My plan worked!

I read that zucchini flowers open in the morning and close in the evening. I went out to the balcony first thing in the morning with Q-tips with the intention to hand pollinate some zucchinis and other flowers. The zucchini female and male flowers were in bloom, but I quickly noticed little bugs flying around the flowers I bought to attract beneficial insects. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that my master plan was successful. Buzzing around the flowers were tiny tiny insects (bees, I think) that were really cute! I think I mentioned this before, but I am not good with insects. I really don't like most things that crawl, squiggle or flies (even butterflies). So you will never hear me say "cute" and "insect" in the same sentence. But these little bee looking things were really cute! I think gardening will be good for my insect-phobia. I noticed the other day that I smiled when I saw a lady bug. I am totally changing! Here is a picture of the flowers I bought....can you spot the bee? You definitely need to enlarge the photo.

My camera isn't very good with zooming (or I cannot used it correctly) so it is not so easy to spot. But look closely...here he/she/it is!

This next one is a little harder. I had to look for a while and I took the picture!

Can you see it? can you? If you did, then you probably did well with the "where's Waldo" books. Here is the little guy! Again, so cute:) I wish I had a better camera!

Seaweed/Nori fertilizer experiment

I'm very sad to report that my nori seaweed fertilizer experiment will come to an end with inconclusive results. As I suspected, the quality of the non-fertilized soil that the seedlings in this soil is stunted. The clear winner is the MG soil, but again the difference is not due to the type of fertilizer that was used but rather the soil quality. I could keep going, but I feel like the poor seedlings are screaming at me to get transferred to a better home. I still have the huge container of seaweed fertilizer and wish there was a way to test its effectiveness. I probably will only use it (if shown effective) if I had a plot in an isolated location because it just smells really really REALLY bad. I would not want this on my balcony. Following are the before after photos (before 5/3 - top, after 5/22 - bottom).

Clear winner is MG potting soil

Regular soil, no fertilizer

RS + liquid MG

RS + nori fertilizer

RS + compost tea (one of the basil is completely burnt from the sun)

I feel like the seaweed fertilizer treatment and liquid miracle gro looks a little better than the other two. A little greener and healthier looking. But it may just be my imagination. Here is a side-by-side of all the seedlings in the non-fertilized thing they called "soil".

From left to right, Regular soil (RS), RS + liquid MG, RS + nori fertilizer, RS + compost tea

I may keep the seedlings in the same container for a while until I find a new home for them. I don't really expect to see improvements or differences between the treatments. I hope that someone else with the correct non-fertilized soil/potting mix can test the effectiveness of homemade nori-seaweed fertilizer (and also figure out a way for it not to be so stinky)! Two posting in one day...too bad the results aren't more exciting.

Need more space!!

I visited valley view farms, garden center and nursery yesterday to pick up a couple of flowers to attract more bees to the garden now that I have so many flowers. This place was amazing! I've been there a couple of times during the winter but never in the summer. They had amazing selection of vegetables and herbs. I tried to resist, but I found 2 eggplants (Greta and Fairy tale) and a pepper plant (thai pepper) that was calling my name so I relented. But after bringing the plants back home, I realized that I don't have much space left over on my balcony with these new plants plus the 10 seedling of tomato and peppers I have hardening off. I think I will have to grow some of the vegetables in front or back of the house! I love living in the city, but just for this I would like to have a backyard!

The new kids on the block

The other seedlings that will be competing for space on the balcony

 I also bought marigold and a plant called pink alyssum that looked really cute. I want to put it on a these flowers on the railing and bought some brackets that doesn't quite fit on the railing. I will have to go back to get the adjustable kind that I wanted to avoid since it was pricey.

I am sad to report a death in the garden...the arugula. I left the planter outside and I guess the sun and wind was just too strong. I'm going to see if the stronger ones will survive but I think, sadly, this batch will not make it. I will have to try again but maybe wait until it get cooler or something. I didn't want to grow it inside because it just breeds fungus gnats and I don't like the little buggers inside the house.

I've also noticed these little red bugs on the balcony that are tiny tiny. I'm not sure if they are harmful for the plants but everything so far seems to be OK  so I'm not going to worry so much about it. After googling tiny red bugs I think it could be spider mites. Hopefully they will not be harmful.

Basil and little little salad

Last year I had a pot of basil growing in the kitchen windowsill. When I bought the basil the women at the store told me to nip the tip to promote the plant to become more bushy. You want to cut it down to where there are 2 sets of leaves forming.

Hopefully this will make for a bushier basil plant and more basil! With the leaves that I trimmed and tomato I made bruschetta. I used some sort of whole grain chips that I did not like. Need to get some good bread. I'm not sure if I can call this a harvest...but it was good. I wish I had tomatoes from the garden...it will happen soon I hope!

Also here is a little salad I made from the mesclun green. I had just enough for 2, but I had to supplement it with some watercress I had in the fridge.

More flowers!...and baby veggies?!

For the past couple of days, I went out of state for a job interview. I realized how much I am addicted to this gardening project. Here are some things that make me sure I need to find a support group for gardening addiction:
1) I checked the weather in Baltimore pretty consistently
2) I noticed all the gardening stores and took me all my effort not to go to one
3) Was reading other gardening blogs than reviewing my job talk
4) Took a mental note that if offered the job will need to negotiate on the start date for after the harvest is complete
5) Seeked out gardening magazine at the airport (didn't buy one though) rather than the fashion/fitness magazines

After being away for 3 days, I find my garden was doing very well. In fact there are now many beautiful flowers.

Zucchini flower

Ichiban eggplant flower

Jalapeno pepper flower

Early Girl 50 flowers

I think I also see little baby vegetables!

Early girl 50, can you see the little green tomato-looking thing?

I'm not sure but sure looks like zucchini may be forming? I thought they need to be pollinated...?

The basil should be trimmed a little. They are getting quite bushy and the leaves are large and shiny.

I am also trying to harden off the tomato and pepper seedlings but it is very difficult.

Here is what the balcony looks like with it fully screened out. One is patched photo, the other is a panorama. My picture taking skills are limited and cannot get one nice picture to capture the whole balcony. This weekend I plan to make a couple of self-watering containers. I also want to get some flowers, maybe more marigold.

Patched picture

Panoramic picture

The real Sucker?!

I knew my veggie plants are growing but when you see them everyday you don't realize just how quickly they are growing. This is a picture of the tomato plant (early girl 50) 3 weeks ago.

And here is the tomato plant today!

I'm so proud  \\(^_^)//
I have been pinching the "suckers" (not too many) as it grows since the early girl is an indeterminate variety. A couple of days ago we had a thunderstorm and the plant was starting to lean sideways. After the storm, I went to tie the stem to the support bamboo pole (the metal tomato cage was all wobbly so I switched to the bamboo pole) and I couldn't tell which stem was the main stem.

I originally thought the branch with red arrow was the main stem. But after stepping back, I think this is just a big sucker (haha) and the blue arrow is in fact the main stem. I am not sure if I should cut the red arrow stem and try to root it in water or something or leave it be. Both stems have flowers on them now. I've read it is OK to keep 1-2 suckers but I feel like I should allow the plant to concentrate all its energy on the main stem (especially because it is confined to a container). Any suggestions?
One of the lettuces in the mesclun mix is starting to flower (bolt). It seems to early to do this.

Here is the package picture:

And here is my planter of mesclun:

Looks good but not quite like the package. I may need to find another location where it can get more sun but not direct sunlight....I think I might have a small salad tonight anyway! My first real harvest??

Wind barrier

Since ikea was out of the wind barrier in the color I wanted, I decided to make one. The total cost was about $40: 5'x16' sun screen fabric ($25),  nylon rope ($7) and grommits ($7).

My balcony transformed from this

to this:

I made enough to cover the whole balcony but left one side open because this screen is too effective. Today the balcony temp was 80-100 and with the rain last night it was too muggy without any breeze. Another great thing about this screen is that it creates some privacy. As you can see, the area in front of the balcony is a parking lot so the screen makes the balcony more private.
The zucchinis that had the wind burn have recovered very nicely and male flowers are starting to appear.

All in all, this balcony garden is progressing quite well. Now the only thing to finalize everything is to get a board so that the pots do not sit directly on the balcony.