One fundamental rule I follow every gardening season is to try growing at least one thing I’ve never grown before. I find this keeps me excited and motivated to explore new things and also to develop new skills. And so, every single year, I choose a designated new crop and try to grow in in my conditions, giving it the appropriate pot size it’ll need from what I’ve read up on it.
The same criteria apply that I’ve already mentioned in my first posts. I choose crops that don’t need a ton of space and could potentially grow in maximum 40L pots, which is what I have available to me; and then I select varieties that are bread for cold tolerance and earliest harvest.
Out of every crop I’ve tried, my absolute favorites are cucumbers, which have since been upgraded to a must have every year. But they were once, as I said, an experimental crop. The fact that they grow so well in the cool Swedish summers, have no pests, and make for the most beautiful single vine to go around my balcony rail, made them a favorite.
Another one I’ve tried was physalis. These are one of my partner’s favorite fruits and I figured I’d give it a shot. The plant was absolutely beautiful, with the fullest, biggest yellow flowers that the pollinators loved. We even had to be careful with placing it too close to open windows, as bees often got in and we had to chase them around the house.
Unfortunately, the short summer was not enough for any of the fruits to ripen and I was left with a whole lot of green physalis that I had to pivot and turn into a delicious green salsa. This tip also works very well for green tomatoes and peppers at the end f the season. Just roast them in the oven with some onion and garlic and blitz it to perfection!
Carrots were also an interesting try, though not very successful. See, when you go through the effort of thinning (aka, plucking crowded tiny carrot sprouts one by one), so that the ones that are left have room to grow and develop an actual carrot underground; then are careful to keep the plants happy and well watered so the carrots don’t end up bitter; and you leave them to grow until October in the pot; and at the end, they taste underwhelming and worse than the ones you buy at the store, it’s the definition of a waste of time. The plus side, is that you get to try fun varieties and end up with funny looking vegetables!
Another tested crop were green beans. I struggled a lot with sprouting on this one. The seeds would just rot everytime in the soil, no matter how many times I tried to replant them. Eventually, I managed to sprout a few in a damp paper towel, in a plastic bag, and replanting those outside. Out of almost a full packet of seeds, I got 2 plants, that produced enough for maybe 4 servings. They were delicious, but honestly not worth the hassle for me.
The year after that I dedicated a pot to a Japanese aubergine variety. Even though the plant was supposed to be for colder climates, the plant still struggled a bit to take off in the beginning of summer. However, after it did get warmer, it produced quite a lot! The aubergines were not the biggest, especially when compared to store bought ones, but were so very delicious in a curry.
Sweet peas were another one I tried mostly for fun, as you can’t eat any part of the plant. The smell of the flowers was intoxicating though, and very much worth growing at least once, to be able to experience it first-hand. I did plant it in my northeast facing balcony, and so it took a while for the plant to take off and flower, but when it did, boy was it amazing!
This year, I’ve decided to try a cousin of physalis: tomatillos. They are very similar plants, and the flowers are already bringing a lot of joy to pollinators. Fingers crossed it will have enough time to produce some ripe fruits for me to turn into another delicious salsa.
Instead of sweet peas, this year on my northeast balcony, I’ve added some snow-peas, that are fully edible and just as pretty. The flowers don’t smell like much, but it’s been so nice to snack on the pods whenever I go out onto the balcony, just like my cousins and I did in my grandparents garden every spring!
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