Growing Gardens (flowers and veg etc.)

[Northern Light]

A thread just to find a spot to showcase what you can grow, even in Toronto, even with a balcony.

Herewith, my 70'ish plants:

The above:

Early Girl Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Red Oak Leaf Lettuce
Radicchio Castelfranco
Parsley
Chervil
Basil
Sage
Rosemary
Chives
Portuguese Peppers
Watermelon Radish
Gerberas (orange flowers)
Coleus (purple leaves)
Pansies

That, a couple of chairs and table in my 88ft2 in the sky.

 

[toast_and_tea]

Excellent! I'm jealous of what you can grow, especially the tomatoes. What exposure do you have?

 

[Northern Light]

Excellent! I'm jealous of what you can grow, especially the tomatoes. What exposure do you have?

Full southern sun, good eastern sun, no western. Sunlight at this time of year, 9am to 5pm. or about 8 hours daily.

 

[vic]

Full southern sun, good eastern sun, no western. Sunlight at this time of year, 9am to 5pm. or about 8 hours daily.

Username should be Southern Light.

 

[Northern Light]

Username should be Southern Light.

The handle originates from an online social media life before UT (I know, hard to imagine such a time); and one in which I was a Canadian among many Americans. The handle seemed to be suggestive of my relative locale.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

32 year old backyard, all of the plants/flowers are perennial: Clematis, Bleeding Hearts, Rue, Sage, Honeysuckle, Peonies, Coneflowers, Roses, Giant Iris, Mock Orange, Hydrangeas and Trumpet Vine.

Peonies in the backyard just finished blooming up here in Thornhill all thanks to the microclimates of the GTA. Crazy to think how in some areas of the GTA plants/flowers are behind in blooming.

Bought some vegetables, not sure if they produce this season as its been quite cool.
-Beefstake Tomatoes
-Hairy Gourd
-Climbing Green Bean
-Taro
-Rosemary

Also have wild strawberries growing, they come back every year. Never planted or seeded them, the works of Mother Nature.

 

[Northern Light]

32 year old backyard, all of the plants/flowers are perennial: Clematis, Bleeding Hearts, Rue, Sage, Honeysuckle, Peonies, Coneflowers, Roses, Giant Iris, Mock Orange, Hydrangeas and Trumpet Vine.

I've never had sage grow back........

Of my stuff the only solid perennial is the chives, they come back every year on their own; mint can but doesn't always.

Bought some vegetables, not sure if they produce this season as its been quite cool.
-Beefstake Tomatoes

Will be a tough year for them, but if you have good sun, you'll get a harvest, but it may be late September.

-Hairy Gourd

Never tried it.

-Climbing Green Bean

Normally produces by July, might be a bit late, but very reliable

-Taro

Never tried it.

-Rosemary

If its alive 3 weeks after you planted it, it should be invincible til October....

The main issue w/Rosemary after about Labour Day is it can get quite woody as it gets bigger and older........as soon as its big enough, trim it regularly.

Also have wild strawberries growing, they come back every year. Never planted or seeded them, the works of Mother Nature.

Depending on which wild strawberry............that could be awesome Fragaria vesca and Fragaria virginiana are both quite good. (white flowers)

Barren Strawberry (yellow flowers) is pretty inedible....

 

[just east of the creek]

I've never had sage grow back........

Of my stuff the only solid perennial is the chives, they come back every year on their own; mint can but doesn't always.



Will be a tough year for them, but if you have good sun, you'll get a harvest, but it may be late September.



Never tried it.


Normally produces by July, might be a bit late, but very reliable



Never tried it.



If its alive 3 weeks after you planted it, it should be invincible til October....

The main issue w/Rosemary after about Labour Day is it can get quite woody as it gets bigger and older........as soon as its big enough, trim it regularly.



Depending on which wild strawberry............that could be awesome Fragaria vesca and Fragaria virginiana are both quite good. (white flowers)

Barren Strawberry (yellow flowers) is pretty inedible....

We're really lacking in degree days to bring things along. Moisture is fine now, but everything is running behind schedule. Strawberries could be starting this weekend but touch and go still.

 

[Northern Light]

We're really lacking in degree days to bring things along. Moisture is fine now, but everything is running behind schedule. Strawberries could be starting this weekend but touch and go still.

Off my balcony garden, I have harvested, Lettuce, Chives, Basil, Rosemary, Sage, Chervil, Pansies.

I don't yet have any peppers or tomatoes but I have flowers for same.

Raddichio is still 2-3 weeks away.

Radishes.....I don't know....my first time trying them, but I've looked at them online from experience growers and talked about leaf-size, I think another 3 weeks still.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

Over the course of the past 3 years I’ve gotten interested in growing figs and learning about how people collect and trade varieties that have origins ranging from Italy to Iraq. Surprisingly there’s a large growing community of Ontarians and Canadians dedicated to this hobby. What was most impressive was seeing photos of a collector in the downtown core growing at least a dozen trees on his condo balcony in pots and getting fruit. Thought I’d share in case others are interested in growing fig trees.

Here’s mine that I grew from a cutting that I purchased off a local hobbyist.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

Not exactly fruit or vegetables but if some want a bit of tropical exotic feel these work exceptionally well, are very robust and vigorous:

-Canna Lily
-Alocasia
-Colocasia
-Water Lillies (in a container)
-Lotus (container)
-Papyrus (Umbrella, King Tut, Cleopatra etc).
-Ficus Elastica

 

[jje1000]

32 year old backyard, all of the plants/flowers are perennial: Clematis, Bleeding Hearts, Rue, Sage, Honeysuckle, Peonies, Coneflowers, Roses, Giant Iris, Mock Orange, Hydrangeas and Trumpet Vine.

Peonies in the backyard just finished blooming up here in Thornhill all thanks to the microclimates of the GTA. Crazy to think how in some areas of the GTA plants/flowers are behind in blooming.

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Bought some vegetables, not sure if they produce this season as its been quite cool.
-Beefstake Tomatoes
-Hairy Gourd
-Climbing Green Bean
-Taro
-Rosemary

Also have wild strawberries growing, they come back every year. Never planted or seeded them, the works of Mother Nature.

That rose is quite nice, what variety is it?

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

That rose is quite nice, what variety is it?

The peach coloured rose is over 20 years old so I'm not for sure what variety it is. It might be a Polka climbing rose, it's very fragrant when in bloom. I've found that in the last 4-5 years it has grown a lot stronger after I tried out a technique called companion planting.

The red rose is Lady in Red, a climbing rose. Around 7 years old now.

 

[jje1000]

The peach coloured rose is over 20 years old so I'm not for sure what variety it is. It might be a Polka climbing rose, it's very fragrant when in bloom. I've found that in the last 4-5 years it has grown a lot stronger after I tried out a technique called companion planting.

The red rose is Lady in Red, a climbing rose. Around 7 years old now.

Very interesting, thanks for the info.

I may look into ordering some roses from Palatine this fall.

 

[Northern Light]

My garden still isn't quite done.......

Today's harvest ( November 4th, 2023):

Chives, Chervil ('French Parsley' with a sort of anise flavour) and Portuguese Peppers (a bit undersized, but still nice like this).

Not on view, my parsley still putting up new growth and my almost completely dead tomato plants are still ripening the last few cherry tomatoes (I ate one before I took the pic!)