Aphids, Aphids and more Aphids.

Fighting almost daily with big infestation of Aphids on my indoor hydroponic peppers and herbs.

Almost running out of neem oil and need to find a source to buy at reasonable price.

#Aphids
#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

Biggest bunch of #parsley I have picked from IKEA Växer Hydroponic unit by the balcony door.

I only picked about half of the plants and now the whole apartment smells like fresh parsley.

Going to freeze them for cooking later. Or I see if I can finish the Solar dryer this weekend and give it a try.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

I think it's time to harvest more #parsley.

I cut them all a couple of weeks ago. This is the highest production of vegetables I've got in one setting.

PS. Sorry for the bad image quality, the sun is shining on them.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

A little bit of replanting to prepare for summer stay.

As I am going to stay here untill the end of summer at least, I started some vegetables to grow while I can.

Focusing on simple and quick plants. And a few tomatoes to give away (it's always a great gift to give people plants instead of flower).

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

Look what I found on my indoor hydroponic unit by the window

It's amazing that this one is growing so well. The ones I moved to a larger container, died.

Going to keep it like this for now and see how many tomatoes I get from it.

There are twice as many green ones on the other branches plus a lot of flowers.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

Today's harvest of fresh dill from the balcony garden.

This is probably the 10th harvest I had and I'm going to use it to cook northern Iranian Baghala Ghatogh (chicken eggs and beans with dill stew).

Recipe for those interested can be found here:
https://www.thejc.com/lets-eat/recipe/recipe-baghala-ghatogh-broad-beans-with-dill-and-eggs-hznsp3ql

Some people have bastardized it and using fawa beans instead, but I use the large white beans, soak them in water and peel them before cook them in oil for a few minutes before adding to t to the stew.

PS. I love the smell of fresh dill, it reminds me of my childhood and my mother's hands that smelled like fresh vegetables all the time.
#Food #Iranian #Gilaki #BaghalaGhatogh
#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

Recipe: Baghala Ghatogh (broad beans with dill and eggs)

A Middle Eastern spin on eggs and beans that's perfect for summer suppers

Victory! Finally the first traces of Roots developing on the store bought celery.

Started it on April 5th and now it's 11 days later and I got the first tiny roots.

Hopefully I can have enough roots soon to setup a small Kratky unit for it and have enough celery at homes to eat.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

long time ago, I saw these in a shop for 7 euros each. They have a small cups with holes in them that are easily replaceable (about 1L size).

Today, I picked up 12 of them for 6 euros. They are stackable or can hang on the wall. Best of all. They can be used as a very stable tower for a hydroponic or self watering setup.

I feel so lucky. They are UV safe plastic and can be placed on the balcony. Perfect for herbs, garlic, onions and bee friendly flowers.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

Some banana peels, egg shells, garden items, coffee grinds and used tea leaves to be mixed into a rapid compost mix

Going to start a New compost today, using the soil from last year tomato soil bag that was replaced into a large pot and let it sit until June or July when I replant some of the tomato cuttings.

Since I started doing this, I have almost 0 organic food waste and already given away 2x15L compost to a friend who starting a vegetable garden (helped with planning and purchase of material plus a few seedlings and some old seeds.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

I have to move this guy to a larger container

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

indoor hydroponic is growing really well

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

Almost all my indoor plants are infested with aphids.

Did the second wash of them with soapy water and Neem oil. I'm not going to let them win this year.

Put a few of them outside and sprayed them very well.

#Aphids
#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

Separated the runners, total 56 plants. Going to put them in mesh cups and start the hydroponic unit again. It will b me air freshener in the bedroom going through place a light above it to light it up a little

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #Plants

Walked around our local park and found a pile of gardening clean up and collected a lot of spider web runners from the pile.

They did a spring clean up yesterday but didn't remove the "rubbish", lucky me, I found a lot of cuttings to add to replant at home.

I am planning to restart the hydroponic tower I used to have back in Paris with 36 of those on a 1.5m PVC pipe.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #Plants

Day 5 of regrowing celery from store bought plant.

The little guy is growing, but no signs of any roots yet.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

Planted a few fawa beans in the garden where I have tomatoes to help the soil and to attract some bees.

E days later and the little guy is almost 5cm tall.

If it works, I will have some delicious fresh fawa beans as well.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

I really need to start growing these.

I just can't afford eating them. They are more expensive than organic chicken breast.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

I have cut back my purchase of bananas because they are not local and most brands are from questionable companies.

Went to our local shop and found a huge pack of "old bananas" at discount price. So I purchased them.

This gave me the opportunity to create banana juice for my plants. Cut the peels into small pieces, added water and let it sit for w days.

Going to use the water as #potassium boost for my plants and crush the peels in a high speed mixer with coffee grounds, egg shells and a small amount of baking soda to adjust the pH level to create my speed #compost mix.

It will go into the bottom of the container I'm preparing for a friend with cherry tomatoes. Hopefully she will be able to grow them as tall as I managed (3M+) and get a lot of #tomatoes from it.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

Previous trial didn't work, so I'm trying again to grow celery from store bought bunch.

The last one developed small roots but died when I put it in the dutch bucket unit.

I really want to grow a few celery to use when I'm cooking celery stew once a month. Couldn't grow them from seed, so I'm trying to grow them this way instead.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants

Spent a lot of time in the balcony today. Cleaned up and got rid of some half dead plants, detaches and replanted strawberries from last year and added new compost into the pots.

I had 3 large strawberry plants growing from last year and I could see they were struggling.

Took them out and dividend then into 29 small strawberry plants and put them into 3 different planters with a lot of compost from the big bag I started last summer.

#Gardening #BalconyGarden #ContainerGarden #SouthOfFrance #Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #Plants