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2 weeks ago, I moved into my first ever apartment. I've been in the military since College, and living on base, so a edible urban garden was the first order of business. Second, after furnishing the whole house at Ikea. I used to live on a small property growing up, not big by any standard, but my parents were big gardeners, and we grew up on home grown veggies and herbs. I'm attempting to recreate that on the fifth floor of an inner city Sydney, Australia apartment block. I've got a 2.4m x 3.6m space to work with, and even with the barbie and outdoor setting, I can fit alot (I hope). Here it is thus far:  Established(hopefully!): 3 types of Cherry Tomato A mix of heirloom Lettuci Corriander Marjoram 3 types of Basil (Lemon, Cinnamon, some other one) Garlic Chives Regular Chives Sage Sorrell Chervil Curry Carrots (Heirloom and Purple Dragon) Rosemary Planted today: Chilli (Cayenne) A variety of different heirloom beets Thai Pink Egg Cherry Tomatoes (Amazingly yum, if you've never tried these, track them down, they're amazing) Two pots of dwarf heirloom peas (There is nothing in the world better than fresh peas straight from the tree) Kale Still awaiting seeds: Giant sunflower (My balcony is 9 foot tall, why not?) Peppermint Kohl Rabi Amaranthus Aragula Garlic Perpetual Spinach Borage Bergamont Comfrey Everything is either heirloom or at minimum organic. I'm not big on the whole organic thing, but after trying an heirloom cherry tomato at a farmers market, I've been turned. It's going pretty well so far. I'm loving it, and things are growing well. I've had to move most pots off the edge of the balcony as the winds have been pretty strong the past few days. Gave everything its first feed of Sulphate of Potash, and Seaweed Concentrate. And they copped some heavy rain the other night, so I'm hoping they're still ok. Managed to pick up those buckets for $1 each at a discount store. They're actually kids beach pails for sandcastles, but a heap of drilling and some repatriated gravel from the building site down the road, and they're perfect for single plants like tomato and peas. I bought a dozen, I may go back for more. Now I'm just really hoping things continue to grow nicely, and that the chilli seeds germanate. They need a soil temp of over 18c apparently, luckily it's been pretty hot lately, so they should pop up soon! It's an addictive hobby. A month or two and I should be picking my first lettuce. That's gunna be a great day.
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Jan 5, 2012 09:15
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 22:16 |
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SubG posted:What promotes good thyme growth? I've got a couple thyme plants in the back yard, but they seem to tend toward growing stemmy instead of leafy, if that makes sense. They seem to do fine, but I usually end up with a lot of long branches with just a little leafy segment on the end. Is this one of those things where I should be pruning to promote a different growth pattern, or is it environmental, bad luck, or what? Thyme does do better with fairly regular use/cutting in my experience, but if you can get your hands on it, give them a good sprinkle of sulphate of potash (Potassium Sulphate). It's lacking from most soils and fertilizers, and will promote better leaf growth and strength. I'm nuts for the stuff. Especially on tomatoes and herbs, it makes a huge difference. As for my garden, well, it's hit some roadblocks but is coming back nicely. We had a massive torrential storm over two days, which with winds and rain and hail, wiped out alot of my plants. I probably transplanted them a little early, which didn't help, so I've had to do alot of replanting. Peas have just taken off like the dickens, and my sole surviving tomato plant is getting bigger by the minute. Losing all my lettuce really sucked, but it's been replanted and back to where it was before, so shouldn't be long now! And my chives are growing decently. The big surprise is that I actually got my chilli's to germinate, which I'm quite happy with. I use them alot, it's gunna be worth it. Oh, and the carrots and beetroot are just flying along. It's quite awesome. As for a question however, does anyone know what a marjoram seedling looks like? Either I accidentally dropped some marjoram seeds in the wrong pot, or I've cultivated one hell of a weed. It's got some inch sized leafs that have funny serrated edges, which I'm pretty sure isn't right. Any guesses?
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Jan 19, 2012 04:57
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Cpt.Wacky posted:These are mine, still fairly young: Sonofa... Thanks for that. Yep, I successfully cultivated a weed. Luckily I replanted literally everything in my seedraisers after the storms wiped them out, so I've got some little baby marjorams growing away nicely  As for the soil, it's all uber expensive specific veggie and herb pot mix. I've got a mate that works at the hardware, so that made things easier (and cheaper). Weeds are a constant bloody pest. You'd think living in the CBD, 5 stories up, they wouldn't be a problem. But I have to pull out about half a dozen daily. It's a pain, especially in the carrot and beet planters.
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Jan 19, 2012 07:43
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Had to prune back some of my larger, faster growing herbs for the first time today, so naturally got to taste them for the first time. The Lemon Basil is insanely strong. Seriously, the aftertaste of lemon remains for like half an hour afterward, and it's absolutely delicious. I'm excited to do some Indonesian styled cooking just to use this stuff. Insanely yummy. The Chervil is like a weird, nutty, slightly aniseedy Parsley. Absolutely have no ideas what to do with it though. Oh well, it's a nice problem to have. The Cinnamon Basil is super aniseedy, tastes like incredibly strong fennel. Gunna be interesting to find a use for that one. The sage tastes like Sage, and is growing like mad. So all is going well, except for one Tomato plant. It's still pretty small, I'd say 5in tall at most, and in the past couple of days the leaves have started yellowing and it's looking decidedly unhealthy. I'm thinking it could be too much water, as the drainage isn't the best in this pot, and we've had a tonne of rain in the past few days. Would that cause that? All the other tomato plants are completely fine, so it's an intriguing problem. Oh, and my pea plants are growing like the dickens, but I've noticed the very bottom leaves on each plant have started to go yellow and die off. I'm guessing that's a lack of nutrients/sunlight problem, so they're getting a feed this morning.
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Jan 25, 2012 23:34
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Well, tonight I made my first dish using ingredients from the garden. Baked Rainbow Trout with Heirloom Carrots, Asparagus and Baby Brussel Sprouts. Admittedly, I bought the asparagus and sprouts, but everything else was out of the garden. Used a good handfull of lemon and cinnamon basil, a heap of chervil, and of course, my baby carrots. It was amazing. Utterly amazing. I'm beyond hooked now. And even better is that my pea plants have sprouted baby pea pods, which is terribly exciting. Time to order some more seeds I think. I reckon I can grow fenel in a decent sized pot, and I'm gunna give asparagus a whirl. Although I'm about to leave the garden to it's own devices for 5 days while I'm deployed, so I'm a little worried/excited what it will look like when I get back. There's plenty of rain forecast luckily, so watering isn't a problem. I'm hoping it will look like a jungle.
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Feb 4, 2012 14:30
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Does anyone know how to dry herbs without them going mouldy? I live in a place with high humidity, air drying isn't an option and I'm not gunna buy a dehydrater just because my basil is going nuts, and try as I might I just can't incorporate lemon or cinammon basil in every meal. I tried a low heat oven, that was switched off, but they turned into ash tasting yuckiness 
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Feb 18, 2012 03:14
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 22:16 |
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Thanks guys, I was googling for ages with no results. I'll try the fridge trick when I do my harvest next week. In crapper news, I got two pea pods, and then all my pea plants died. I can't really see a reason for it, although it is summer and probably not the right season. Oh well, the two were yummy! I'm thinking I'm beginning to get some pests pop up too. I've noticed a few leaves on random plants have bits that look eaten, but it's actually been eaten down to a level that leaves a clear bit on the leaf. Not sure what could be doing it, but I'm gunna give all the plants a good big garlic spray and hope for the best. At the moment I'm deployed away from home for 5 days a week, which while it's exciting to come home and see how much grows in 5 days, my garden is completely at the mercy of nature and pests.
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Feb 18, 2012 09:28
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