Photo reportage from the Indoor Gardener

This is the feet of the cherry tree on the balcony. The tree itself is balding (I think it dried when spring set off), so I spare you that picture. This looks rather nice, eventhough the pansies have seen better days. Yesterday I poked some nasturtium seeds into the soil to have lush green leaves and perhaps a few flowers to succeed them. If you look closely you can see the first leaves of the runnerbean 'Enorma' I planted close to the tree. The idea is that the bean will grow up into the crown and cover the bald patches. Let's see how far it goes considering we've already reached July.


Potatoes growing indoors... I haven't used added light for this plant, that's why the stems are so thin and vinelike, but the plant is still decorative. I've completely forgotten which kind of potato it is - I put two kinds to sprout and forgot to write the names on the container. Don't repeat my mistake - it's easy to grab a marker. It'll be interesting to see how many tubers the plant will be able to form in these circumstances, I'll return with a spud count later on.


The tomatoes have had a hard time standing the hot and dry weather eventhough they stand in selfwatering containers. Thrips and illnesses are ramping about in the leaves, yet the plants still sets fruit. Now when we've finally cleaned the balcony (on the last day without rain here in Uppsala...) these are first in line to be treated. I have to cut them down entirely, I'm afraid, but tomatoes are easy to grow so I'm not that down. Besides, this gives me a chance to try those heirloom tomatoes I was given by Sesam (the swedish association preserving heirloom vegetables) on the Nordic Gardens fair this spring.


Ins't this sad? The plants' and my health are mirroring each other, so I think this is a good picture of my own state. (I've been home ill so many times it's ridiculous, fact is I'm ill while I'm writing this.) I need to cut down quite a lot here too, but I think I'll spare the lemon thyme, it've survivied everything, even the thrips. I'm still not rich enough to by biological thrips control, so I have to stay content with the oldfashioned methods of extreme cleanlyness and perhaps a small dose of pine soap water every now and then.


Last, but not least, the worn beauties of the study, three containers of dead nasturtium 'Alaska'. They didn't stood a chance when the heat set in since I didn't use the room and could see what was happening before it was too late. Now I've actually set up a working corner here (you can see my table and my knitting machine in the background) so perhaps the next set of plants will fare better. I'm tempted to take the easy way out and just remove the dead plants and poke seeds in the soil, but I won't; I don't know if there's "wiltering illness" (couldn't find the english term - sorry, but I think the translation says it all) in it.

Well then, now you know what I have to work with. Hopefully I'll make most of it in the week to come - depending on how much I can do per day.

Some of my best gardening mistakes

One of the big mysteries in my life is why I keep on gardening. I've made countless mistakes, some of them Big, Bold and Butch. Since I know many gardeners are struggling with starting the seeds I publish some of my mistakes as a way to cheer you up.

Let's have my own vegetable plot in the allotment garden as a prelude. Every year my parents gave me one square meter (nine square feet) to grow on, and every year the soil dried out, the weed moved in and the few carrots still living sadly waved their yellowing leaves. Boy, I hated that clay soil.

Mistake #1: Not having a clue.
When I moved in together with my hubby we lived in an appartement with a corner balcony. The rail was shaped like a net, and I thought it would work well as a trellis. Since I knew nasturtium is easy to grow I bought an envelope of seeds, some soil and some plastic boxes. I envisioned the balcony covered with light green leaves and yellow flowers. Then I poured the soil into the plastic boxes and planted the seeds directly into the soil.

What happened? Well, since it was a corner balcony it was a windy spot. The tiny nasturtiums looked over the side of the box, and was immediately blown back into it. Once back in the box they choked on a nasty mixture of soil and water, since I hadn't made any holes to drain excess water. All the summer through we could feast our eyes on this green and brown soup.
Most important lesson learned: Read up on what you are doing, and practice what you've learned.

Mistake #2 Water too little.
One of my chores when I lived at my parent's house was to water the houseplants. My mother, being pragmatic, only had plants of the kind with thick dark green leaves that can survive for ages without water. I killed most of them. Our windowsills were dryer than Sahara.

Only after seeing a friend giving a cup of water to each of her plants I realised how real watering should be done. I had moved to an appartement of my own, which meant I could buy some plants that I liked. Instead of jade plants I could have rose geranium (in swedish; rosengeranium) and both I and the plants shrived.

We shrived to the point that when my mother was to visit me and my hubby in our new appartement, she looked at our windows from the outside and exclaimed
"She can't live there. There are plants in the windows!"
Most important lesson learned: Give plants enough water and they'll grow!

Mistake #3 Water too much
My parents have really seen the worst of my gardening efforts. This was another thing that happened when I lived with them.

Since it was clear I couldn't keep plants alive I was given an aloe to care for. I thought it was an aloe vera (it wasn't), and decided to make an effort. Since my knowledge about plants stopped at the fact that they needed water I gave it water. Often.

Hace you ever seen those ornamental pots some people put their houseplants in to cover up the uggly terracotta container? My aloe had a beautiful one made of white china, and as usual it didn't have a drainage hole. It didn't occur to me to look inside to see if there was any excess water inside. Not untill something started to smell funny in my room. I gently touched the aloe to see inside the pot, and the plant exploded, spreading rotten parts around. What made it worse; I had my bed under the window, covered with a chrochet throw handmade by grandma...
Most important lesson learned: Water the plant to its needs. And avoid ornamental pots.

As you can tell from the photo I'm still making mistakes. Those strawberries should have been planted instead of being left in the bag from the shop, and that rose definately needs to be replanted. Still, behind them stands a cherry tree that have survived more than two years on the balcony. It's planted in a terracotta pot with a water container and drainage holes.

So, I started with drowning nasturtium and now I have a living cherry tree. The way to great success is paved with mistakes.