celery

I cut some of my Celery, hoping to use it. It looked pretty enough

although not much left after the foliage cut off. The stalks were small still.

And the flavor awful. My kid said it tasted salty, I thought it had a rather soapy flavor, but very strong either way so we tossed it all.  There's something about growing celery I've never seemed to get quite right. Blah. I've left the plant still growing in the pot outside. It looks relatively pretty and doesn't seem to mind the cold so far.

chill

It's been getting cold. There's a freeze warning for tonight. So it became a little impromptu harvest day for my small balcony garden. I trimmed the Sage, cut the Chives, Green Onions and Swiss Chard to the ground.

I brought my Ginger inside, probably should have done this sooner.

I grouped most of the plants away from the balcony edge and close to the apartment wall, where they might hold some warmth. This side has some Ferns, the Hibiscus, Echinacea, Celery and Geraniums.

The other side has more Ferns, Rosemary, Sage, Chard, Green Onions and pot of Chives.

here pictured after the cutback:

As a last thought, I gathered a bit of mulch from shredded leaves (dead fern foliage, trimmings from hibiscus) and some cut-up coir fiber that used to house my boston fern, and tucked it around the base of my Sage, Rosemary, and miniature Rose.

The rest of the plants will just have to fend for themselves, and see how they survive. I did move the Nasturtium planter off the railing and onto a low shelf against the brick endwall

but left the Petunia planter where it was. It's heavily infested with aphids and I think whitefly, and I don't want that to spread to the other plants.

So that's it. I wasn't expecting it to get so cold so soon.

edibles

I only have twenty-five plants on the balcony now. That sounds like a lot, but to me it looks sparse out there. A third of those are Ferns, and of the rest quite a few are still ones I can eat.

Of the herbs, I still have green onioins, Chives, Rosemary

and Sage.

There's also one remaining Swiss Chard

and a nice-looking Celery

I haven't eaten any celery so far, it doesn't have a stalk to cut yet. But I periodically make tea out of Rosemary (when I feel a cold coming on) or put it into biscuits, chop the Chives over potatoes or into quesadillas, add the Swiss Chard to lasagnas will some spinach to fill it out, stuff enchiladas with Green Onions. I need to find more use for Sage...

more death

Yeah, the toll goes on. Whatever this disease is that's killing off my balcony plants, it is still spreading. I thought it was aphids, but now am wondering if it's some kind of air-borne virus. Definitely the Petunias are smothered in aphids; but many of the other plants have pale, mottled scraped-looking leaves and no actual bugs on them when I look close.

Affected plants now include: Petunias (the worst), Echinacea, Nasturtium, Potato, Celery, Mint, Swiss Chard, Miniature Rose, Dogwood sapling in a pot, Mums and my daughter's plant (I forget its identity). Even the Sage, Rosemary and my Mimosa tree, which I thought impervious to harm, are starting to show signs of ill. Quite a few of those are my favorites. I am very unhappy and discouraged by this.

I should just throw them all out before everything dies, but can't quite bring myself to do so. There are still pretty pink flowers on the Petunias, and I even have one Nasturtium bloom...

The good news is a few plant groups seem untouched: the Hibiscus, Green Onion, Chives, Ginger, all the Ferns, and the Basil plants. Oh, and that odd Resurrection Plant, which is still closing and unfolding again according to water supply! It even has green color, so I do think it's alive, wacky thing. The Basil is showing signs of being affected by cooler nights; soon it will end its season. I had hung some to dry in my kitchen but the humidity is too high and the herb leaves simply aren't drying out. I might have to try drying them in the oven again...

My Ferns seem to be doing quite well, most of them are growing new bright green uncurling shoots.

The indoor plants are, for the most part, in good condition- including the young cuttings of Petunia and Stevia which I've brought inside to occupy a windowsill. So I will someday soon here write a happy post about all those.
~
Oh, and I've actually eaten potatoes! Out of my potato bag! Lovely little delicious red things. I am sitting on eager hands waiting for the plant to flower so I can upend the bag and get the rest out. They were tiny things, and I want to let them mature a bit more. Also cut the entirety of the Swiss Chard plant down the other day and put it into a lasagna. There wasn't enough chard so I bulked up the recipe with store-bought spinach, but it was quite good and I think the kids liked it better that way anyhow. So I am still eating a bit of my diminishing garden!

garlic infusion

I got four little heads of Garlic from my plants, small but nicely pungent. Didn't get to eat them though. Used to make a garlic spray against insects.

They weren't quite cured yet so the skins pinkish hue.

Nearly 4 oz of garlic

steeped in water for two days

then applied with a tablespoon of dishsoap.

This is what I'm battling. Pale splotches on all the leaves, pictured here Mint:

It seems to be diminishing though; the newer leaves look healthier. I think I'm routing them!

Also on the Celery

and Marigolds

and Petunias and Nasturtiums and others... Appears to be aphids, mostly.

Lavender cut down

As a further preventative measure I scrubbed out all the empty pots good with hot water and bleach. The number of empty pots now exceeds the number of live plants on my balcony...

happy seedlings

The little ones in my coldframe all seem content and are growing quickly! I love being able to walk past the big window all day long and glance straight down into the frame to see them.

Lettuces:

Broccoli:

Itty bitty celery putting out scalloped leaves:

seedling front

Snow drifts down outside and I do silly things like pot up seedlings. Too early still, but as long as they live I will keep these going. I have remaining from the first foolish sowing a bunch of vigorous Pea plants

a handful of young Dill

three Broccoli

a few of the tiniest Celery seedlings

and dozens of Lettuce. I forgot to mark the trays, so I don't know which are what variety of Lettuce.

Yesterday I moved the Broccoli and Lettuce seedlings out of their trays. As usual, I put them into cardboard toilet-paper rolls. Stuffed each with soil through cupped hands, made a hole down the center with an old chopstick

Gently wedge the biggest seedlings out with an old butter knife

Always careful to lift the baby plants by their leaves, as the stems and roots are too delicate.

Lower them into the individual cardpot holes, then firm in with fingertip. Bury their leggy stems entire.

Add a bit more soil on top to fill it up.

This time I also took the trouble to clean out the trays the cardpots sit in with a vacuum nozzle- I always spill soil down there and don't like how it looks dirty. Plus, I plan to water these from the bottom, and don't want it a muddy mess. You can also see here how they're secured with a rubber band around each group of cardpots- sometimes when I go to move the trays they can tip, top-heavy; this makes them steady.

The first time you always have to water from above, to settle the plants in. After the first watering, I'll just add water into the tray below. I've been doing sub-irrigated watering with the Peas...

I don't know if you can tell, but these seedlings are sitting in the plastic container a stick of shortening came in. They're exactly the right size for three cardpots, and fit nicely on even narrow windowsills. It's the only reason I buy shortening in those premeasured sticks, it's cheaper in the bigger tubs but I like these trays for cardpots. (I don't cook a lot with lard, it's mostly for the occasional pie crust).

I now have three Broccoli and nineteen Lettuce seedlings in cardpots.

They're all nestled into the plastic "greenhouse" box with the other young plants, so they can go outside during the day for winter sun.

It was nice to actually get my hands dirty!