Tomatoes - The Journey Comes to an End pt. II

Undeniably one of the biggest joys on the London Vegetable Garden, the tomato plants have sadly come to the end of their lives. Although they've been waning for a while now, they've still been producing some small cherry tomatoes, but even this growth has now dried up.

So yesterday, with heavy heart, I cleared the balcony of these old plants. When planting these, I added a bottomless flowerpot for each plant on top of the grow bag. When I was pulling these plants up yesterday, it amazed me at just how much roots these tomato plants grew!


Even though these plants were withered and dying, they still gave off the lovely pungent aroma that evokes childhood memories of warm greenhouses – beautiful. Looking back, I believe I wrote in a very early London Vegetable Garden blog post that I believed tomatoes would be the hardest challenge for me and was rather sceptical as to whether I'd manage to grow any. In a lovely twist of irony however, the tomato plants have undoubtedly been the biggest success of the London Vegetable Garden, in terms of yield and quality.

For the many urban gardeners out there, the London Vegetable Garden tomatoes are proof that one doesn't need a greenhouse and an extensive garden to grow a decent amount of tomato fruits! Although a balcony won't afford me the state of self-sufficiency I crave, these high-yielding tomato plants ensured that when in crop, I didn't buy tomatoes from the supermarket for a good six weeks. Not only did this save me money and ensure I didn't have to buy modified, inferior supermarket produce, but it was also an absolute joy looking after these hardy and rewarding plants.

My mind is already on next year – I'm setting myself the challenge of beef tomatoes!

Spiders & Cobras...

Aside from balconies and vegetables, I also have a penchant for plants and flowers. Whilst I may not have the space to plan a fanciful garden full of spectacular bloom and wonder, my flat is dotted with pot plants and interesting flowers that offer a pleasant alternative to vegetable gardening.

When my girlfriend and I moved into the flat in April 2008, we purchased a spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) that has lived quite happily in the bathroom ever since. For months and months the other half harassed me to re-plant it and sort it out, since it was taking up more and more space by the day!

Whilst I was setting about this task however, I thought it worth chronicling the plant's unique growth. As you can see from the picture below, the plant has branched off in a long row, with several discernible 'root lumps' ready for re-planting:


Having cut these apart, I proceeded to re-pot these in various different pots in the hope that we will soon be overrun with new spider plants. I happened to remember reading somewhere that some plants simply need water to survive – please feel free to correct me if wrong! As an experiment (that shall of course be chronicled here on the London Vegetable Garden), I have given one spider plant a new home in a glass of water:

At the time, I didn't have any hormonal root growth powder to hand, so I'm not sure if the 'roots' on these separate plants will take very well – watch this space...

Before I stop writing and start enjoying some of my delicious tomatoes for tea, a quick update on the (in)famous 'Cobra Lily Challenge 2009'. The full story of this gardening challenge can be viewed by clicking here, but regular readers will know that I challenged Grumblemouse of GrumbleGarden fame to a Cobra Lily grow-off; here is my progress so far:

Grumblemouse, it's over to you...

Super Salad!

I've said it before, I'll say it again and I'll keep on saying it – salad leaves are one of the easiest and most rewarding things for any urban gardener to grow! A large proportion of food waste comprises of bags of mushy brown salad leaves that have sat in the fridge and turned to mulch. When growing your own is this easy, those wasteful bags could soon become a thing of the past!
This is the third batch of salad leaves I've grown in this window box on the London Vegetable Garden this summer. Were I not experimenting with all sorts of crops in pots and vegetables, I could have dedicated the whole balcony to salad leaves and even in this small space, have been self-sufficient in terms of salad leaf needs.

In addition to how easy these plants are to grow, they also grow very quickly, making them ideal for people without much space. They also only really need soil, sunlight and watering, so even if you have no outside space whatsoever, an empty ice-cream tub on a windowsill will work just as well.

It's a fantastic feeling eating your own produce; and when it's as easy as lettuce, there's really no excuse for not giving it a go. Great taste, growing satisfaction and it will save you throwing away money each time you dispose of a brown salad bag from the supermarket. Why not give it a go?

For urban growing advice and to see how you could start growing your own salad leaves, come and visit the London Gardeners' Network today!

Flowers and Foliage...

The London Vegetable Garden is split firmly into two camps; vegetables and flowers! Whilst my enthusiasm for container vegetable growing threatens to overrun the poor balcony, my girlfriend ensures that we have a botanical balance in force!

Throughout the year we choose a variety of cheap bedding plants for window boxes that generally last anywhere up to three months. These hardy flowers would last longer in the ground, however in containers they quickly grow too big for their environment. Take a look at the before and after pictures – taken two months apart:


Another feature of the London Vegetable Garden's flower display is an array of plants in containers. My girlfriend's father very kindly sent down some new plants from his beautiful garden this weekend. As gardening author Bob Purnell states, one of the benefits of container gardening is your ability to move and re-arrange plants to create a stunning display – this is certainly a huge advantage when pottering about on such a small space.


The London Vegetable Garden project may be about the vegetables, but I'm certainly grateful for my girlfriend's insistence on a certain quota of flowers; it certainly makes the balcony an attractive and a colourful place to work on! The versatility of plants and flowers in pots in containers is incredible – and allows urban gardeners the chance to build some impressive displays.

Butternut Squash - a Whole New World!

Arguably the London Vegetable Garden's most thirsty plant, my butternut squash has been enjoying the recent muggy weather and continues to grow exponentially! There are many different things going on in the pot however, so I'm appealing to you, dear readers, for advice and pointers!

The shot below shows the plant in its pot on the London Vegetable Garden balcony:
As you can see, it looks very similar to a courgette plant at the moment – plenty of big leaves that threaten to take over the whole balcony! What is interesting however, is the recent appearance of these 'swirly feelers' – I don't know what else to call them:

As you can see, they're quite interesting – does anyone know what they are? Are they simply looking for a new cane / net to latch onto and grow up?

Finally, we have some bud-like things forming on the stems, as so:


Are these the beginnings of the squashes? As you can see, there's quite a lot going on in this pot – any advice would be most welcome!

Pests Ahoy!

One of the (few) real benefits of high-rise urban gardening is the lack of pests. Many gardeners I've spoken with recently have all bemoaned the rate at which snails, slugs and various garden pests are converging on crops and causing a nuisance of themselves.

Luckily, living away from the ground in urban London means that the only pests I have to deal with on the balcony are horses – as in clothes horses, laden with wet clothes and competing for space alongside plant pots, grow bags and watering cans!

This said, I did see a tiny slug on one of the leaves a few weeks back, which I presume must have been secreted in amongst some recent bedding plants that are brightening up a window box. Whitefly has also been a problem, but again, these pests were imported with some potted herbs that remained in the kitchen; luckily none of the outside plants were infected.

I was looking through my runner beans a few minutes ago when I came across this chap:


I've seen these insects before, but not on the balcony. Can anyone identify this creature and if so, is it a friend or a foe? Is it some form of aphid?

Butternut Squash Report...

Although a space-loving vegetable plant, I've decided to have a stab at growing the adventurous butternut squash! It's been growing solidly for a few weeks now and this is the latest stage of its progress:


As you can see, it looks healthy enough, although two of the leaves at the very base of the plant withered and had to be removed. In addition to this, you can see from the picture below that several buds are starting to form, although I'm not sure whether these are more leaves or the start of squashes!


I've added a layer of mulch to the top of the soil, since squash is an extremely thirsty plant and I'm wary of letting it dry out. I've been advised from gardeners on my new website, the London Gardeners' Network, that regular watering is essential for squash plants, so I've been heeding this advice by the watering can-full!

If any readers of the London Vegetable Garden have tips on growing squash and feel they could help me with advice, please leave a comment on this blog post, or alternatively, proffer your tips on the London Gardeners' Network. Update to follow next week!

Overrun with Runners!

In stark contrast to my grand total of two runner beans last summer, this year my preparations on the London Vegetable Garden balcony have reaped a much richer reward. I've blogged about my solid runner bean harvests before now – here is the latest harvest that my girlfriend and I enjoyed this week:


Note the curly one; isn't it refreshing to harvest 'real' vegetables that don't have to conform to stringent supermarket appearance guidelines! I'm harvesting about ten runner beans a week from my balcony at the moment. Does anyone know if they grow to a certain size and then stop, or if you can grow some truly gigantic runner beans?

Runner Beans: Learnings & Pointers...

The ultimate 'end product' of growing your own vegetables, surely has to be picking something from your garden and eating it. As you may be aware, my runner beans are certainly not the prettiest example of urban vegetable growing, but recently they have started to produce plenty of small beans.

The other evening, I picked off three of the biggest beans. They were delicious and the good news is, I have around twelve more runner beans growing steadily on the plants. Not bad considering I was about to throw them away the other week! Whereas last year I had only a paltry two runner beans all summer, the improved success this year, I believe, is due to the extra compost these plants have.

Last year, when I disposed of my runner bean plants, I emptied the pots to find that the roots were incredibly densely packed into such a tiny space – just look at this picture from April to see how quickly the roots grow:

By planting this year's runner bean plants in bottomless flower pots on top of an open grow bag, the roots have had much more room to spread and the benefits are clearly visible in the amount of runner beans I'm now harvesting.

If you'd like to grow runner beans on a balcony, this seemingly wild idea is in fact very possible. From my experiences on the London Vegetable Garden, I recommend:

Giving your runner bean plants plenty of room for root growth. If you're growing in a pot, the larger the better.

Constructing a solid pyramid cane structure. My runner beans are all along the back wall of the balcony. Whilst I am managing to harvest vegetables, the leaves are all intertwined and some I'm sure, must be choking each other. A roomy, pyramid structure gives the leaves more room to breathe and more space for the runner beans to grow properly.

Water regularly. As with all balcony or container gardening, drainage is vitally important, so that the plants don't drown. My runner beans have been a thirsty plant, especially as they get bigger – don't let the compost dry out (as some is hard to re-hydrate once it's bone dry) and feed regularly.

I hope these tips are useful – after all, I'm making mistakes so that you don't have to! Runner beans may be an ambitious balcony or urban garden vegetable, but they are very much a realistic, hardy vegetable to grow. If set up correctly and cared for, there's no reason why you can't enjoy some tasty runner beans throughout the summer. Good luck!

Carrots - the end of the road...

My carrots were one of the very first things I planted when I started the London Vegetable Garden back at the beginning of April. The humble carrot is a perennial feature of the traditional English vegetable garden, so needless to say, my enthusiasm got the better of me and I planted these seeds with real relish.

Fast forward three and a half months to today, and although my enthusiasm for growing carrots hasn't dampened, reality has set in. One of the main things I've learnt about growing your own vegetables over the last few months (hindsight is a wonderful thing!), is that they key to successful planting in small spaces is planting thinly.

I planted a large number of carrot seeds into a pot back in April and since then, a mountain of green shoots have sprung up. Over the last month however, growth has come to a real standstill and today I took the decision to end the carrot-growing part of the London Vegetable Garden project. The carrot plants got to the stage where they were so tightly packed together, that they didn't have enough room to grow on. As you can see from the photo below, much of the shoots simply stopped growing at a certain stage:

Nevertheless, this attempt wasn't completely in vain! I did manage to pull out a few, albeit very small, carrots from the pot – as Darwin would argue, these do indeed indicate the 'survival of the fittest'. Whilst I'm the first to admit that this has overall been an unsuccessful attempt to grow carrots, the purpose of the London Vegetable Garden has always been to educate and to see just what is possible. Growing carrots is possible – but be prepared to sow thinly and ideally in a very large and deep pot.

Weekend Update & French Signage!

Grey cloud is hanging ominously in the air, the tree branches are swaying lightly in the breeze and the birds are being remarkably quiet. Add to this the fact that I have to leave the flat and go shopping at an open-air market this morning, and it seems that rain is well and truly inevitable!

But nevertheless, the London Vegetable Garden sits in a sheltered spot and the continued mild weather has meant that things are still progressing nicely.

I've included some new pictures of the tomato plants. I now have a considerable amount of green tomatoes breaking out in trusses along the three tomato plants in the grow bag. What's interesting to note however, is that these tomatoes always form one at a time, rather than a whole truss together.

The tomato fruit nearest to the stem always seems to be the first fruit to bloom – I presume this is because it's the first recipient of all the water and liquid tomato plant food drawn up through the roots and the stem? Perhaps some of you more learned gardeners can tell me if my horticultural hypothesis is correct or not!

Either way, many of my trusses, although with tomato fruits at different sizes, are all now beginning to flourish. The first tomato fruits started appearing on the 1st July – a convenient date from which to start measuring! It's now Saturday 11th, so the fruits have been out for nearly two weeks; but no signs of turning red just yet!

Talking of signs, two lovely colleagues of mine from work visited the Hampton Court Flower Show this week. They evidently thought that the London Vegetable Garden needed a touch of European glamour to it, so very kindly purchased this sign for me:

I think you'll agree, it adds a much more homely touch to the London Vegetable Garden!

Blooming Asiatic Lilies...

Whilst growing vegetables on the balcony is the primary focus of the London Vegetable Garden, regular readers of this blog will also know that I have various flowers on one side of the balcony. In an attempt to appease my girlfriend, who has noted that our little balcony is being overrun with tomatoes, runner beans and pots of soil, I have made a concerted effort to ensure that my gardening includes botany, as well as horticulture!

A little while ago, I added some Asiatic Lilies to a pot of bedding flowers and their surge in growth has been huge. They were planted as bulbs that had already grown to plants about six inches high. Since then, they have grown to well over a foot in length and have had to be supported by some small canes. Their expanding heads have been threatening to bloom for about a week now and it was this morning that I was met by this beautiful sight:


There's still about twelve more heads waiting to bloom, so I'm hoping for a continuous array of lilies over the next two weeks or so.

Tomato Supports & Tomato Fruits!

Those of you that also follow the London Vegetable Garden on Twitter (click here) will remember that I've been seeking advice regarding my leaning tomato plants. After a wealth of suggestions, it turned out that one of my colleagues at work had some devices that served that very purpose, although none of us have any idea what they're called!

As you can see from the pictures above, these peculiar looking devices are designed to sit underneath a grow bag. Once you have placed them under the grow bag, the two prongs can be pushed together and the cane placed through the middle, like so:

Now in place, these supports have added so much strength to the canes, and thus, my tomato plants. This hot weather has seen them shoot up considerably, which has led them to start pulling the canes down with their weight. Luckily now they look a lot sturdier – as well as taking over the whole of London Vegetable Garden balcony!

The recent hot weather has also been responsible for an exciting discovery I made last night – the very first tomatoes are coming through!

Although small, the fruits are beginning to pop up all over the tomato plant trusses – as of five minutes ago, I can report that I have six tomatoes well on the way. I'm hoping that they grow quickly from green, berry-looking things to big juicy red tomatoes whilst this heat-wave lasts! Hopefully more news to come this week...

Runner Beans on the London Vegetable Garden Balcony!!!

Perhaps one of the most difficult of vegetables to grow from the confines of small spaces such as the London Vegetable Garden, the runner bean has made its first appearance in spectacular style!

After a weekend of extremely hot and humid weather in London, I was preparing to water the plants after work this evening and brushed aside some leaves on the runner bean plant to discover these two beauties!

Hopefully I'll get a few more runner beans in my crop (space permitting) but these are photographic proof that urban gardening in a tiny space CAN bear fruit if you're dedicated enough! I shall keep you all updated on further bean developments as they happen!

Thinning the Crop...

When associated with myself, the topic of thinning usually refers to the sparse amount of hair that resides (or used to) atop my head. Whilst this has led friends and colleagues to label me the 'Bald Gardener' after Jamie Oliver's iconic 'naked chef' moniker, the thinning I'm referring to in this blog post refers strictly to what's growing on my vegetable balcony.

My tomato plants have been growing abundantly due to this spell of very hot weather we're having here in London and on the London Vegetable Garden balcony. However, many stalks at the base of the tomato plant are purely adorned by leaves, with no trusses or flowers on them.

As I stated in my video blog post on thinning tomato plants and removing the suckers, this plant is a very thirsty, demanding plant to grow – any reduction in unnecessary stalks will ensure that water and liquid feed goes straight to the stems that need it the most – the stalks with flowers and tomatoes growing on them.

From simply thinning three tomato plants of unnecessary stalks and leaves, I was left with all of the green vegetation you can see in the picture below:


So, all my watering and plant food was being shared amongst these stalks, when in fact it could have been going straight to the main parts of the plant that are useful and will bear fruit! I've included a photo to show how the tomato plants look now that they are streamlined and ready to concentrate on growing fruit:

Thinning is a useful way to ensure that the maximum water and plant food is absorbed by the tomato plant – especially when you have three hungry plants competing in the same shallow grow bag! Good luck with thinning your plants and be sure to leave a comment on the London Vegetable Garden letting us all know how you're getting on with your tomatoes.

The Tomato Plants are Flowering!

It seems hard to believe that the frail little tomato plants I kept inside the balcony windowsill are now the sturdy, thick-stemmed plants that dominate the London Vegetable Garden's tiny landscape, but after all, mighty oaks grow from the tiniest acorns. Whilst I'm not expecting a crop of acorns (that really would be worthy of an investigation from Titchmarsh et al), I really do hope that my hard work will be rewarded with a few edible tomatoes at the very least!

It's now been two and a half months since I planted the tomato seeds and I've included the latest pictures with this update. As you can see, the plants have started growing defined trusses, a few of which have started flowering this week.

In the picture below, you can see inside one of these flowers – I'm hoping that the tiny sliver of yellow we can all see will start growing into a juicy tomato, but this is the first time I've ever attempted to grow tomatoes, so I'm planning on being patient and seeing what transpires over the coming weeks!
I've taken the last picture to show you how tall the plants are getting – they really seem to get thicker and sturdier by the day, which I'm hoping indicates a promising yield. Watch this space for more tomato plant news as it happens!

Time for Butternut Squash...

Those of you that have been following my earthy exploits since the very beginning will remember my fears that the tomato plants would be the hardest things to grow. Fast-forward three months and the tomato plants are ironically the strongest looking plants on the London Vegetable Garden balcony, although no fruits have been harvested – as yet!

Never one to shy away from a challenge (the London Vegetable Garden is one big – or should that be small – project after all), I'm now attempting a vegetable that requires a significant amount of space – a Butternut Squash.

It was the chef, food writer and allotment blogger extraordinaire, Celia Brooks-Brown who convinced me to attempt a squash, so now that I have a free pot once again after this week's radish harvest, I've turned my gardening attentions to this ambitious vegetable! Due to obvious space constraints on a London balcony, I can only attempt one plant – so I'll have to make it count!

I planted a seed in a small flowerpot two weeks ago and over the last few days the plants shot up remarkably quickly – yesterday especially, it changed noticeably in size over the course of a few hours. It's interesting to note how sturdier the stem looks than other vegetables, indicating that this really is a hardy vegetable indeed. Whether it'll have enough room to grow in the large pot I have waiting for it remains to be seen, but stay tuned to the London Vegetable Garden to monitor its progress over the coming weeks.

Don't Strangle Me!

Morning all – just a very quick blog post this morning to kick the weekend off and proffer some green-fingered London vegetable gardening advice. When planting out tomato plants (or any other vegetables / fruits for that matter), many of us tie string or ties around the stem to fix it to a supporting cane.

Now, this is all well and good, but one thing to remember is that plants grow thicker, as well as taller! I was replacing my plant supports with bamboo canes the other evening and came across a piece of string on one of the tomato plants. Now, I thought I'd removed all of these bits of string, so was shocked to see one I'd left!

As you can see from the picture below, the string had indeed been cutting into the stem of the plant as it grew. Luckily I caught this in time, and it has since recovered, but strangling your plants with string and ties is a veritable menace that many amateur gardeners overlook. If you've used (or are planning to use) ties or string, always make sure that you leave some room for growth in the loop and check back regularly.

My First Crops From Pots!

I hope that Mr Bob Purnell will excuse me from drawing so heavily on his book title for this blog post, but my excitement this morning can't be contained – the London Vegetable Garden has yielded its first radishes!

In hindsight (a wonderful thing, but I'm hoping my mistakes will help you chaps out there), I planted my radish seeds too close together, so many of the plants and leaves have been fighting for a very small space. The resultant crop of radishes has therefore been quite varied, as you can see from the picture below, although amongst those, we do have some decent looking ones!

I've scrubbed up a couple of the radishes I'd be comfortable entering into a competition (well almost) and laid them next to the seed packet, as shown below:

As you can see, although I haven't managed to grow enough radishes to open a stall at a farmer's market (yet), this hopefully illustrates just what can be achieved from the confines of such a small urban vegetable gardening space. I'm really proud with these big radishes – and the fact that they look so similar to the picture on the packet!

Please take this as motivation – which is what this London vegetable gardening blog is all about. Why not try planting some radishes of your own? Simply use a decent sized pot and remember to SOW THINLY! Good luck – I'd love to see everyone's results. After all, if I can achieve this on a London balcony next to a busy, smoky London railway line, your balcony, windowsill or patio can too!

Radishes Almost There...

Saturday morning on the London Vegetable Garden has brought about great excitement and it's radish-shaped! That's right, whilst I'll readily admit that I planted my radish seeds too thickly to bear a large crop (the benefits of hindsight...), the radishes that have been growing are now looking ready to be harvested.

When growing vegetables, or any plants for that matter, it's always important to regularly check the surface of the soil and clear it of old leaves, dead flower heads etc, as this can decompose and have a detrimental effect upon the health of your vegetables and plants.

As you can see from the picture, the radishes are so leafy now, that it's very hard to see the top of the soil in the plant pot, so imagine my surprise (and delight!) when I checked them this morning to see this:
I'm going to leave them in for another week and then harvest the ones that are poking out of the surface, like these ones. I'm hoping, in addition to fresh radishes in a salad, that the smaller radishes that have struggled will now have some more room to grow – it'll be interesting to see what happens. Ensure you check back regularly to find out what happens when they're pulled out!