Online shopping - AGAIN

Yes, yes, I have a problem. Most women buy shoes and clothes, I buy plants.
I found another website that sells plants in pots and went on a spree.
Mostly I bough flowers, but my colleague ordered a blueberry bush and I like the way it looks so I'll buy some of those also.

This was the haul - three types of Oleander (because I saw them before and I love them, even if the sap is toxic), three types of lavender (purple, pink and white), I finally got my potted lilac and also a Japanese Quince with red blossoms (that one was unusual, it's supposed to make fruit in winter but mine will wait until next year for sure).

Lavender

I was kind of worried because the plants were VERY squished together in the box, but so far they seem to be doing fine. The red and the white oleanders are blooming, the pink one just got new leaves.

Red, pink and white oleander two days after I got them.

Lilac in a pot. Will wait until spring to see flowers.

Updates on my veggies and strawberries

First, let's see how the old ones are doing.

The only bad thing about the strawberries is that the fruit ripe one at a time :)

We have tomatoes! Some (Venus) are a little bigger, but the cherry tomatoes are also alive and well.

Also, the cucumber is blooming like crazy but so far only 2 female flowers. I am hand-pollinating them to make sure i get cucumbers.
I also planted some new gherkin seedlings, but those are small yet.

Mini-cauliflower

Red bell pepper

Potato in a bucket

Eggplant flowering

Hot peppers - Habanero Fatalii

I really have trouble arranging pictures in the right spot in this blog :D
As you can see, summer is in full swing and I just LOVE everything!


And because I have an addiction to online shopping, of course I bought new plants - flowers this time. I will make another port about those.

Again, new plant additions

Hm, I am now sure I am addicted to buying plants...
So, I have a few new additions, just delivered.

We have mini-eggplant, bell pepper, another type of tomato (Venus, with purple stripes) and a lime.

 This is an azalea/rhododendron I got from the flower shop because I loved the flowers.

An update on my other plants: the cucumber has flowers! Now I have to figure out which are male and which are female so that I can pollinate it.

The cherry tomatoes are also flowering and I am pretty sure I saw a small tomato forming :D I am jumping with joy!

I also joined a forum for other nutcases like me (apartment gardeners, that is) and one of them gave me three hot peppers - Habanero Fatalii :)

So overall, it's an amazing week :)

New plants and new crops

I have to admit I am addicted to plant buying :)
Pretty soon I will run out of space in the sunny spots, but I am counting on the fact that some of the other things I planted will be done and I can re-use some of the containers/spots. So, when it comes to new stuff I planted, I have cucumbers (gherkin type because they make smaller cucumbers and are easier to grow in pots), a new type of PURPLE beans because they look funny and a horned African cucumber (that is supposed to taste strange) called Kiwano.

I also bought a Cranberry plant (Merisor), a hybrid between a raspberry and a strawberry called japanese Framberry and a  Honeyberry (Boaba de miere). 

 

I gave up on the spinach for now, I'll try again when it's colder. 

I am also very happy that my strawberries are having fruits - same with the beans. Now I realise that I actually don't like green beans at all :)) but it's so nice that they are growing. 

 

My tomatoes and my cucumbers are also doing very well, even if for the last few days it has been cold and raining. The tomatoes are flowering :)

 

Planting calendar

I started my balcony garden because I wanted to see if I can grow fresh vegetables, but I did make some rookie mistakes. After I got in trouble with some of the crops I actually started researching and I found a very nice calendar for planting.

As it can easily be seen, most of the things I planted very very late, so they aren't doing as well as they should.
So, I am planning better for the fall.
For example, I plan to try again in the fall with cold season crops - spinach, lettuce, radishes, rucola, carrots, cauliflower, peas and beets, because they seem to be doing better with lower temperatures.
I do have a batch of carrots that I moved inside and they seem to be doing well. I also planted a type that grows small round roots like a radish instead of the long one, I hope it's not too hot for them to grow. I'll move them inside just in case.
However, the tomatoes are doing absolutely great and so are the cucumbers and beans - today I actually noticed that my green beans are starting to show up!
So, if you are thinking about growing veggies, plan before you sow :))

Also, I'll add a list of useful links

http://www.tobuildagarden.com/
http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/index.php