted water as much as two times per day.

My first tomato

So after that initial struggle my tomato settled in and then it started growing like crazy. From a little seedling it developed a nice thick stem and bloomed some flowers very fast.

Watching how that little flower become a tomato was one of the most rewarding things I had on my garden. It soon become a little green ball. And many other flowers appeared as well. But then, nothing..., the flowers keep dropping and no new tomatoes. I didn’t know if I do anything wrong, I even went and buy some fertilizer to help, but still nothing.

So I went back online to see what was going on and found out tomatoes need help to be pollinated. With me being on the tenth floor and in the middle of the city bees are quite scarce, so I had to try artificial pollination. I use some old electric toothbrush and voila! More tomatoes.

 My tomato growing like crazy

Early summer, I harvested that first tomato in all happiness and continued to take care of the plant. Also around those days I had some trouble with the rain. After a couple rainy days, some of the leafs got diseases, I just prune the plant a little and then it was all good again.

After that my tomato kept growing more and more, the new flowers all turn into fruit and become bigger and bigger every day it was all happy. But then… I went on vacation... My backup watering on vacations plan did not work and that week become the dread week of the vacation draught. When I came back, my poor tomatoes were showing all signs of dehydration. The lack of water stunt the growth of all the fruit that didn’t dry and also all new flowers died. From more than 15 possible tomatoes only six remained. And they where not in a good shape.

My tomato got big scars from lack of water

I did as I could. Watered thoroughly, fertilizer and lots of attention. The plant start to look better but never fully recovered.

At the end I did manage to harvest those last six tomatoes. They did not grow big, they where between a cherry tomato and a normal tomato. But they sure tasted delicious. We even try a test, ate a store bought tomato (it was good) then eat my little garden in japan tomato (it was very good!) and then try again the store bought one again (where did the flavor went??).

Many lessons learned. Be careful with the water, use bigger pot to have more moist, pollinate, keep away from rain, etc.

All in all, even if it was not the best crop ever it was most rewarding. Now the season is over for me. I still haven't got the heart to put down the plant but I probably will do it this weekend. I can't wait for next year to see what the new season will bring.

Early august harvest

My plants

Here is a small ever-changing list of the plants on my garden.
I will try to update this page accordingly to my current garden status. All my plants are now on the "my garden" page

 

• Mint: One apple mint and one peppermint
• Beans: No idea what kind I just try to sow some I didn’t eat
• Grape: It's a Pione, I just got it this month 
• Cilantro: Now on the second sow, I hope they are still on season
• Basil: Sweet basil, I want to try to cook with it
• Japanese maple tree (紅葉): The pot actually has four different kinds I'm waiting for autumn to see which one I keep
• Kalanchoe: Pink, donated by a shop
• Strawberry (苺): In memory of my grandfather 
• Tomato: On the end of season
• Pepper: Rescued form a garden shop trash
• Torenia: White, so many flowers
• Blue Salvia: Beautiful purple flowers
• Zantedeschia: My first plant in japan
• Rose: A little yellow mini rose
• Geranium: White and red for my mom
• Globe amaranth*: For the butterflies  

 

All of my plants have been an adventure on its own, some have worked some have not. Also besides from this I hope to acquire some tulips and maybe some other plants along the road.

*Updated 27 Aug 2010: A brand new globe amaranth