My Tomatoes & Cayenne Peppers... what next?

[DGoulston]

Hello Everybody.

I'm Darren, 28 from Beckenham and new here.

Work in IT Developing Systems, and got into producing my own crops this year.

I got some free Cayenne Pepper seeds and Tomato seeds through the post.
So I thought I would give it a go (on my 50ft balcony).

now its nearing the end of the season, and I think I did quite well, I had 2 troughs (7 plants each) of tomato plants which produced around around 20-40 tomatoes per plant. which only ripened up right at the end (a few weeks ago) But that was due to me not pruning them at all until then. Did have some root rot, but caught it early and beat it!

And my Cayenne peppers are producing around 20-40 chillis at a time each (4 plants - 3 grown on windowsill and 1 on balcony ) and are ripening 1 or 2 chilli's at a time, and still producing now.

Oh and I have had a Rosemary plant, and Parsley plant for the last 2 years that is going well.

So I think I have learnt a lot from it, and will continue growing chilli's next year, but not sure what else yet. thinking maybe Onions.

Tomato's were good, but took too much room.

I like to grow things that I will use a lot.
And Onions/Garlic are more than likely the most useful.

Any recommendations?

[taff]

Probably a couple of pots of shallots would be better than onions, Maybe a pot of elephant garlic and/or normal garlic, but to be honest, the taste is only really noticeable when it's fresh, rather than dried hence the reasoning behind the elephant garlic.
Pea shoots, cut and come again salad, you might get away with an aubergine, mint, chives, radish, dwarf beans, cucumber, a small sage plant.
someone else will be along soon.....

[DGoulston]

Shallots are interesting, might look into them, and garlic.

I did peas before, but was not very impressed with them. but they were baby plants from B&Q so was not expecting much.

Cucumber could be good, are they small plants?

Don't forget anything I grow will be grown on a (Sun Trap) Balcony (massive balcony 50ft)

Thanks
Darren

[Leeds_lad]

Cucumbers are quite long plants so if you do grow them grow them upwards as opposed to letting them trail. I'd also grow carrots, radishes and other root vegetables they barely take up any room and if you aren't planning on growing massive award winning plants you can just squeeze loads into a small space and pull out as you need them

[shona_b]

cucumbers would suit as you can grow them up your balcony rails (might need a few extra footholds if you know what I mean?). I've never had any joy with aubergines but maybe the baby ones might suit you as can be grown in pots. As already said cut and come again salads are great (and so expensive in the shops!) as well as fresh herbs - coriander, mint, parsley, basil all do OK in pots. What about dwarf fruit trees / bushes - a friend has a lovely top hat blueberry plant in a large pot.

[Two_Sheds]

I grew a lovely little white (actually yellow) cucumber from Real Seeds this year - it doesn't take much space and would be happy in a pot I'm sure.
What about salad leaves?
Here's my old balcony - I used a lot of hanging baskets

[DGoulston]

I love Rocket, but don't like buying it due to cost, so wondering if that is possible.

Think I will give Cucumber & Carrot a go, as well as try to over winter my Cayenne Peppers.

Thanks!

[taff]

you can sow rocket now if you like. If the balcony's protected, it's quite hardy.
I mentioned the peas for using as a salad thing, cram a load into a pot, cut the shoots off when they're about 2 or 3 inches high, then let them keep growing, and sow another lot.

[teakdesk]

Rocket likes growing in pots/troughs but does not like the heat of summer so do successional sowing early spring then leave off during hotter months and start again in Autumn.

Herbs are great in large pots, especially sage, thyme, parsley, mint which you will use year round in cooking. Rosemary is another herb with many uses in the kitchen that is easy to grow.

Other crops like onions or carrots require a large area to grow enough to last a significant time so I wouldn't bother. I would do some troughs of two or three varieties of spring onion - well worth it.

A few unusual varieties of potatoes in buckets that will taste better than those in the shops are worth while.

I would have to do runner-beans in a large box.

A large pot with a courgette will bring the taste of summer as well.

Tomatoes - choose varieties not found in shops for extra taste.



.

[DGoulston]

Thanks for all the advice.

looks like I am going to do (from suttons):

Hot, Hot Chilli Seed
Rocket Seeds (Wild Rocket)
Shallot Sets Golden Gourmet
Carrot Ideal Speedy Veg


don't really want to do tomatoes again unless there is a tomato plant that grows less than 60cm high, as my last one grew to 1.5M and looked a mess.

My mate did runner beans, and again they take up a lot of space/height.

Thanks
Darren

[Two_Sheds]

don't really want to do tomatoes again unless there is a tomato plant that grows less than 60cm high

You want to grow a bush one then, not a cordon (upright) one. There are loads ... 100s and 1000s is a sweet one for a hanging basket

Or if you do grow another cordon, you can prune it so as to keep it tidier (nip out the sideshoots)

[DGoulston]

You want to grow a bush one then, not a cordon (upright) one. There are loads ... 100s and 1000s is a sweet one for a hanging basket

Or if you do grow another cordon, you can prune it so as to keep it tidier (nip out the sideshoots)

Thanks, Think I will go with "Tomato F1 Sweet 'n' Neat Seeds - Cherry Red"

[maytreefrannie]

Think I will give Cucumber & Carrot a go, as well as try to over winter my Cayenne Peppers.

Thanks!

My daughter overwintered chillies last year, she brought the pots indoors and kept them on a windowsill. She had loads of small red chillies right up to February and one of the plants survived to go outdoors this "summer" - she's not an experienced gardener, but those chillies were a big success.

She and her OH grow onions, peas and a few other things outdoors in summer and keep the tomatoes and chillies in pots.

Good luck with the Cayenne peppers, let us know how they go over the winter.

[planetologist]

Rocket Seeds (Wild Rocket)

Darren, please note that wild, perennial rocket has quite small leaves. It is at it's most productive in summer, so a good complement to annual rocket. But if you grow only one, I'd go for annual, as it's much less work to harvest, and possibly also gives more produce per area.

[DGoulston]

Darren, please note that wild, perennial rocket has quite small leaves. It is at it's most productive in summer, so a good complement to annual rocket. But if you grow only one, I'd go for annual, as it's much less work to harvest, and possibly also gives more produce per area.

Thanks for the tip, it did not say that on Suttons site, I'm still very new to all this, only grown from seed:
Tomatos
Cayenne Peppers
Sweet Peas

Thanks

Darren