In the garden: Harvesting joys, gardening woes and more

My balcony garden has been good to me and my family. I’ve been continuously harvesting and eating tasty fresh vegetables etc. from my garden. It is amazing that I can now prepare a salad with lettuce, cucumbers, red peppers and cherry tomatoes - all from my small garden.

Freshly made salad from my balcony garden

While I was away on vacation, my wonderful neighbor tended my garden - watering and reaping as needed. In this post, I will share harvests, garden woes and more.

Harvests

The weather was hot, there were some rainy days and all the plants flourished. When I returned, I saw red – but in a good way.

Tomatoes on the vine

I immediately harvested an abundant amount of cherry tomatoes, vegetables and herbs.

Cherry tomatoes are now picked daily.

I also picked these 3 lovely red peppers

from these healthy pepper plants which still have many green peppers. You might be able to spot a pepper ripening here.

Pepper plants in the sunlight

These plants came from seeds of a supermarket-bought red pepper. The outcome is a nice surprise.
After picking the red peppers, my husband was so impressed by their size and beauty, that he went to the balcony to check the plants and remaining peppers. He thought that they looked too wonderful to be home-grown.

Mini-cucumbers were picked as well and and there are still many young ones on the vines.

Mini-cucumbers picked and growing on the vine
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The first cabbage was cut, it looked beautiful and felt firm;

whilst the beans flowered, started growing and a handful was harvested,

also a few red beets as well.

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These mini-pumpkins are quite special. Why? Because I helped Mother Nature by performing self pollination. The bees did not seem to like the pumpkin flowers. They were too busy with the tomatoes. I am very happy that the 3 self-pollinated female flowers thrived. I was too eager to pick the first pumpkin. I should have waited until it was fully orange. Now it sits in the sun to continue the ripening process.

Garden Woes

Powdery mildew

This is a photo of the plants by the trellis of the table-garden. The leaves look lovely and green. However, on closer inspection – something else flourished not only the plants - Powdery mildew!! Oh no!!

It's on the pumpkin leaves and some cucumber leaves have yellow spots. The weather fluctuated a lot and there was no chance to control its outbreak as I was on vacation. I’ve sprayed the least affected leaves with this home-made solution. The worse affected leaves were removed.

During the early stages, powdery mildew will not affect the plant or fruit development as there is still green areas on the leaves. However, it is best that the issue is contained before entire leaves are covered, preventing the necessary photosynthesis.

Thrips

Strawberry illness
The continuous harvests were totally delicious and thoroughly enjoyed - from my 36 strawberry plants. However, some leaves are becoming brown around the edges.

This could be caused by a myriad of reasons, such as overwatering, pests, fungus, too much fertilizer etc. As a result, further investigation is required. To be on the safe side, these leaves were removed as establishing the real cause can be tricky. Pruning is sometimes good!

The joys outweighs the woes on my balcony!!

I am always happy when I walk over to my garden on my balcony.

My table-garden with recently sown romain lettuce, pak soi, red beets, parsley etc.

This is not a big deal for someone with a backyard, but my balcony has been a great source of not only veggies but joy. I am truly amazed and grateful.

With summer over in just a few weeks – I will continue to appreciate, savour and enjoy everything I reap from my little haven in the city.!!
🏡❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗

All photos are taken on my iPhone 6S

🏡❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗❤️🍅🌿🥗

This is my entry to HiveGarden September Challenge.