Fresh Tomatoes from My Balcony Garden

The tomatoes from my balcony garden

I have a small balcony space and a brown thumb.  In addition to those problems, this season has been very busy for me and I've neglected my plants. Despite the neglect, I have a few, small, ripe tomatoes that will be going into a smoothie today.  If you think you can't grow your own plants, maybe this will help convince you otherwise

My Tomatoes on a Balcony

I'm not good with plants. My adult children hear about my latest plant purchase and joke about "how long until you kill it?". If I had more than two children, they would probably form betting pools about how long it will take for me to kill the plant.  But for some reason, tomatoes love my balcony.

This year, I have been especially busy and my plants - even my tomatoes - are neglected.  I coax them back from dehydration each week or so. As a result, the tomatoes I've picked are small. They are a bit larger than cherry tomato size when they should be plum size.  I tried one last night and the skin is a bit tougher than usual, but what can I expect when they've lived through almost weekly droughts? The taste was still far better than the tomatoes I purchase in a grocery.

These tomatoes are from plants that were from seeds that I started inside. When I am organized, I use an old, large fish aquarium for a "greenhouse".  After the starts were large enough to go outside, I transplanted them and took them outside.  Due to my lack of organization, I can only guess that they were seeds saved from a Bonnie Plant tomato plant - before I knew about the difference between hybrids and heirlooms.

My heirloom Red Siberian pole tomato plant is surviving the droughts better than my other tomatoes. However, I was really late starting those three seeds.  That plant is just putting on blooms. I'll have to update again when I have ripe tomatoes from it. Provided I don't neglect it to death in the meantime.

If you believe you can't grow something on your balcony, give it a try.  Some plants will respond to your space, light, and level of care (or in my case the lack of care) better than others.  You might surprise yourself and be able to produce enough for a meal or two.

Update:

Lovely green Red Siberian pole tomatoes. Growing in spite of the extreme heat and my continued neglect