Growing Kale in a Balcony Garden

Kale was definitely the 'in' green last year. If it was in highschool, this would be the newly popular kid. probably slightly hipster but full of knowledge and oozing cool (if that is actually possible.) It is a nutrient rich powerhouse and very versatile for cooking. The leaves can be wilted over a hot pan like spinach, or even thrown in soup/stirfries for a more earthy taste. Although the balcony garden would squarely sit in the nerdy corner at school I decided it was time to embrace the kale. First off the block was this one (up the back of the picture below), planted in with some lettuce and broccoli.

It grew well, and lasted many months, generally looking bushy like this. Kind of like silverbeet, it allowed me to take the leaves as I needed them.

Eventually the stem grew long, and the top resembled something you would find in a florist (adding to its popularity and versatility, kale was even the 'in' addition to bouquets last year.)

Then, it was time to go, and the kale, in its final repose, looked like this. Quite a dramatic haircut really!

However, never fear kale lovers - for this is not the only kale ont he balcony. I also have a red kale, planted much later, which is the new addition to kitchen funtimes.

 So what are the pros, the cons, and any key pointers for growing Kale in a balcony garden:

Pro: Just like other brassicas it is super nutritious, including vitamin C and other goodies. Of course some of these can get lost in the cooking, but it's better than a burger for you, that's for sure.

 Pro: It grows quickly, and is reasonably hardy. I didn't fertilise much, but did place it in good soil to start witgh. Therefore it is good for a low maintenance garden and no staking or trellising required.

Con: The green variety is snail heaven, and they'll munch on this as happily as you. Aphids also thought the green and the red were the best buffet ever, so vigilence, and possible spraying or other methods will most likely be on the cards.

Con: The taste isn't for everyone. It it very strong, and while I tolerate it in soups, as a side dish it was a little over the top for me. I prefer my brassicas to be of the broccoli kind. However, for those who don't mind the taste, or like their greens to be super strong then this is your leaf.

Point: It looks pretty, has a reasonably compact shape though can grow quite tall. It isn't massive like a purple sprouting broccoli, but does grow to a decent enough size so you should take care considering pot dimensions and placement.

Point: It comes in a few varieties, so if colour is your thing, or you like your veggies to be as ornamental as they are edible, then this gives you a few options


So there you have it. I'll probably grow kale again next winter season, and if I do it'll be in multiple varieties. The lovely other half enjoys it and I like it in recipes where it is not the sole ingredient. It is low maintenance (and goodness knows with starting teaching next year I'll need a low maintenance garden) and it looks darn pretty in my view.

Do you grow kale? Any more tips, points, pros or cons for the readers on this green leafy popular guy?

Harvest Monday: All About my Broccoli!

Lemons may be gone from the balcony garden, though dear friends are still harvesting them by the bagfull from their proper lemon trees and sending them my way. However, that doesn't mean there hasn't been a winter harvest for me this week. This harvest post is about the almost the last of my green friend, Mr Broccoli.

The lovely other half doesn't like broccoli so it is all for me.

It is mostly side shoots now, but they're pretty sizeable. This lot was boiled quickly then frozen for later consumption. Delicioussssssssssssssss.

Not much else has come out of the balcony garden this week, a bit of lettuce and a few herbs were pretty much it. But it is winter so any harvest is a good harvest. What are you harvesting this week? Check out Daphne's Dandelions for some slightly more complete harvests.

Harvest Monday

Apart from broccoli leaves a a few stray lettuces the balcony garden hasn't been very productive this week. I did pick the last lemon though I forgot to photograph it. Here it was in more splendid days:

It made a delicious addition to my morning drink.

For far more hearty harvest posts go visit Daphne's Dandelions, where all the good garden bloggers post their harvest wares.

Leaves, leaves, leaves!

The balcony garden is green and brown at the moment. More brown than green really, because the trees have lost their leaves. This was fine for the apple and nectarine trees who were long finished fruiting but it seems Mr Fig Twig decided to play copy cat.

While the leaf in the above picture has long gone, the fruits remain and will, thanks to its leafy-nakedness, not ripen. At least they look good.

Other leaves were thrown out - thanks to my old enemy powdery mildew. It attacked the swiss chard, the rosemary and the snow peas. The snow peas were dead anyway, but the chard was lush and delicious. I ended up cutting off all affected leaves of the chard, then transplanting them to greener pastures (a sunnier pot with good soil.) They seem happier and are not reinfected so we will see if these drastic measures worked. The rosemary was not so lucky, and given I have two other healthy rosemary bushes (one a new Anzac bush generously given to me by my lovely other half's mother) the zombie rosemary was sent to the great compost heap in the sky.

But it is not all leafy doom and gloom. The wonderful red kale my lovely other half gave to me (yes I am very spoiled) is taking off and I look forward to cooking with it soon. The tuscan kale is nearing its end but the leaves have been gracing soups of late, as have spare broccoli leaves. Broccoli leaves are way too stringy for my tastes to be a spinach or chard alternate, but in soup they blend up just fine and give a great addition to the flavour and nutrients of the dish.

I'm still tossing up whether to squeeze in some leafy green asian veg (bok choy most likely) before the spring season starts or just leave the pots for a couple of months. Thoughts?

Harvest Monday

Conference season means I've been away spreading my academic wares and absorbing the fantastic works of others. First up was the Australian Historical Association conference in Adelaide where I also caught a nasty flu, which meant the citrus drinks aided by my recent harvests were a little ineffective. Then on to Canberra for the IABA conference (international auto/biographical association) where my voice had returned but the cough had remained. Papers went well and I thoroughly enjoyed all the sessions I attended. I was particularly pleased seeing a few Melbourne colleagues giving papers (not the least of which was my lovely other half.) Being at a conference in Adelaide meant staying with the parentals, which was as lovely as always. AND I got to see the puppy dogs, who were, as always, as cute as ever.

One would also think that being away would limit the harvest - but here are a few things I harvested before I left (and since I've returned.)

Some thumbelina and purple carrots, enjoyed by me, my lovely bf and also by the bugs of the garden (tiny but super delicious, the carrots that is, not the bugs.)

 (see the big chunk taken out of the orange one!!! I can assure you that was all descendents of Sid the Snail and not me.)

Greens are a good staple on the balcony. Things such as broccoli, kale and swiss chard made a delicious stirfry along with pork mince and rice cakes.

Brocolli leaves (only) also went into a nutritious and delicious soup, that while a distinct hue of baby vomit green, have proven to be almost addictive. I've had two bowls today already. Probably the yellow curry, lentils, parsnips, carrots and potatoes I put in with it. They say that the leaves have a tonne of Vitamin A in them which is awesome, and usually I'd just chuck them out. Hooray for food scraps!

 

The garden is a little light on produce now (except for a few snow peas, some piddly little lettuce and a few bits of broccoli.) But ... in exciting news ... I spent an hour or so today cleaning up the left over pots in preparation for the spring crop which is just around the corner! Future harvests here we come. For more amazing harvests visit Daphne's Dandelions.

Camera Cord Gems

For a while now I've been searching for my camera cord, promising all sorts of pictures once it had been found. Well I cleaned out the spare room and lo and behold, there it was. There were some great pics, so many memories of the balcony garden over time. Instead of backposting I thought I'd just share some pictorial highlights of the past 8 months or so and move on. Call them snippets from the Balcony Garden.

Ahhh the memories. From now on pictures will come from either my phone camera, which has proved easy, portable and more than worthy, as well as better ones from the digital camera.

BBS

Hi Blog peoples. If you haven't guessed by now the blog is on a little bit of a hiatus. Between the last weeks of PhD writing and losing my camera connector cord I've had little ability to provide good content to this blog. The Thesis is due August 26th and it will be in then for sure. I look forward to sharing the Winter/Spring joys of the balcony garden with you then. For now, think about delicious home grown broccoli, which is what I have been enjoying recently!

Here's a gratuitous photo for posterity:

Harvest Monday

Wow, it has been ages since I last posted! That's the trouble with being in the end stages of a thesis, you miss the days as they fly on by while you are knee deep in words and ideas. The good news is that it is coming together and I should submit on time. The better news is that the Autumnal Harvest is already underway.

Shortly before my self-imposed thesis work-a-thon I planted some Winter crops. In went broccoli, wombok, snow peas (both dwarf and mammoth on a pretty little though slightly dangerous trellis) beetroot, beans, carrots and garlic. I've already sampled a tonne of baby spinach and I can tell you it is divine. I harvest it almost daily. So green, soooooo good for you, and so easy to grow, I don't know why I didn't plant this sooner. I plan on adding more to the garden asap.

Thanks for all the lovely comments while I was AWOL, they are so heartening. I promise to try and write more about the balcony garden and less about theoterical considerations of Third Reich memoir for historians so this blog gets going again! No current pics alas (I've lost the connecting cord for the umpteenth time) but here a pic from a Winter's garden past to get us in the mood for cool weather balcony gardening.

For other harvest posts from around the world visit Daphne's Dandelions.

Imposter Broccoli

At last I've broken through the business of the final weeks of semester. Chapters are done (though a new one started), paper done and given and divisive as always and all my essays are marked! Now I finally have time to garden ... well at least I would be gardening if it didn't keep raining all the time! It is great that Melbourne is getting rain, but it is so much and all at once, and some trees have started wilting from getting water logged! I can't even get out there to clean up the leaves and things so it is all starting to get a little manky. I will just have to wait and hope.

Today's post is also about waiting. Waiting for Godot, ok not Godot but a little romanesco broccolli. I planted him as a seed so so so long ago in April with a few friends, all of whom got eaten by snails. He was, so to say, the last hope.

He wandered from pot to pot, often not liking the crowded conditions. It was only when he recieved his own pot that he started to grow. Now romanesco is no ordinary broccoli, actually to me it is more like a mutant cauliflower but we won't go there. It is fractally shaped, showing the beauty of nature's patterns in its tasty goodness. Usually they are also a pale green.

Turns out the wait wasn't really worth it. The head started out ok, albeit rather purple.

Then I left it a bit long and it started to grow. I was waiting for the geometric miracle that was never to be.

Now it is all purple and like little heads of broccolini. Each floret grew out instead of in a fractal pattern and it became woody. It is certainly not a romanesco broccoli and it tastes awful. It needs to come out to make way for the plants growing in the spring garden but it does look kind of pretty. Maybe I'll leave it in until the rain stops, my little imposter broccoli.

Have you ever been a little disapointed by a plant? Putting in the time and effort to grow it from seed and nurture it and tend to its every need only to find out it wasn't what the packet said?

Ooopss I missed garden bloggers blooms day

Life has been pretty cluttered lately, some unfavourable, but all the rest in a very good way. The side effect of this though is that life itself seems to be getting on top of me these days, there are people I need to see/email/ring/or all of the aforementioned and before I know it, it gets too late at night and I haven't managed to accomplish any of those things. Thesis, gardening, storms, a funeral and general activities seem to be getting in the way. I even missed garden bloggers blooms day and I never miss garden bloggers blooms day! I couldn't even get outside to take the requisite photographs because of a serious day-long downpour! So instead of simply waiting until the next time, I am taking advantage of recent photographic expeditions to the land of the balcony garden and showing you a small sample of what has been flowering on the balcony garden this Springtime. From pansies to broccoli and rocket gone to seed, apple blossom to violas the garden is an array of colours and shapes and sized. My favourites would have to be the orchids and the boronia flowers.

Harvest Monday

I do wonder where my old camera went, and with it the pictures of my long lost harvest. Still it is another week and another harvest and even in my jetlagged-then-food-poisoned state I have managed to pull a thing or two out of the balcony garden. Snow peas are blooming and setting (though it seems too cold for some) but overall broccoli is the main contender. I'll be harvesting more in an hour or two for tonight's slow roast lamb dinner (which was slated to be last night but I was struck down by bad things in my breakfast and not sure where the rest of yesterday went.)

Carrots are also getting added to each meal. They are smaller in size than last time, though still delicious.

Lettuce and silverbeet are plentiful too.

So a Winter balcony garden in Melbourne is definitely a green balcony garden but check out who will be featuring in next week's harvest Monday (probably because I harvested one this morning but forgot to take a photo of it.)

Back at it with Garden Bloggers Blooms Day

Back to Australia, back to the Balcony Garden and back to blogging about it - all with the aid of my lovely new digital camera. No more really blurry photos. I am quite jetlagged, and have only just been reunited with my luggage (thanks Emirates, losing my luggage was the icing on the cake of your bad service) but it meant I could finally upload my photos and begin blogging again.

I have plenty of posts planned. Turns out most of my photographs overseas were of gardens with a few monuments and other bits thrown in. I will post about my adventures in Kew Gardens, Hampton Court Palace, the streets of Brighton, Hanging Baskets in Vienna, floralness in Budapest, Bratislava and beyond and more. But what better way to begin blogging with Garden Bloggers Blooms Day. It may be Mid-Winter back here in Australia but the balcony garden still has some flowery goodness to offer.

The Cornflowers are of course going very strong. Though notice some are changing colour. The first photo is of the black cornflower with two different coloured flowers on the same plant. This is not due to tricks of the light, this plant really is beginning to send out flowers in various shades of dark purple.

Alas much of the broccoli went to flower while I was away. I salvaged plenty and will show it in Monday's harvest post, but I just feel bad that housesitter E did not get to taste this magical stuff.

I did find a use for some of them - I added them to a rogue sunflower and they're currently in a vase inside. Lovely yellows and reds and oranges to brighten up my Winter house.

Hardy Geraniums penetrate the crisp air with their beautiful red petals.

The succulent is flowering, with reddish flowers that the aphids seem to love (how are they surviving Winter???)

Sunflowers still hanging in there. The whole plants look pretty wrecked but the flowers are wonderful.

Violas are winding their way up the snowpeas and broccoli. Some are a bit frost bitten but still there.

Snapdragons again looking radiant, and I am still not sure how they are still surviving.

What better way to begin blogging again. Sorry about the hiatus but I will be back and writing and exploring everyone elses blog from now on.