How Does Me Garden Grow?

  I just gave the plants on the balcony their nightly check and they are doing fine! My 2 Mystery plants are growing very well, and the Passiflora is very green and healthy looking.

   There are about 6 tomato plants on the balcony, and, unfortunately they would have been better off if I would have put them in the pots in the yard, along the fence, but, they are all growing well, except one that I planted in the pot where the Dixie Yellow plant died. I don't know what kind of tomato plant this one is, but it was growing alongside a pepper plant, which I do not know what that one is either.

   One of the mystery tomato plants is a German Lunchbox plant, so it is not a mystery anymore. I pulled the tomato off the plant last week and made it into a sandwich. Now, if I could only grow my own wheat, lettuce, and cows (to make cheese with), I would have the perfect sandwich! Well, the lettuce I can grow, and even the wheat, but I don't have any cows to make the cheese with. Not yet, anyway.

   There is one problem that is aggravating the tomato plants, and that is simply the caterpillars that are enjoying the plants. I check them every day to see if any new ones appear, and I haven't seen any fruit worms lately, but what I have seen is the leaves curling on some of the tomato plants, and the edges turning brown. Many times, I take those leaves and squish them between my fingers and that's how I get rid of those little pesky caterpillars. Once I spend a lot of time doing that one a plant, the plant shows much improvement after that.

 Now that the weather is a little cooler, I am seeing some blossoms on the tomatoes and peppers. I have 2 banana cream tomatoes growing on that plant. The plant itself looks sick because the leaves are all wilting, but the plant keeps growing and blossoming. If I would have listened to the advice I read in a Rodale book on plant diseases, I would have removed the plant and would have to have replaced it with a disease resistant variety, which would defeat the whole purpose of what I am doing.

   I want to plant as many heirloom plants as possible. Non of this hybrid stuff. Definitely no GMO plants! Some of the heirlooms are just beautiful. One such plant is called 'Red Warty Thing' which is a plant that looks like a pumpkin, but is full of bumps and it is bright orange. If I could get those to grow, they would make nice fall decorations as well as provide nourishing food for my family, that is, if I cut it up and cook it!

Red Warty Thing - Carried by Tradewinds fruit

   I already pulled off a Pepperoncini pepper that I didn't even realize was there until I was showing the garden to a friend who came over. I took it off and cut it up, then took some butter and sauteed it, and added frozen corn and cooked the pepper and corn together. Because of the overabundance of lima beans in the back yard garden, I will often take those off and cook them with corn to make succotash. Now I might be wrong, but it seems like in the olden days, when succotash was made, wasn't there pork in it too?

   Over  a year ago, I threw out some vegetable scraps in the garden and this time, sweet potatoes started growing. This year, the sweet potatoes and the lima beans have taken over the garden. I planted a couple of blue potatoes last year and unfortunately, some animal came by and dug them up. I sure hope there is one left in the ground as I can't find blue potatoes anywhere for sale. The nurseries which carry them are all out of stock. Disappointing!

   Pretty soon saffron will come in the mail and I will plant them in their pots that I already bought. Now all I need it the dirt to go into the pots. Saffron blooms in the fall, and it requires a season without water. So, the saffron will have to go on the balcony somewhere, so I can monitor how much or how little water it will receive. This is only my third time of trying to grow saffron and hopefully it will grow in the pots.

   The strawberry papaya plants are doing very well. One is on the porch though, and I wish we could bring it down but the pot, along with the dirt and plant weigh over 100 pounds. That's quite heavy to try to move downstairs. Hopefully, it won't get angry when the top hits the ceiling!

  All the Alpine strawberries died in the hydroponic setup. I have a few left in pots, but they aren't doing all that great. Not sure why Alpine strawberries don't grow well around here. Pretty soon I will get some regular strawberries and will put them in the hydroponic setup. I have a sun lamp to help them get enough sunlight now.

  Oh, I forgot about the tomato plant on the front balcony. It is either a Delicious tomato, or a Black Zebra tomato. Only time will tell. It is in a hydroponic bucket and it is growing extremely fast! I need to change its water though, or it might not stay happy!

This plant is either a Delicious Tomato or a Black Zebra.
This plant was not thriving on the back balcony, but came
alive when I moved it to the front.

   More is to come. I planted 2 Java Plums and 2 Lychee seeds, and 1 of each has sprouted already. Still waiting for the pink bananas, bay leaf, soursop, mysore raspberries, soap plant, and a whole bunch of others to germinate. Also planted Dragon fruit (red). Hopefully, all those plants will sprout and be happy. They can take up to several months to germinate though.