Pelargoniums and duct tape

I'm sure you're all very curious if I succeeded in taping my pelargoniums to my kitchen window sill like I said I would and I can now reassure you that it was a success (the pain that I got from overstraining myself that prevented me from sitting long enough by the computer to update the blog and show you the photos was of course less of a success)



Evening photo with the curtains out of the way



How it really looks



Day time photo


(The plants on the kitchen sofa used to stand in the window but will soon move in to the bedroom)

See the old-fashioned antique cast iron irons (does that sound stupid in English or what? LOL) in the foreground? I didn't duct tape them, they ARE after all made by cast iron and HEAVY so I think they were safe anyway. This morning I woke up to a loud thud though, the itty, bitty, tiny kitty monster had knocked down the smallest one (the plants below survived) But all the pelargoniums were still firmly taped to the window sill. Yay for duct tape!

Night frost and harvest

Last night we had subzero degrees (-0.9°C = 30.38°F) for the first time this fall! *shiver* Cooooold! (in a couple of months I will consider this warm though)



Look what it did to the poor Runner Beans!


It's really time to take them down now, but since it's really cold, gray and rainy today (see photo above) I'm saving that for another day. I think I'll duct tape the pelargoniums instead. I moved them indoors earlier this week but I just put them temporary on top of a cupboard.



Cat safe pelargoniums!


Now I've gotten the duct tape I needed so now I'll take better care of them, cut away dead flowers and leaves and then tape them to the kitchen window sill. I don't worry that much about what the big cats will do to them but the itty, bitty, tiny kitty monster has already knocked down a bunch of flowers from my window sills so duct tape it is.

I've also harvested the tomatoes and runner beans this week. I doubt the tomatoes will ripen much more outdoors now and that saves me the work of having to tuck them in every night to keep them safe from frost.



Look! A tomato ghost!!!


Harvested tomatoes


Beans


Curious itty, bitty, tiny kitty monster


I got about 1.5kg tomatoes (and I've probably eaten at least 0.5kg before) and about 1kg beans (sheaths included, previous eaten beans not included though). Not bad for a balcony gardener I think!

I'll see how many if the tomatoes that will ripen indoor and then make pickled tomatoes of the rest and I'll undress the beans as well... later. I also need to harvest the radish fruits to collect the seeds. So far I've just moved them so they're not hanging on the other side of the balcony anymore, in case they decide to fall.



Radishes and look a Petunia that's still alive


My balcony is an embarrassing mess right now though. *sigh* I need to get rid of the dead plants, clean up the mess ad get some heather to make things pretty again. So much to do and so little energy to do it with. Times like this I really wish I was healthy.



Messy!



Pretty sunset from earlier this week, the sun is about to set
now as well, but today it's just dull, dark and gray.

More cacti photos!

A bit blurry bt you can still get a feeling for the size of it

Look at my cactus!

Okay, time for some off topic indoor photos. I'm taking the liberty here to assume that people that visits a balcony blog in general like looking at photos of flowers (if you don't this blog will soon bore you to death. LOL) so I will continue to assume that you don't mind looking at a few photos of indoors flowers as well, especially when they're as lovely as my cactus.

I've had it for ages and it's the first time it's blooming. I'm sooo proud of it!



Stunning, isn't it?



And it's not even fully opened yet, it started opening today

The Iron Nights

The first nights in June are usually called "the Iron Nights" here in Sweden because the temperature usually plunges during the night and it's even a risk of frost. When the Iron Nights are over it's usually safe to plant the frost sensitive plants and leave all plants out during the night

Now but April and May have been pretty warm so it felt safe to plant my seedlings already but tonight looks to be cold. The temperature is down to +4°C now and still falling (39.2°F) so I've made sure to take in some of the plants tonight, even the tomatoes! LOL I had to leave the flowerboxes outside though since the beans and peas are attached to the trellis.