Tomatoes!

I am growing tomatoes this year again along with other things. I started them as seedlings a little while ago and I potted them and put them out on the balcony just the other day.

This is how the seedlings looked like at the time I potted them. They had pretty long stems already.

I re-potted the seedlings from the egg carton starters, into larger pots. In this photo, are two individually potted tomato plants with a pot of garlic on the balcony ledge. I didn't bury the stems any deeper then they were in the egg cartons.

The tomatoes have been re-potted for about two weeks now and they haven't made much progress. They look the same as they did when I first transplanted them. Well, I just read a blog entry from the web page Grown in the City, discussing some tips for starting tomato plants. Grown in the city promotes apartment and city gardening. I really have enjoyed getting tips and balcony garden inspirations. What I took from it was making sure the plants grow adequate root systems. The seedlings need to be re-potted deep, with the fresh soil up as far as the lowest leaves on the seedlings stem. That is not what I did when I re-potted them and that may have caused their slowing in growth.

So soon after reading that I got my butt in action and re-potted my 're-potted' tomato seedlings. This time I made sure they were buried deep in the soil.

The plants didn't have much root growth either. They were all still very superficial.

These three were replanted too. They all didn't have much root growth either. They wont stay stacked like this for long. I just want to make sure the one is the smaller pot (and therefore the lower sitting pot) got a good dose of sunlight after the replanting. I hope this makes a big difference and the plants take off. I am so looking forward to harvesting nice big juicy red tomatoes.

Spring Seedlings Update

My Balcony Garden is doing alright. It was pretty cool the last week but this weekend it really warmed up and the sunny sunny sun came back out from behind the perpetual Berlin clouds. I hope it stays out a little longer this time.

My Sweet peas are looking good. I will soon need to figure out how to supply them with something to grow on. I will be Jerry rigging something soon.

The garlic hasn't been doing so well. I am pretty sure they are DEAD. Well I will just have to read up again on how to properly care for them. Maybe it was just too early and too chilly. I haven't given up on Garlic. I will just have to regroup and try again.

This pot has the bell peppers and two other garlic attempts (also Dead). I need to find some bricks or something similar to prop this pot up. It gets less light being over in this corner then the pots on the other side of my balcony. Though when it is raised up a little higher it receives quite a good amount of light.

See the bell pepper seedlings popping up through the soil!!? I can't wait to see how they grow.

I moved the extra tomato plants back into the kitchen. They have been in stasis since I put them out on the balcony.

Not much growing action going on, what's the deal? To chilly? Probably. oh well.

This is a Hyacinth that I received from someone last year. I am so happy to see it is growing again this year. I had never dealt with a flower bulb before, but I remembered my mom telling me that, you leave the bulb in the soil after the flower has wilted. -She often folded the drooping leaves over on themselves and secured them with a rubber band. Like you do with a long pony tail.- This allows the plant to store nutrients in the bulb for the next season. So that is what I did last year and it worked, yeah!!

There has even been some new grown on my cactus. 

 I have had these for over two years and not much has happened to them. In fact I am surprised they are still alive. I love cactus though because you can totally forget about them for like a month and they are still there just chillin'. 

Now that I know that I can handle cactus plants, I am thinking to add a few more to my collection. Maybe something prickly this time..

Potting the Plants

I finally cleaned out the dead Autumn plants from the pots on the balcony.

They sat there like this all winter! They stayed frozen most the time.

 

These plants, lasted so long into Winter, still in the end they ended up looking nasty. Now that they are in the trash and the pots have fresh soil, I can transplant the little starters. Below are a few sweet pea plants. I look forward to seeing how far they spread along my balcony.

I had started some seeds in egg cartons in my kitchen window. I decided to go ahead and transplant them now. It is much earlier then I would normally transplant. I think they need some more time, but it has been warm and sunny all week. I think they are not getting enough light on the kitchen windowsill. It only receives afternoon and  some evening light. On the balcony the plants get way more time in the Sun, besides it was not a good set up on the windowsill. It was messy and some of the egg cartons were loosing a bit of their form. And REALLY  I was ready to get them out of my kitchen.

The little tomato plants look good, most ended up to be about the same size as the one here.

Balcony right corner: Before

Balcony right corner:After    Fresh pot with bell peppers and garlic.

Up on the ledge I have some tomato plants. They will need to be re-potted again as well as the two garlic plants. Check out the background. I live on a very busy street in Neukölln, Berlin.

I needed a another container for the tomato plants. I didn't have any more of the black plastic plant pots. I found this in the sink from last night's delicious peach tart. It was so yummy. Anyway,  I just think it looks cute and it is temporary anyway, no harm no foul.

I ended up with the peas here in the large pot with some spinach and greens. The center pot has flowers and the thinner pot has some lettuce and a tomato plant. This blue thing is also only for the time being. I need to think on it and maybe get some accessories to have this little space come together. I loving watching my garden grow.

Spring Seedlings

I want to have a veggie garden this year. This is my third spring in my Berlin Apartment and I am ready to lay some roots, no pun intended, well maybe slightly.
I have started growing some seeds in egg cartons, like I learned from my mom, she has the green thumb, I however do not. Though that hasn't stopped me from trying.

I have planted cherry tomatoes, sweet peas, bell peppers, rucola, spinach, Swiss chard, parsley, basic garden lettuce and garlic.

I still have scallions to plant. I am waiting on more egg cartons, plus I need to check online for special care or techniques, I am clueless. Actual that said. I should probably check out the info for each different veggie I am planting. I haven't grown more then tomatoes and lettuce before. This project seems more daunting by the minute! Oh well, no going back now.

Since I live in an apartment on the fourth floor, my garden is going to be a 'container/balcony/window hanging garden'. I am kind of excited about the possibilities. Though that will come later, once the seedlings are ready to transfer. As of now they are propped up on empty wine boxes on the kitchen windowsill.

The slanted kitchen window sill.

A wine box with a magazine wedged underneath to level it out. (high tech)

Simple, temporary, and hidden with a kitchen hand towel.

I am quite happy with what I have selected to plant. For example Swiss chard!! Oh yeah Greens!! I will have to make some pulled pork and red beans and rice just to go with them! Yumm.
I miss my Mexican food and homemade salsas. It's bad. In moving to Germany I never though the lack of ( or extreem difficulty in tracking down) some ingredients would effect me as much as it has. So I am keeping an eye out for some Jalapenos and Cilantro seeds. That would just rock my world! I am crossing my finger but wont hold my breath!