I'm up before the sun today to give the balcony plants a deep watering.
Early mornings are the best time to water plants because they have been transpiring (losing water) all night and are very thirsty.
Watering in the cooler morning also reduces loss of water through evaporation.
A few deep soakings are much better than many superficial waterings because the water gets right down to the bottom roots where it is needed most.
Somehow all the plants survived the recent heatwave in Sydney
In fact, as an unexpected bonus, the intense heat caused my late season tomatoes and strawberries to ripen early.
I planted cherry and grape varieties of tomatoes because you apparently don't get any white fly problems with them. And so far not a white fly in sight - only delicious, sweet, juicy marbles of fruit.
These varieties love to ramble so I needed to stake them with poles and many ties.
In this heat I've been watering them every day and every week I add a capful of tomato food to my watering can. Tomato food is a potassium rich natural fertilizer which boosts flowering and fruit yields.
..and we've been enjoying the tomatoes sliced on toast with pesto or tossed with some avocado, spanish onions, coriander and lime juice for a refreshing guacamole.
And what I'm most delighted by is that there have been no pest infestations yet. This time last year everything was covered with marauding caterpillars. Have I spoken too soon....
Better eat these strawberries before the bugs do
And these lettuce leaves might find their way into tonight's salad.
Lovely update! I have still got quite a few green large tomatoes growing. Have only managed to eat a couple of them and they were the best tomatoes ever. I grew lettuce for a bit as well and that grew very fast.
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