Review of 2009 part ii: Flora

Although the London Vegetable Garden is all about vegetables and growing your own produce in urban spaces, my balcony has not solely been occupied by vegetables! The spring, summer and autumn have seen some beautiful flowers make their home within the London Vegetable Garden, adding more joy and enthusiasm for gardening. Here is a few snaps of flowers throughout 2009:

No Winter Vegetables, but More Flowers...

So, this afternoon's trip to the local garden centre didn't 'bear fruit', so to speak. With no winter seeds in stock and October only two weeks away, I've had to turn to the Internet for a selection of winter seeds – more to follow on this at a later date.

The trip wasn't a complete waste of time however, as I returned laden with some more bedding plants to replace withering window boxes. The main focus of the London Vegetable Garden's central window box is the rather splendid 'Celosia Caracas', more commonly known as Coxcomb or Prince of Wales' Feathers:


Surrounding this fine floral specimen, I have planted some Sweet William plants (Dianthus Barbatus). Hopefully these will bloom nicely over the coming weeks and add a vibrant display of colour to the London Vegetable Garden balcony.

As for the flowers I planted a few weeks ago, the chrysanthemums are starting to swell nicely and the bedding pansies are starting to grow bigger, although show no signs of blooming just yet. The plants that my girlfriend's father sent down in August have also taken on their own lease of life, with beautiful flowers starting to blossom – if anyone can identify what type of flower / plant this is, I'd be most grateful!

Guerrilla Gardening...

Aside from the obvious environmental benefits of growing your own produce (not to mention the reduction in food waste), one simply can't ignore the aesthetic qualities of gardening. Growing plants and flowers for visual pleasure has been a time-honoured past-time throughout civilisation and one that evokes images of country houses, landscaped gardens and public parks. So how does a bleak pavement in an industrial area fit into this?

Whilst much of Hackney is rapidly being gentrified in preparation for the forthcoming 2012 Olympic games, many parts of it remain bleak, industrial and run-down. In areas such as these, gardening seems an impossibility – or does it?

This week I was pleasantly surprised to notice this large flower bed had suddenly appeared in the middle of the pavement! Guerrilla gardening is becoming much more prevalent in urban areas, due in part to a number of reasons. Fed up with local authorities dragging their heels over planning permission and bureaucratic red tape, many urban city dwellers are taking affirmative action and constructing urban garden displays overnight.

Although guerrilla gardening is not a new concept, its prevalence is certainly increasing. I was genuinely surprised to see this flower display pop up and I think you'll all agree, it makes such a difference to the bleak surroundings. A friend of mine lives in the locale and has already seen neighbours watering the flowers and talking to each other about its sudden appearance.

What a wonderful way to highlight the pleasure people can derive from gardening – and the fact that guerrilla gardening in particular, shows that community spirit is not as dead as we feared.

Autumn Colour...

Last autumn / winter, I planted some pansies in window boxes and pots which lasted through the bleak mid-winter months and added some much appreciated colour to the London Vegetable Garden balcony. Now that we've entered September, I've spent some time gearing up the botanical side of the London Vegetable Garden for the coming months.

I managed to track down some cheap bedding plants which included mixed pansies and chrysanthemums (Regal Cheryl). As you can see from the picture below, they are in their infant stages at the moment, but hopefully once they've grown, they'll add a splendid range of colour to the London Vegetable Garden balcony.


These beautiful plants have a higher spread and height than pansies, so I have made these the focal point, planting in the centre and rear of the pots, with pansies dotted around in between and at the front. Hopefully, these will grow nicely together!


The balcony also has a wooden table on which I have moved the tall plants to the back, with trailing ivy at the front. This acts as a natural green 'curtain' to cover up my gardening tools, compost etc. which are located under the table! In front of this we have a vintage plant stand with pots growing in and then the chrysanthemum / pansy pots at the front. I'm hoping that when these plants flower, the whole effect will look like a staggered wall sloping down from the back to the front.


More to follow...

The Root of the Matter...

I'm not sure whether this thread bears any interest to followers of the London Vegetable Garden, but for the budding botanists amongst you, here is an update on the spider plant!

The other week, I took clippings from an overgrowing spider plant and while I potted the majority of these cuttings in soil, I left one in a glass of water to see whether it would grow. Well, it's been perfectly happy over the last two weeks and it's been interesting watching it grow some new roots, displayed here:

I plan to keep this plant in the water purely to see how long it keeps growing like this. Watch this space!

Bloomin' Marvellous...

Two urban gardeners. Two Cobra Lily bulbs. One London Lily-Off Championship 2009. You know the score – it's Grumblegarden's Charles verus myself. Here's the latest snap of my Cobra Lily, that looks set to flower despite being only six inches in height! Is the London Vegetable Garden set to win the world's first official 'Lily-Off'? Can Charles come back with anything more impressive than my botanical beauty? Stay tuned folks!

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.

Mustn't Grumble...

When not bemoaning about the lack of rouge on the balcony's green tomato population, or chronicling supermarkets and their desire to eradicate allotments, the London Vegetable Garden is also known to have a fun streak!

In a pure jovial aside, I was challenged to a lily-off by none other than Grumblemouse, of GrumbleGarden fame (or should that be infamy?)...

Well, Grumblemouse has struck the first blow, posting up a picture of his Cobra Lily bulb looking rather homely in its new pot. Never one to shirk from a challenge, I am now retaliating in kind, and present to you, fine upstanding readers of the London Vegetable Garden, the first picture of my Cobra Lily:


As I scour the Highway of Information for more secret lily-growing tips, space-age plant food recipes and the perfect growing environment, I leave the next move dear Grumblemouse, well and truly in your hands...

Cobra Lilies & Avocado Stones!

Along with harvesting edible vegetables that I've managed to grow from seed, one of the most satisfying things about the London Vegetable Garden is the array of great urban gardeners I've met along the way.

I spent this morning down in Columbia Road with @grumblemouse, of GrumbleGarden fame (do check out his blog – very inspiring) looking at plants and digressing over urban gardening in the capital.

Along with several cups of coffee and a lively debate concerning the differences between our various tomato plants, we stumbled across a flower stall selling bulbs and both decided to purchase the fascinating looking 'cobra lily' bulb, 'Darlingtonia Californica'.


Although not a vegetable, these plants were too interesting to ignore! These carnivorous plants trap and digest insects to supplement the nutrients they get from the soil – a fantastic opportunity for companion planting next to the whitefly-prone tomato plants.

These fascinating lilies get their name from their snake-like resemblance; the 'hood' similar to that of a cobra, complete with a forked red leaf resembling a tongue – the only species in their genus. Clearly an intriguing plant, Grumblemouse and myself both purchased a bulb for the princely sum of £1.50 and are now having a race to see whose cobra lily flowers first!


I have also decided to plant the stone from an avocado plant (pictured above), purely as an experiment to see what grows... Watch this space for updates on both of these new additions to the London Vegetable Garden!

(Grumblemouse is a fellow London balcony gardener with an impressive array of tomatoes, chillies, peppers and lettuce growing on his urban plot – visit the GrumbleGarden for yourself by clicking here.)

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 Photo Diary - Flower to Fruit

I thought it'd be quite useful to show you the various stages the tomato plants on the London Vegetable Garden have been going through when flowering. With the plants now well established and several trusses on the go, here is a visual record of how my flowers have grown into fruit.

1) The first stage – trusses form on the plant and flower.


2) The flower starts to shrivel slightly and a tiny tomato fruit can be seen forming behind the flower.


3) The tomato fruit is swelling and establishing itself quite quickly. The flower is very shrivelled up.


4) The flower has now dropped off completely and the tomato fruit is left to swell and grow.

Now, these four photos were all taken on the London Vegetable Garden this morning, with new and old trusses showing different stages of growth accordingly. It has taken a few weeks to go from flowers to tomatoes, so if you currently have an abundance of flowers on your tomato plants but no fruit, don't be disheartened – before too long, you'll have an abundance of tomato crops growing away nicely and ready for a few salads in no time!

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!

All Change on the Middle Window Box Front...

Avid followers of the London Vegetable Garden could well be forgiven for thinking my agricultural attentions have been too focussed on flora and fauna in recent weeks. Fear not, as vegetables are very much still the focus of the balcony and this blog, but one of the window boxes has looked rather dilapidated in recent weeks and the time has come to re-do it.

As you can see, I planted ivy in this window box over a year ago. Whilst their longevity is a testament to the hardy nature of the plant, this one really has become too big for the box it's planted in. You can see from the stem size below just how big the plant has come; whilst it would flourish in a garden, planted in the ground, in this window box it really has reached its limit.

It just so happened that when making a (compulsory I might add) visit to Tesco, they had some cheap bedding flowers on offer for £3. I've done well out of supermarkets for cheap gardening paraphernalia recently, including the excellent grow bags I blogged about a few weeks previously.

A pleasant weekend afternoon was spent potting this new plants into the window box, although in terms of outside space, it's proving more and more difficult to manoeuvre out on the balcony! I'm hoping that in a few weeks, we'll have a beautiful floral display acting as a colourful centrepiece of the London Vegetable Garden. Watch this space.

Awash with Colour

Just thought I'd add a quick blog entry showing how the petunias are faring - half of the London Vegetable Garden is currently awash with colour thanks to these bedding plants. I highly recommend keeping your eyes open in supermarkets or garden centres for some bedding petunias. In the space of a few weeks they've grown spectacularly and make a real impact to any balcony or garden. You could even pot them on a windowsill.

The Darling Buds of May (and June...)

It's a well known fact that the banalities of life (such as a job, visiting the doctors, doing the shopping) all detract from valuable gardening time. The aforementioned banalities also consume valuable blogging time, which is why the London Vegetable Garden has been as sparse as my carrot plants in recent weeks - you have my sincere apologies.

But moving on, I've managed to weed some time into my diary to get firmly back on track with recording the progress of my organic odyssey. The recent hot weather has been responsible for a huge surge in growth, with vegetable plants taking over much of the London Vegetable Garden balcony. This has harassed the other half immeasurably, as putting out the clothes horse now requires military precision to avoid squashing tomato plants and radish pots. It gives me however, plenty of new fodder for a blog entry and an update on the London Vegetable Garden!


The plants that have fared the best in the current British heat wave are my runner beans. Two plants died recently, which I fear was my own fault when I removed the bottoms from their pots to place over the grow bags. With these weeded out, along with plenty of water and sunshine, their fortunes have reversed and thay now dominate the balcony wall.


As you can see from the pictures, they are also starting to bud flowers, which indicates that they're well on their way to produce-bearing stage. Although I didn't harvest many actual runner beans last year (OK, three to be precise), I'm hoping that the added compost underneath the pots and the regular feed I'm giving them will see an increased crop this time around. Watch this space for more updates...

No Vegetables Today, Just Flowers...

There's an age-old adage that there are two sides to every story. There's a lesser well-known adage (but one that's equally relevant) that there are two sides to every balcony and this doesn't exclude the London Vegetable Garden!

Whilst I'm promoting the use of any urban space (however small) to grow vegetables and raise awareness of becoming a bit more self-sufficient (why should we give Tesco all our money?), the truth is that container gardening extends beyond bags of beans and pots of peas.

The photos in this entry show the other side of the London Vegetable Garden. Whereas the much publicised half contains pots of compost, seedlings, canes and grow bags, its twin represents my more botanical inclinations.

The modest display you can see in the photos represents a continuing project that's lasted over a year. Whilst the main bush-like plants and ivy have been a constant on my balcony, I've had the pleasure of adding and changing seasonal plants and flowers over several months.

Over winter, we had some beautiful pansies that lasted right through until a few months ago, which have now been replaced by some vivid petunias. As Bob Purnell explains in his superb book 'Crops in Pots', one of the most attractive features of container gardening is the ease in which you can move plants around to create varied displays that make a real impact in your garden (or on your balcony).

For balconies, one of the easiest and most space-effective ways to get started is to purchase a few window boxes. They make an immediate impact without taking up any ground space. On the London Vegetable Garden, we have one in the middle that's full of floor-length ivy now, turning a concrete balcony into more of a living garden.

For more ideas on container flowers and bedding plants that are easy to use, visit your local garden centre or check out the BBC Gardening website.

A Budding Bank Holiday...

Along with clogged-up motorways and visiting family members you’d really rather not, the Bank Holiday invariably shifts people’s attentions to the garden once again, even if only for a few hours of mowing or barbequing.

Whilst not a middle-aged dad who’s finally been roped into tidying up the back garden before the mother-in-law comes over, my girlfriend and I do intend to join the legions of harassed husbands at a Homebase later this morning. Keen to make the most of the Bank Holiday weather (which, strangely for England, is actually warm and sunny), I want to spend some time outdoors before I return to the daily commute and eight hours cooped up in front of a computer screen.

The main task I’d like to get sorted is the grow bag base for the runner beans. These vegetables have incredibly fast-growing and extensive root systems and the pots they are currently sat in don’t offer them enough space to grow. One of the London Vegetable Garden’s followers kindly emailed in with some tips, suggesting that a bottomless pot sat on top of a grow bag would reap dividends for the roots and subsequently, the runner bean crop.

Here on the London Vegetable Garden, we do enjoy our flowers too! The pansies that lasted through the winter have now succumbed to fatigue and have joined that big compost heap in the sky – worryingly, I think white fly is partly to blame. With this in mind, I’d also like to sterilise these pots and bed-in some new flowers.

I intend to sit down and record the day’s events later on this evening, but until then leave you with some recent pictures of how the various vegetables are progressing. The radishes are especially impressive!

No Vegetables But Some Beautiful Countryside...

I haven’t posted anything for the last few days, as I’ve been back down in Sussex helping my mother to move house. In my absence, the wonderful girlfriend has been looking after the London Vegetable Garden and keeping everything watered and content. Although she’s done a sterling job, I think she’s breathed a huge sigh of relief that I’m back and that no plants have died on her watch!

Although not strictly related to the London Vegetable Garden, I just wanted to share a couple of beautiful pictures that I managed to take when I was back home. Whilst I’m extremely passionate about the London Vegetable Garden, growing your own vegetables on a balcony and urban gardening issues in general, the thought of working in a garden set somewhere like this is surely the ultimate dream…

New arrivals!

So, two weeks down the line and things on the balcony are well underway, highlighted by the impressive size of the newly re-potted runner beans! Now that there is once again a little bit of space back on the balcony windowsill, I’ve made a few new additions to the London Vegetable Garden.

Many of you have emailed in to say that herbs are an easy and space-efficient plant to grow on a balcony or on a sunny kitchen windowsill. I’ve taken this on board and am looking to start a varied herb garden over the next few weeks. The first of these, planted yesterday, is Coriander (Coriandrum Sativum). The packet instructions say that it is enough to grow this in pots on a windowsill, so this is a great way for city gardeners to maximise the variety of produce they can grow whilst economising space.

The second batch of new additions to the London Vegetable Garden this week is French Breakfast Radishes (Raphanus Sativus). The packet states that these are high-yielding crops, ideal for use as a ‘catch-crop’ between slower growing vegetables, so we’ll see if they arrive before the carrots! I’ve planted these in deep pots – as a shallow vegetable, hopefully they’ll have plenty of room to grow.

On a non-vegetable note, my other half is beginning to get concerned at the amount of compost-ridden pots taking over the balcony, so I’ve invested in some more flowers to ensure the balcony retains its aesthetic qualities and keeps her happy – White Foxgloves (Digitalis Purpurea). Progress will be reported here first!

All change on the bean front...

Exactly two weeks to the day and already it’s time to transplant the runner beans! Regular follows of the London Vegetable Garden will know that these beans have been shooting up around two inches per day since they sprouted, so I wanted to get them bedded into pots as soon as possible.

The pictures here show how quickly and densely the roots grow too. Several of you have been emailing in with tips and advice (much appreciated – keep them coming) and suggesting that I should cut a hole in the bottom of the pots and sit them on top of a grow bag, so that the roots can really spread out and dig in.

I’ve put some canes up for the leaves to establish themselves on. Hopefully the plants won’t be too distressed from the move and will now settle down and start winding around the canes.