Scarlet Runner Bean Harvesting!

It's me in my Balcony Garden!

Baby Sugar Icebox Water Melon on my Balcony Garden!

I got a pack of four Baby Sugar Icebox Water Melon at Home Depot for just $2.90. It was the first time I grow water melon so I didn't know how big the container I should use. I grow them all in the City Picker Selfwatering Planter. They all all growing strong so I think the container is big enough. I used Dr. Earth Organic soil - the most expensive soil I ever bought, for this water melon. The soil is very good. It kept the moist and feel natural.

I discarded all of the first several flowers to keep the plant save its energy for growing stronger root. I hand pollinated them when I can. I saw some bees around so I let the beed do their job. I don't want so many fruits at once time :-).

 This baby is growing so fast. About 12 days, it is now about a big grapefruit size. Can't wait to taste them.

Balcony Garden July Update!

Everything is doing fantastic except some mildew on the tomato keep coming back. I just harvested the grape. Tomato is giving me fruit every week. I never have to buy tomato at the store anymore. The scarlet emperor running beans are climping up to the canopy. Japanese cucumber is ready to be eaten. Blackberry is flowering. Watermelon is having a lot of small fruit.

Beefsteak Tomato!

It's an exciting day!

Yellow Mushroom in Terrarium!

Slowly but surely, those yellow mushroom invaded my terrarium. I think it was on the soil waiting for the right condition to grow. They are harmless yet beauty so I keep them in there as long as they last :-)

Flame seedless grape!

Grapes are ripen! It flowered on May and now they are ready to be harvested. I didn't have experience this time so I didn't pinched out some grape. I learned that by pinched and thinned some fruit out, it help the rest bigger. Despite the small size, they are very sweet :-)

Ice box baby sugar water melon!

I picked up this Ice box baby sugar water melon last month at Home Depot nursery. They are growing fast and now started flowering. Each plants has several male and female flowers. I pinched off the first flowers. When they had flowers again for second time, I hand pollinated them early in the morning.

I didn't see much bee up here so hand pollinated is a key to have fruit.

Kishu Mandarine!

The local nursery just had this lovely Kishu Mandarine in stock. I wanted it so badly because it was very hard to find but it was a kind of pricy so I had to go with the cheapest option means bought the younger plant. I don't know when it will have fruit but small plant mean I can keep it indoor. The information said it will bloom in Spring. Keep finger crossed.

I found a lovely Made in Vietnam pot at Ross and potted the plant with organic soil and Citrus slow release fertilize. It's the first time I grow citrus indoor so let's wait and see :-)

Japanese cucumber!

The Japanese cucumber I picked up at the nursery last month is now blooming. When I first picked it up, it was about a feet tall and had some flowers. I pinched off all of the flowers so the plant could save its energy to develop the root system. This is very important thing I just learned after one of my tomato didn't grow very well when I left all the first flowers and fruits on the plant as I got it from the nursery.

This is female flower. I couldn't find the male flower to hand pollinate it so I don't know if it will become fruit.

Harvesting update - 07/07/2014

A 12" tasty juicy cucumber ;-)

Harvesting and flowers!

This was the first time I ever tasted a beefsteak tomato. Since I never saw it at the store, I tried to grow one. After four month, this was the first one ripen. It tasted very good, thick juicy meat.

 My fava bean got burned by the heat wave last week and here were some beans left to harvest. They taste very sweet. I was able to eat them all raw.

The sunflower was seeded by bird. It grew very fast. This one was about 3 weeks. I will save them for seed to feed the birds back :-).

 I thought this dwarf pomegranate plant couldn't survice because it was so tiny week and got pest all over it. But this summer, it gave me so many flowers on it's 12 inches tall body.

 The first strawberry. Very big, tasty and good looking.

 These also first harvest bluberry and alpine strawberry. They tasted so good!

 My olallie blackberry gave me just three fruits for the first time. I hope it will survice this summer.

Saving Private...Blueberry!

My bountiful blueberry wasn't doing good in the summer heat. Its leaves were getting dry, also the fruit. The fruit tasted really tart even they looked ripe. I didn't know what to do. I used specific soil for blueberry and add fertilize every month. I ordered the PH soil test and tested it today. The soil wasn't acidic enough but it shouldn't be the reason for dry leaves. Some people on the gardening forum had the same problem with their blueberry in California so I guess the "full sun" rule din't apply here. They said they moved their blueberry to a shading area and it worked great! I gave it a try.

 Leaves were drying.

 Also the fruits.

 I got new soil and re pot the plant to make sure I did everything right at one. Because of that, I found out the root ball wasn't develop much after fourth months. It still has the same shape of the nursery pot when I first got it. I think I made a mistake of not loosing the root ball from beginning. So I gave it a good shake, loosed up the root and re pot it with new soil that had the right PH level.

I hope it will work and my blueberry will stay with me.

Easy Pickers Self watering Planter.

I just picked up the Easy Pickers Self watering Planter at Home Depot on Mother Day Sale. It like the fact that it has the stand on wheels. I already have the DIY self watering container that I made fourth months ago. So far just the zuchini seem to do well in it. This time I want to try the professional make to see any different.

 It just took like ten minutes to assample and it's very light weight.

I planted some chilis, one bitter melon and sugar baby watermelon that I also got at the Home Depot. I moved my alpine strawberry to the bottom of the planter because the alpine strawberry doing well in the shade. My balcony was so hot in the summer that some of the leaves got burned. I wanted to experience with the chillis again since the one I grew on my DIY planter didn't seem like it. I didn't follow the instruction for the soil because I don't have what they asked for so I just used my Organic Dr. Earth potting mix with the all purpose - fertilizer strip in the middle.

The planter came with a black plastic mulch but I didn't use it because it tend to get mold when it contacted to the soil. I used coco fiber so I can take it out and add more plant later. Now let's wait and see if it work as advised.

Healthy kick, plum tomato!

If you ever had a tomato just picked from your garden, you will never want to eat the tomato at the store again. It just taste so different. The one that ripe naturally on the vine tastes juicy and sweet, like fruit. So good that you will just want to eat it like that!

Greek Basil Tree!

I just found this amazing thing called Greek Basil Tree from the local nursery Hashimoto on Sawtelle. It's a basil tree that its leaves taste and smell like other basils. Use in cooking just like others. And it can be grown indoor. Great thing is it look like a miniature tree so I use it in my terrarium pot.

Summer is coming on my balcony garden!

With the help of my boyfriend, I finally got to construct the grapevine canopy for my balcony. I got some wood dowels and the connection parts at the hardware store for under $50. After a whole afternoon screw them together and get them out to the balcony, I got the grapevine tire to the canopy. Luckily the local nursery just had the great grapevine which was 3 years old came to their place. I got the vine to speed up the process a bit since my 3 months grapevine as seen on the front wasn't tall enough. I pruned the grapevine from the nursery heavily so they will produce better grape and grow faster.

I can't wait for the day the vine will cover the canopy and give me a little taste of heavenly garden on my balcony :-)

DIY Fly rod and reel case!

I wanted a carrying case for my delicate vintage fly rod but those cases in my wish list is too expensive for me right now. But I need a case for my camping trip this week so I did some research to see if I can make one at home. It turned out a lot of people make their own rod tubes and share their experience on internet. Under $10, I can have a heavy duty rod tube to carry my rod around. After 2 hours wander around the hardware store and talked with people, I got all the parts I need and made the case in about 1 hour. Here is the final look.

Here is the top. I cut a rectangle on the side to fit my reel in snuggly. This part is tricky because I didn't measure it carefully. But after some fitting, the reel fit nicely into the cutting. I wrap some clear tap to help the cap close and open smoothly.

Here is the bottom. I actually bought the twist cap by mistake. I thought I would just make a rod tube so the twist cap will work nicely to open and close the tube. But then I changed my mind and came up with a new design which allow me to have the rod and reel at once in the tube.

I have the SS Clamps and a key ring for the strap. I use a camera strap that I don't need. It worked nicely since the tube wasn't heavy.

The close up look at the top.

The first harvest!

I decided to pick the zuchini today. I really wanted to see how big it can grow but I also so eager to taste my labor so I couldn't wait. The bigger zuchini is the one from the selfwatering planter I made. The smaller one is from the wood crate planter. They grew at the same time and I don't know if it's too early to say that the one from the selfwatering planter grew better!
My lettuces grew from seeds. 100% organic natural grow in organic soil and bat guano . It proved that we don't need harming peredise to make plant healthy. Lettuces are great to grow. They grow fast, and can use as soil cover. Just need to water them everyday.