The Garden

Skrog Productions · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2025 1:40 pm Post subject:

nice spring blue colours Phobos Smile

BalconyGarden looking great !!

PHOBoS · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2025 9:50 am Post subject:

Thanks Dave, so far I am really glad I decided to plant some spring bulbs. Haven't really worked out what to do when they're done flowering
since I will need the space for other plants but it'll sort itself out when the time comes. Here are some more photos from a couple of days ago.
There is more growth now and if all goes well a lot of flowers within a couple of weeks. I think the daffodils might be the next to flower.

20250228 - Iris reticulata 'Alida' - 06.jpg

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20250302 - Iris reticulata 'Alida' - 08.jpg

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20250302 - Sping bulbs - 03.jpg

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right planter with Tulipa 'Sweet Sixteen' + Narcissus 'Anfield'

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20250302 - Sping bulbs - 04.jpg

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left planter with Tulipa 'Sweet Sixteen' + Narcissus 'Anfield'

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20250302 - Sping bulbs - 05.jpg

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planter with Anemone blanda mix + Tulipa 'Scarlet Baby' (and 1 Narcissus 'Minnow')

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PHOBoS · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2025 9:59 am Post subject:

I took home a pair of english daisies from the supermarket which might help out an hungry insect or two.
Don't know if they'll last long but they do look very healthy.

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PHOBoS · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2025 12:11 pm Post subject:

PEPPERS

I'll be continuing from what I did last year*
The peppers will again be planted in the 2 large planters at the edge of my balcony and I won't sow a lot of different varieties.
I've collected seeds from 3 of the plants that I grew last year that had some nice peppers on them: Early Jalapeno, Fresno and
another Fresno that had some spicier than usual peppers, I labeled those as Fresno+ . My initial idea was to only use those Fresno+
seeds but I used some of the other Fresno seeds as well as a backup in case they wouldn't germinate.

but,..
a couple of super hot ones would be nice and I've had great success before with Ghost peppers. Also, I can place a total of 10 plants
in the 2 planters, maybe even 12, and if those are all Fresno peppers I might end up with more than I can consume while they're fresh.
I didn't want to order too many varieties though, which can be tempting as the shipping costs are often higher than the costs of the seeds,
but after looking around a bit online I found a nice seed mix that contained: Naga Jolokia Ghost Pepper, Carolina Reaper and Trinidad
Moruga Scorpion. Those are 3 of the worlds hottest varieties with Carolina Reaper and Trinidad Moruga Scorpion currently at 2nd & 3rd
place resp. I also received some free Habanero seeds with the order which is great because the Habaneros I've been growing the last
couple of years did produce peppers but were about as spicy as an ordinary bell pepper.

The seeds were placed in cups with water on Feb 28 and soaked overnight. The next day (1st of March) I put them in damp coffee filters
which I placed inside my heated jar. The first ones to germinate were the Fresno+ seeds only 2 days later (3rd of March). I've been checking
the seeds for signs of germination each day and unlike previous years I now put them in the ground as soon as I see just the hint of a root,
instead of waiting until it has grown a little bit. Another thing I've been doing different is that instead of poking a hole in the soil and dropping
the (pre-germinated) seed in with the root pointing down I now slightly tamp down the soil to get a firm and flat surface, lay the seed(s) flat
on top, add a bit more soil and tamp it down again. This appears to have worked great to prevent so called "helmet heads" which is when the
seedling gets stuck inside the seed hull and dies if you can't get it removed in time.

As of today (the 10th or March) I have 12 Fresno+ seedlings, 4 Fresno seedlings, 4 Naga Jolokia Ghost Pepper seedlings (seed 5/5 germinated today),
1 Carolina Reaper seedling and 1 Trinidad Moruga Scorpion seedling. No Habanero seedlings yet but I am already very happy with having 1 of each
of the super hots. Let's hope they all survive.

*you can read more about it in this post.

20250307 - Peppers - 01.jpg

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Tagetes seedlings at the bottom left

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20250307 - Peppers - 02.jpg

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Fresno+ seedlings were the first to sprout

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20250310 - Peppers - 04.jpg

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Tagetes seedlings at the bottom left

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PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2025 12:50 pm Post subject:

we had some nice very weather last weekend which made it feel like spring arrived early. I made use of it by washing my kitchen windows,
which I can't get to anymore when all the plants start to grow, and tidying up my balcony a bit. This year that wasn't a lot of work because
I already did quite a bit of it when I planted the spring bulbs. I do always leave some dead plant matter and soil on the floor between pots
and against the wall as shelter for insects.

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PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2025 1:38 pm Post subject:

Last year I tested a couple of LED grow lights by trying to grow some coleus inside which worked surprisingly well.
I've since mounted all 6 of the lights inside a cabinet and made a cover for it using a piece of an old reed mat which dims the light but lets air through.

On March 2nd I've sown Coleus 'Flame Dancers' and Coleus 'Wizard Black Dragon' in seed trays which I placed inside a propagator under the LED strips
and they are doing really well so far. I already had to cull them so I will end up with only 1 seedling per cell, which is still 24 in total.

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20250307 - Coleus - 01.jpg

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PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2025 2:17 pm Post subject:

Coleus isn't the only thing I have growing under the LED lights. When I planted the springbulbs I also did some last minute autumn sowing.
At that time it was already a bit late but I didn't have anything to lose apart from some seeds that I have plenty of anyway. I wasn't expecting
that some of the seeds would germinate within a couple of days and I had placed the propagator with the seed trays in a very shady spot
because I first had to make a bit more space for it. When I did move it I noticed the California poppies and Candytuft had already sprouted
and become very leggy so I removed those and sow some fresh seeds. The ones that sprouted still became quite leggy but they actually
survived the winter outside.

There were some other seeds that sprouted as well and most of them are now growing inside under the LED lights. I did screw up the foxgloves
by placing them too close to the lights which not only burned the leaves but also dried them out too fast. It's a bit of a shame because these are
supposed to flower in the first year if you sow them in autumn. Some of them are still alive though so not all is lost yet.
The Candytuft also got a bit burned but because they're leggy this might not even be a bad thing and has the same effect as pinching them.
Those can be sown in spring anyway. I also have a couple of Primula elatior seedlings now which I didn't have any success with before because
they should be sown in autumn.

As I mentioned this really was just a last minute experiment, but now that I know that it can work I'll probably try it again in autumn this year.

20241103 - autumn seedlings - 01.jpg

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leggy seedlings after being in the shade too long. I think it was only a week or so after sowing

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20250307 - autumn seedlings - 02.jpg

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some of the survivors, the 2 bella donna plants in the back were grown from seed last year and are now back outside

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20250316 - calamintha nepeta - 01.jpg

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only 1 of these sprouted, but if I can keep it alive that's enough

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20250316 - Primula elatior - 01.jpg

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finally a bit of luck with primulas

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20250316 - Digitalis purpurea 'Foxy mixed' - 01.jpg

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burned foxgloves :( they were doing so well before

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PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2025 2:24 pm Post subject:

A couple of nigella damascena seedlings that were also started outside. These are doing pretty well.

20250316 - nigella damascena persian jewels - 01.jpg

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(leggy candytuft in the background)

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PHOBoS · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 9:05 am Post subject:

PHOBoS · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 12:28 pm Post subject:

pepper update with a little bit of science.

I bought some fertiliser sticks last year but didn't really use them for much and I thought it might be interesting to do a little test with them.
So a week ago (the 12th of March) I added 1 stick each to half of the pots with Fresno+ seedlings. At that time they all looked very similar
and they are growing under the same conditions. It's now about a week later and I think the results are pretty clear to see on the photo Cool

the sticks have an N-P-K rating of NK 6-6 (no Phosphorus)
there is also a more detailed list on the packaging:
6% N (Nitrogen)
6% K₂O (Potassium oxide)
2.5% S (Sulfur)
0.5% MgO (Magnesium oxide)

I do always use a liquid feed but before I can use that I have to wait until the soil has dried out enough*. I can add these sticks earlier and
because they take a while to completely dissolve they will supply the seedlings with a constant feed. It is tempting to add the sticks to all
the other seedlings now but ehm,. something about not counting all your baskets before the chickens hatch.
I am not expecting that it will do anything bad to the seedlings but just in case. I do have 2 pots with ghost pepper seedlings and 2 pots with
'regular' Fresno seedlings so I've added a stick to one of each of those too.

*all pepper seedlings had their first liquid feed a couple days ago

20250320 - Peppers - 06.jpg

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also one tiny Tagetes tenuifolia 'lemon' seedling on the left and a rather pale ghost pepper seedling on the right.

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20250320 - Peppers - 07.jpg

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LEFT: with fertiliser sticks, RIGHT: without fertiliser sticks

note: the white edges are from being a bit close to the lights, I am trying to bombard them with as much photons as they can handle

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PHOBoS · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2025 12:19 pm Post subject:

couple more photos

20250321 - Tulipa 'Scarlet baby' - 04.jpg

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the tulips got to enjoy a nice sunny day

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20250320 - Coleus - 04.jpg

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Coleus is starting to show some colors,. I still have to cull the mixed ones but because it's a mix I want to wait to see if some interesting colors show up

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20250320 - Tagetes - 01.jpg

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most of them are Tagetes patula 'disco red' grown from seed I collected last year, but I also found some seeds from 2019 of the Tagets patula 'Jolly Jester' variety so gave those a try as well. Those are a bit more leggy but I am surprised they germinated

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20250318 - Tagetes patula 'Disco red' - 02.jpg

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these were being guarded a couple days ago

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20250316 - Scorpiurus muricatus - 01.jpg

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These are also growing under the LED lights. having a bit more success with them than the last time I tried growing them

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PHOBoS · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2025 1:02 pm Post subject:

so ehm,. I uh,.. bought a tree

a couple years ago when I got my plants back after the renovation 2 "trees" appeared.
One of them was a maple which didn't last very long after I put it in a different pot and placed it in a shady corner.
The other was a Hazel which actually grew pretty well but I had to transplant it last year. Mainly because it had run out of space to grow
but I also wanted to use the space for peppers. It didn't recover from that, unless it miraculously comes back to life this year (trees can get
severe transplant shock) but I really doubt it will. However I was getting used to the idea of having a small tree on my balcony and now that
space is free so I started looking around what was available and stumbled upon something that might work. I did initially give up on the idea
because even though it's a small tree it could still get fairly large for my balcony.

Today I went shopping for some plants (more about those later) and there it was, or were, they had a couple but I am not yet used to the idea
of starting a forest on my balcony. Looking at it I thought to myself,."why the fuck not, I am an adult and I am allowed to do stupid things"
I mean worst case I'll kill it within a year as I do with most of the plants, but until then the bees will love it and compared to the price of groceries
these days it's actually pretty damn cheap. So anyway, yeah I have a tree now.

oh right I didn't yet mentioned what I got. it's a Salix caprea 'Pendula' better known as a weeping pussy willow Laughing

It's a small grafted one so not a full size tree but could still get quite large depending on how you prune it and how much space it has.
I am not expecting it too grow much larger on my balcony though. (it currently measure ±90cm from the base of the pot)

This also ties back to 2018 when I got some plants to create an Alice in Wonderland inspired "Garden of live flowers"
Back then when I listed the plants I wanted to get I wrote "a willow tree isn't an option of course".
I guess I simply wasn't mad enough yet,..

20250321 - Salix caprea 'Pendula' - 01.jpg

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behold!
It already has a couple of cute fluffy catkins on it.

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PHOBoS · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2025 10:28 am Post subject:

I repotted the willow using the pot which had the snowdrops (and Hazel corpse) growing in it.
The snowdrops have been replanted underneath it. I wonder if I can find a suitable ground cover plant
to also have something growing there after the snowdrops have died back.

20250322 - Salix caprea 'Pendula' - 04.jpg

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I think that fits nicely there

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20250322 - Salix caprea 'Pendula' - 03.jpg

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yum, I'd definitely rub my face in it if I were a bee (which I am not)

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PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2025 6:30 am Post subject:

it's working dwarf

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Cynosure · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 7:23 am Post subject:

This is at my Grandfather's house, but he had a visitor in his garden. The yellow flowers are crocuses.

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Cynosure · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 8:34 am Post subject:

Update: Jan thinks that the flowers might be Winter Aconite. He is probably correct.

They are the first flowers to bloom here - about a month or more before anything else.

PHOBoS · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 10:33 am Post subject:

I agree with Jan. I actually got those instead of crocuses to have something that would flower around the same time
but they never came above ground. Apparently they can be a bit fussy and are best to be planted 'in the green'.

cute bunny albino

here's another photo of the small tulips, I really like these.
I thought they would be a one flower per bulb kinda deal, but wait there is more!

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blue hell · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 10:52 am Post subject:

PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 2:32 pm Post subject:

Tulipa sylvestris is a nice looking tulip Smile

. Hadn't heard of stinzenplanten before but crocuses do look at their best planted that way IMO.

The other small tulips I got (Tulipa humilis 'Persian pearl') are starting to open up but don't seem to do as well as the red ones.
They do combine nicely with the muscari that are growing together in the same pots and are also starting to open up.
The largest of the red tulips have started to drop some petals so the timing works out nice.

The Alliums are also flowering now and add some playful movement when there is a slight breeze (as I hoped they would).
The photo I took of them was a bit of a happy accident. It was taken outside during the day but I was using a camera setting
for inside which used the >FLASH<. I think it auto compensates the brightness when it does, so now it appears to be dark
but the flowers show up really nicely. Usually it doesn't deal very well with white/bright flowers.

20250328 - Tulipa 'Scarlet baby' - 06.jpg

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the same set of tulips as in the previous photo but now enjoying some sunshine

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20250328 - Allium zebdanense - 01.jpg

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blue hell · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 3:36 pm Post subject:

20250328 - Allium zebdanense - 01.jpg is a nice picture indeed .. nice to isolate stuff from it's background that way Cool

I had used it at night only .. pics with flash .. for plants.

And I would never have recognized those flowers as being alium Shocked

PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 3:42 pm Post subject:

a couple more early flowering plants.

The Pulmonaria is usually the first one to start flowering on my balcony and indicate the arrival of spring

The Pulsatilla vulgaris I got last year seems to have survived, or at least 2/3 plants, the white one might not have made it.
It didn't flower for a very long time after I got it but the foliage grew quite a bit and looked very nice throughout the year.
The birds (mostly jackdaws) trample on it so the flower grew a bit bend but at least it didn't snap.

Another Herb robert has found its way to a planter on my balcony so I placed it in a separate pot and today I noticed
that it has started to flower. It's a very welcome native 'weed' that keeps flowering for most of the year and is liked by bees.

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PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 4:52 pm Post subject:

When I bought the willow tree I also got some plants that I did plan to buy.
Most of these are plants that I was considering to order but was able to get locally instead.

The first 3 might attract some butterflies to my balcony though I think they generally prefer open spaces to flutter around in.
They are all fairly compact (or should be) with a height of ±30cm, flower throughout the summer and can withstand dry conditions.
* coreopsis grandiflora 'sonnenkind' has yellow flowers.
* Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Pure White' has, you probably already guessed it, white flowers
* Eryngium planum 'Blue Hobbit' a dwarf Sea Holly and yep, it's blue.
(I ordered one of these last year but got what appears to be Erysimum instead. That happens to be a good plant for butterflies as well and is still alive)

* Aruncus aethusifolius (Dwarf Goat's Beard) I got one of these in 2023 and it did really well but sadly died at the beginning of last year.
* Dianthus 'Lucky Lips' Not specifically what I had in mind to order but I wanted a Dianthus and from what was available I liked this one the most.

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PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 5:12 pm Post subject:

And 1 more plant that I didn't exactly set out to get but was familiar with.
* Brunnera macrophylla

If you look for lists of shade loving and/or woodland plants then this plant will show up quite often.
It flowers early and is an attractive plant for pollinators though usually it's not bought for the flowers but for the foliage.
That's also what caught my attention and the pattern reminds me of hyperbolic tessellations.

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