My first harvest and my failures

I harvested the first "crop" today :))
It's an icicle - basically a type of radish that doesn't have a red color on the outside - I've never seen this type before and the picture on the seed package made me think it's a white carrot at first.

To be honest, I think it was supposed to grow for longer, but I was really excited o I pulled one out to see what it is.
The others seem to be doing really well - I planted them in a really deep pot so they should grow pretty long.
Now for the "not-so-good" - the other type of radishes I planted, the usual round red type, have really big leaves but no roots are thickening. I am not sure it's because they are too crowded, because I thinned one pot and left the other as it was.
I am upset because it's supposed to be an easy vegetable to grow in containers - mine seem to have too thin stalks and no roots.

Also, my Camellia is dropping the buds - I am not very worried yet, because I read that this happens sometimes when the plants have too many buds - and mine really has too many for its size.

for the moment, that is it.

New seedlings planted and a general picture

I planted new batches of cilantro, dill, lettuce, carrots and seeds for cherry tomatoes and chilly peppers.

There are also new batches of basil planted and I moved the strawberries and the radishes inside, because it's getting too hot for them outside and they started wilting.

I also bought a celery root with leaves because I was unable to make it grow from seed (apparently it takes forever and I don't have the patience for it).

My balcony is becoming very crowded on the sides, so I will have to step up with the vertical plans. I need to go to a home improvement store to buy some chains, new pots and other things.

Overall, I'm very happy with the way it's coming around and pretty soon I will start harvesting stuff.


So here is a cure picture with the cat included :D

I also managed to buy some oregano from Mega Image and I planted the cuttings - surprisingly, they seem to be doing very well. This is my "herb garden" - Mint, oregano, basil, lovage, dill, parsley and celery. The rosemary is on the windowsill behind it.

I also bought a yellow begonia and planted it in a bigger pot.

That's about it for now :)

Advice from a begginer

Ok, I have been following a lot of articles, blogs and websites about gardening and I tried to use some of the advice - not all of it good.
So here are a few of my tried and failed or successes:

- seedlings - since I only use a few pots, I don't need a large amount of plants or seedlings. I use a normal desk lamp and a plastic container, plus egg cartons to sprout seeds.

Now, the advice I followed and I should't have - DO NOT PLANT the seedlings with the carton. I did that and the seedling barely grew. The ones I took out of the carton are twice as big.
The carton-planting might work in the garden, but in a container, you need to remove it to promote root growing.

- seeds - the first time I planted store-bought seeds, I planted too many of them and they all sprouted - which means I wasted a lot of them, since most of the time I had to pinch off the plants.
So now I only plant 3-5 of them in a carton, just in case they don't sprout.

- watering and fertilizer - no matter what type of soil you use, plants in containers dry up fast, so I spray water on them every day. On the soil, not the plants! Most of the plants do not like water on the leaves and it promotes fungus, so try to avoid wetting the leaves. This means choosing bigger pots so that there is room. Also, I add a small amount of fertilizer in the water (half of the recommended dose) because the nutrients in the potting soil are exhausted after about 2 months and the plants need them.
Also, I water them with tap water that was kept in bottles for at least a day to remove the chlorine.

- soil - I use the cheapest version of potting soil, but I add slow-release fertilizer every 3 months to it. There is a granulated type that dissolves in time (I have the one recommended for strawberries, but it works for anything).
I also have a few pretentious plans :) I bought a bag of orchid soil for an orchid and now I use the rest of it for acid-loving plants (the rhododendron, the camelia, the blueberries and so on). I mix it with regular potting soil because it's acidic so it lowers the PH of the mix. You can also add a spoon of apple vinegar in a liter of water and use it for them (trick I learned from a florist).

- pots - I try to not spend too much, so paying a lot for a big pot is against my nature :) I use plastic buckets and garbage cans for the plants that have deep roots and small buckets (from yogurt and sour cream) for others. You just need to wrap them in colored paper or even duct tape to make them look pretty. The only rule is to poke holes in the bottom to allow water to drain.

That's about it so far :)
I'll add more later.

New plants and seedlings

Ok, so I started the seedlings for the cherry tomato two days ago (I'll post a detailed update once they sprout) and went shopping for new plants.

I got a very colorful leafy plant that is supposed to do well in the shade - it's called Maranta (or Prayer plant) because in the evening it fold the leaves as in prayer).

It looks unusual and I like it! 

But the one that thrills me the most is the Camelia! I absolutely love this plant and I sure hope I can get this one to flower (I bought one with lots of  flower buds).

Like I mentioned, I also ordered a few more strawberries from Gradinamax.ro (these are called Ostara) and I planted them outside. I wasn't impressed by the fact that they were basically roots, but it seems that's the way they are stored during the year. Let's hope they will like the weather and that they will grow.

Other than that, I started working on a vertical garden idea but I still have some way to go until I can post pictures (it involves a trellis and a window and some ribbons).

Maybe over the weekend I can finish it so that next week I can post pictures.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I also planted Fresia bulbs (blue and pink) and I plan to plant some ginger tonight (I put it in water for the time being).

Wish me luck!

Quick updates

While I'm waiting for another package of flowers and plants to arrive, I was checking out the plants and I have some good news:

Dianthus is blooming nicely - I placed it on the windowsill outside my balcony. I was worried because we had a few cloudy days, but they seem to be doing fine.

Same with the onions and the garlic I planted - they sprouted and they look really good. I am looking forward to use green onions that I grew :)
They will probably be good to eat in a week or so.

But the greatest thing is that my strawberries are flowering :)
Specifically, the climbing strawberries I bought from Sieberz all have flowers now.  I am worried because they didn't grow as many leaves as I expected - the type I bought are supposed to grow bigger. I am pretty sure I'm supposed to pinch the flowers to make the plant grow, but I don't have the heart to do it. I'll just let me do whatever they want.

The ones I brought from back home don't seem to plan on flowering, but they are multiplying - growing offshoots that I cut and planted in separate pots. Pretty soon I'll have a lot of strawberries - I just ordered 5 more plants from Gradinamax.ro :p

I also ordered Fresia bulbs, a dwarf blackberry plant and a spicy pepper. 

I hope this weekend I will be able to work on setting up some space for others pots, I'm running out of horizontal space so I plan on setting up a vertical stand for the strawberries.

I'll post updates once I have them :)