Balcony Garden Update 8

It has been a few days since I last posted photos of my balcony container garden so I am sure that you are all waiting with baited breath to see which changes have taken place in the last few days. Not surprisingly, given that we are in prime growing season, things have generally been moving along quite nicely, though we still seem to be relatively far away from actually having much that we might be able to consume.



Though one of the thunbergia plants has grown much more than the others, at least a few of them now seem to have started to at least begin to look like they may turn into vine-like plants. I am hoping that maybe by the end of the summer one or two of them may even have flowers.



The scarlet runner beans are continuing to grow quite rapidly, and a few have even started to flower. I am expecting that within a few days there may even be signs of the early stages of beans, though maybe I am being overly optimistic.



The morning glory seeds that I planted while Kirsten was here a few days ago have really impressed me with the rapidity of their growth. On the other hand, while they have been growing quickly, they haven't really progressed beyond this stage, which isn't a particularly exciting stage to look at. I guess eventually they should have some kind of blue flower, but I really don't know what that is supposed to look like.



While Kirsten was here we also planted some cumin. While there isn't much to look at right now, I am presuming that I will start to get some proper development at just about the time I will have to move the plants inside because of the risk of frost. Presumably, because of the reduce level of sunlight, the plants will then basically do nothing and remain relatively unproductive, like most of my plants so far.



The tomatoes are continuing to grow taller. The height of at least a few of the plants is beginning to worry me as the ice cream containers the plants are in aren't particularly large, nor to they provide a particularly substantive base. I keep expecting to find that they have been blown over by a gust wind or some such thing. The good news is that a few of the plants now have flowers. I am hoping that this means that they will soon have fruit.



The banana plant is another of the plants whose growth is pleasantly surprising me. Not only did it sprout a two pups a few days ago, but the leaves it is producing on the main stalk are continuing to become larger with each iteration. I am quite curious to see how large the leaves will become by the time I have to bring it in for the winter.



For some reason I decided to plant some lettuce when I was in the midst of planting in late May. As of the past few weeks the lettuce plants in the larger of the two pots have really begun to come into their own. I am thinking that I might even suggest that Neil and Rebecca start harvesting some of the lettuce in the coming days (I am not really interested in doing it myself as I don't like leaf lettuce).



The peas, the the scarlet runner beans and tomatoes, are another set of plants that have finally begun to flower. Each day I go out to check on them I feel as though I am finding more flowers. Unfortunately, I still haven't found any pea pods, or signs that they will be forthcoming ( I guess a little patience might be necessary).



The pepper plant is now showing three or for buds that will presumably turn into flowers. Given my past experience with pepper plants I have no idea whether these will actually turn into fruit of some sort or now. Anyway, I guess I am just glad that this plant is still alive and doing well given its earlier encounter with those problematic spider mites.



The scarlet runner beans and yellow beans in the planter have continued their rapid growth. While most of the yellow beans now have flowers, it seems that the scarlet runner beans have simply been putting on additional vine. Almost all of the scarlet runner beans are now tall enough that they are making their way along the string parallel to the floor of the balcony. My only disappointment with these scarlet runner beans is that they haven't yet started to flower.



The more recently planted peas and sugar beets are continuing to grow at a reasonable pace, though I know that in all cases I have too many plants for the quantity of soil that is available. The yellow bean has several beans that should be ripe in a few days.



I guess everyone is now up-to-date with the recent balcony container garden developments. Hopefully none of you were too upset that I left you hanging for over a week without an update. I know how much these updates mean to internet users generally, and our regular readers specifically. Hopefully such laziness won't overtake me too much more in the future (though I think we all know that it will).