Category Archives: gardening

May17

Gardening

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Gardening
One might think I went a little overboard on the plants this year.

I’ve planted all my seedlings outside because the weather permitted it. We’ve had a lot of sun, very summer-y, for the past month or so. I did however appreciate the amount of rain we got this week and my plants did too.

Every year I seem to end up with a lot more plants than I can place, especially because I also get some plants from TG’s father who has an allotment and usually plenty of extra seedlings. I have about eight extra tomato-plants, on top of the ten or so I had already grown myself. I also got some lettuce and greens which comes in handy because my saladboxes seem to have stunted (probably the heat, the saladboxes seem to thrive in typical Dutch weather — rain and a bit of sun). I’ll resow them and see if I get some tasty greens out of them.

I also received some melon-plants. I wonder how to deal with those…

Dec3

Sprouting lentils.

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Sprouting lentils.

After roughly 24 hours in the bag, the lentil-seeds have started to sprout.

I have never sprouted lentils before, so I don't know if these sprouted faster. I do like how easy I can rinse the seeds, simply hold the bag under the tap and go -- or dip it in a bowl with water. I added the sunflower, broccoli and pea seeds a little later, I hope they'll sprout tomorrow.

The other bag has some quinoa from my pack. Normally I don't expect something like that to sprout, they do however sprout. I like it!

Jul20

Easy peasy beans.

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Easy peasy beans.
Put beans on paper.
beans, germination in a ziploc bag.
Nothing happens the first day….
5 days later…
Carefully take them out.
Not all will have sprouted..
Put beans on paper.
beans, germination in a ziploc bag.
Nothing happens the first day….
5 days later…
Carefully take them out.
Put beans on paper.
beans, germination in a ziploc bag.
Nothing happens the first day….
5 days later…
Put beans on paper.
beans, germination in a ziploc bag.
Nothing happens the first day….
Put beans on paper.
beans, germination in a ziploc bag.
Put beans on paper.

I’ve grown a few bean-plants on my balcony (more than a few actually) and have looked for the best way to get them to germinate. In the beginning I tried sticking them in the ground and just keeping the ground wet, and though that did work for some beans, it also failed plenty of times.

Lots of times my beans got eaten by the larvae of the bean-fly (oh how I hate them!). I went looking for a better way and found something that works very well. This will probably work for other seeds too, and will give you a good idea about the germination rate of your seeds (if you have old seeds you sometimes want to check). I’ve had no problem transplanting the resulting sprouts, just keep in mind you will have to transplant them at some point. Not all sprouts like that.

Kids will usually love this too. Use beans though, they sprout fast :)

You will need:
- a ziploc bag (or another type of firm plastic bag)
- some toiletpaper or paper towels
- something to spray water with
- beans! (more…)

Jul5

So many tomatoes!

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So many tomatoes!
Harvest :-)

Yesterday I harvested 241 grams of cherry-tomatoes. This brings the total for this one plant to roughly 450 grams. And this is just one plant. Very pleased with how much it produces. I left a few orange ones on yesterday, but from the looks of it, I could probably harvest those today too.

These cherry-tomatoes taste so much better than the kind I buy in the store.

Jul2

New addition to the garden.

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New addition to the garden.
Apple or pear tree.

The latest addition to my balcony-garden is a pear-or-apple-tree. We don’t know yet. It might take a year or two before we do. I placed it next to the bay-tree, I’m sure they’ll get along.

I will document this tree as much as possible, who knows what it’ll do!

The plants in general grow really well. I can harvest roughly one salad per week, very nice :)

Jun5

Gardening.

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Gardening.
Bee on my flower.

My balcony garden seems to do well. The weather goes from sunny to cloudy to sunny again, and I have watered when needed. My seedlings seem to grow very well, I blame this on the southern location of my balcony.

My drawing-rhythm seems disturbed so I use my garden as my creative outlet. Seems to work out well. I keep a gardening journal at MyFolia which helps me track the progress of my plants.

Still very tired and barely have the energy to do the stuff I need to do, not to mention the stuff I want to do (the gardening seems my max now). Going to the doctor again on Tuesday, for recurring eye-issues. I wonder when my body will stabilise… (dear body, it’s about time. Really!)