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.
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.
