Tomatoes where? Well I'll be darned...

Yep, just when you least expect it, just when you'd given up all but the most fleeting moments of hope...

I'd brought this plant in from my balcony at the beginning of the winter since it was still fairly young (was basically a cutting from another plant that had taken root too late in the season). I didn't really know what I had in mind to do with it, but I found this little perch for it by the balcony door and kept watering it all winter (albeit from time to time quite sparingly).

Half of it even got attacked by aphids (as you can see, I need to pinch off those dead leaves), but it stayed green all winter, surprisingly! I didn't think it would get enough sun sitting here to live.

But maybe tomatoes have a hibernation phase?

Low and behold, a few weeks ago, the little sucker sprouted some blooms! Once again hopeful and a bit surprised, I gently shook and rattled the branches in a pollination attempt. Guess it worked because....

Now I have this!

indoor tomato, about 2 in. diameter

 I really didn't expect that! And then, more blooms! And this (just noticed today!):

another tomato, about half an inch wide

Am I gonna get an indoor tomato crop? Wow! What a pleasant waiting-for-spring surprise! Not only did I not think the cutting would bloom at all, but it has produced fruit....indoors? I mean, it is at least protected from wind here, and I guess it didn't need quite as much sun as I'd thought.

Inspires me to try some other experiments!

Exotic Plants: Grow your own tea!

So I was sitting at work in our canteen on break one evening with some colleagues, drinking the tea I always bring (whole-leaf green tea), and a friend who knew I had a balcony garden asked if my tea came from my balcony too! I at first chuckled, but after digging around on the internet some, I came to the conclusion: WHY THE HECK NOT?!

What I hadn't realized before was that green, white, oolong, and black teas all come from the same plant, that being the Camellia Sinensis! Who would have though! Wow! There are 2 varieties, the var. sinensis and var. assamica, one being broad-leaved and one narrow-leaved. What makes the different kinds/flavors of tea is how the leaves themselves are processed, basically the conditions and amount of time under which the leaves are dried and oxidized. Of course the region on which the plants are grown affects the flavor as well!

my Camellia Sinensis var. sinensis, about 1 foot tall

So after realizing how cool that would be to grow my own tea, I did some snooping around and found a company that ships tea plants. Wasn't sure how that was going to work out, but I figured it was worth a shot - was around 7€ ($10). It came all wrapped up with foliated cardboard and in a big box. All was well!

It's been several months now since it arrived, and it is still doing well! It's gotta lots of new leaves, too. I guess at some point I'm going to have to prune it back - fully grown it can get up to 3 yards tall, too high for my apartment!

some new leaves!

For now I'm keeping it indoors on the windowsill facing my balcony (southwest), which is fairly warm and dry, which it seems to like.

Of course I'm super anxious to make some tea, but I think I'd better just be patient and wait until the plant gets bigger :-)

leaf close-up

In the meantime, The Fragrant Leaf is a nice website that I found on the history of tea, how to best brew tea, tea customs and cultures, types of tea, etc.

At the International Garden Show, which I recently attended, I also bought some tea seeds! They're pretty big, look kinda like a hazelnut. Can't wait to see if I can get them to germinate and prosper as well! 

The powerful micro-what?: Microgreens!

 ...see? I did come back again sooner! :)

Today's post is about a sort-of new type of harvest, the microgreen! I've only recently learned what they are, and love the idea!

Microgreens...
...are basically just entire plants harvested as seedlings, mostly used to add flavor to dishes and salads, garnish plates and soups, and mix in with spreads and dips!

Microgreens are comprised of either a single variety of vegetable planted densely together, or a mixture of varieties, such as the microgreen packet I bought that consisted of red beets, radishes, cabbage, kohlrabi, pak choi, and swiss chard. Depending which greens you use, the mix can be quite spicy and full of flavor, and differentiate themselves from sprouts in that they are harvested larger and need light and soil to grow rather than just water.

Microgreens are great for indoor or balcony gardeners since they take up little space!! They are also ready to eat within 1-2 weeks, allowing for multiple harvests in your average outdoor season. They are harvested after the first leaves have developed, so at about 1-3 inch length - just cut them all off, wash, and add to your salad or sandwich!

my microgreens (before the construction dust got to them)!

Microgreens are also very nutritious! They can contain up to 40 times higher levels of important nutrients than the mature vegetables, says realfarmacy. Think stem cells - these buggers are concentrated!

NPR also agrees that microgreens are way more packed with nutrients than the full versions and are not only safer than sprouts but offer a burst of taste to top off your dishes. I have used my microgreens in place of sprouts several times and love it!


If you can't find a package of microgreens at your local garden center (mine didn't even know what microgreens were!), don't despair - you can just make it yourself! Toss equal amounts of various vegetable seeds over your pot or plot of soil and cover with a light dusting of dirt. Don't be afraid to fill the surface more than you would with normal seedlings since you won't have to thin them out - they'll be harvested small. Or just try a single variety and enjoy the flavors individually first.

Have fun experimenting and eat up those phytonutrients!

top view of a patch of my microgreens - planted too thinly though, it was my first time!