COVID 19

2018 was a fantastic year in the garden topping out at 27 buckets including the first legal dope which M says provided a great crop. It was a big year at the cottage so I guess I was distracted. Our neighbours who are roofers and thus not afraid of climbing the ladder got a great haul of veg before we got home in mid -Sept

First legal dope!

2019 started off great with 27 buckets. Then we took off for the cottage. Our neighbours got some veg early in the season but by the time we got home, everything was looking very parched. Turns out there was a swollen peanut right at the start of the irrigation system that was blocking water and fertilizer :-(.

In the fall of 2019 we decided to shut the whole system down as we planned to be traveling more going forward. So, we got rid of nearly all our buckets (which would have needed replacing regardless - with that much heat, sun, cold etc they have a 2-3 year shelf life).

Then along comes COVID 19, meaning not as much travel as planned. So we have resurrected the garden albeit much smaller - only 7 buckets. We've kept it small as it's been harder to get seedlings and buckets (which I usually get at grocery store bakeries). So this year is 4 Early Girl Tomatoes, 1 Sheppard Pepper and 2 dope plants for M. We planted on May 24, 2020. I took pictures today and all the plants look great!

Small but mighty garden

2016 Results

Rooftop produced tonnes of tomatoes and peppers. Several pepper plants that I bought were mislabeled so rather than red peppers, they were banana peppers (tasty) etc.

As the tomato vines grew, the pots had a tendency to blow over - haven't had that problem before.

I had yellow shoulder on many tomatoes (most varieties were impacted). This is apparently a potassium deficiency. Lesson is to watch for how much fruit is being set and to fertilize more. I had been doing 1-2 Tbsp per week but we had i) more buckets and ii) loads of fruit being set at the same time.

I had some sort of wilt at ground level and the cucumbers died just as they were about to produce lots of bounty :-(.  Next year grow the zucchini and cucumbers in pots.

Possible the only 2 Zucchinis :-(

I grew beans from dried pods that stayed on plants over the winter. The beans were really late (August) but did okay.

So lessons...

- plant from seed to be sure of what you're getting
- I think I have wilt at ground level so will have to avoid things that are susceptible to wilt and/or plant in containers
- need to prune tomato vines harder and stake more aggressively and earlier
- fertilize more (especially in boom years) and plant tomatoes with epsom salts to increase magnesium.

My Path

Martin hurt his hand at the start of the work, so this really was my path. Proud as a peach to finally get this done! Bring Post but an easy way to keep track of landscaping work.

Install edging

Martin's ingenious levelling tool and my little helper Salta!

Level soil and tamp down w tamper

Add horticultural fabric, limestone screening, spread and level

Lay out stones

Laying the stones took a long time and was like doing a very heavy puzzle.

Backfill with pea gravel

Add large bark Mulch around evergreen

2016 What I Planted and When

Buckets 26
4 early girl
4 new girl (3 seed) 1 replaced w San marzano
4 roma
4 beefsteak (2)
1 green zebra
4 red peppers
4 green peppers
1 Sungold Tomato (moved to ground) replaced w Rose
1 Jalepenos
1 Tangerine Dream pepper
1 Oranos (seed)

Timeline
May 26: Plant container down to ground level, Soil dumped onto tarp, notify neighbours to p/u
May 27: clean yogurt containers and hoses in the kitchen sink w bleach
May 28: Water containers down, cleaned
May 29: Water containers back up, hoses hooked up system starts to settle
May 30: New soil in some containers, take up, adjust water level, plant some seedlings
May 31: New soil in more containers take up, adjust water level, plant more seedlings

2 bags of Promix HP (was a bit short so used compost and a different bag of soil but added Myke)

Planted May 29: (3)
1 roma
1 Orange Tomato
1 Jalepenos

Planted May 30: (8)
3 romas
4 early girl
1 Tangerine Dream pepper

Tangerine Dream, good producer, flavour just okay but pretty

June 1 & 2: Early girl, green peppers

June 3: Green Zebra and Oranos

June 25 added sweet red peppers

Ground

June 4: Thyme, dill, rosemary, purple beans, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers (2)

June 6: lettuce, carrots, swiss chard, purple mustard, kale, multiplier onions, Morning Glories

Planted in outdoor terrarium April 16 ’16, germination rate:

Zinnia (0%)
Gold Gem Marigold (0%)
Aster Needle mix (0%)
Basil (75%)
Kalinka (0%)
Black Plum (0%)
Jalepeno (0%)
cucumber (100%)
green zebra (25%)
oranoes (25%)
mount roma (0%)
arbol (0%)
northstar (0%)
orange sunshine (25%)
sweet pepper early (0%)
Squash (100%)
new girl (100%)

Orange Sunshine

The first of the Orange Sunshine was ripe today, so a took a photo with my iPhone and promptly ate it - the tomato, not the iPhone. It was not quite ripe enough but it'll be another few days before I venture up on the roof. The plant is laden with fruit so there'll be plenty more and I will be more patient next time to get them at peak flavour. Yum!

The bounty begins

First of the shallots

Back up on the roof today to inspect, fertilize, tie up branches, pinch off suckers and harvest some shallots.

Busy bee working its magic!

All is looking quite good, some fruit set (orange sunshine and roma) and lots of blossoms coming. Thanks to the very busy bee that was up fertilizing blossoms

At ground level I had my first green bean, my third harvest of rhubarb and my first carrot, purple on the outside orange on the inside and delicious all around!

Racoon Held Hostage by Hawk on the Roof

We decided to add another row of containers because i) we have the space, ii) we had spare containers and iii) the more tomatoes the better right? So we now have three rows and a total of 27 containers. We even got the styrofoam for under the containers for free - plucked out of a neighbours garbage on the way home one evening.

Buckets looking very empty

1 Month later (June 12)

I planted the seedlings early this year because of a trip to the UK & Iceland. Although some were small, I was concerned that there might not be enough time to harden them off once we returned (May 28). As a result, I lost a few seedlings - some Orange Sunshine, Roma, Kalinka and ALL the New Girls :-( . No worries, will try the New Girls next year. I'm not sure if they died or birds yanked them out. Our neighbour told us that a hawk grabbed a baby racoon and held it hostage on our roof for a few days - interestingly, there was no sign of carnage.

On the upside, I was very successful in starting from seeds (indoors tomatoes and sweet red peppers) so much so I passed along extras to neighbours as well. Some plants are huge and some tiny (even the same breed).

Long Red Cayenne Pepper in Bloom (June 13)

Rose Tomato courtesy of Emily (and her Mom)

Orange Sunshine in Bloom (June13)

Teepee for beans, cucumbers

I'm trying to go really vertical in the garden at the ground level and have built a teepee structure from limbs cut in last fall from our Mulberry tree which we keep pruned. Climbing on the frame are pole beens (back), cucumbers front and Zucchini on the twirly side posts. Under the teepee are things I've read are shade tolerant (lettuce, radish, swiss chard, kale, and carrots). Things are doing really well in both gardens but I must REMEMBER to plant my peas and beans early in the season (April not May).

I've got a lovely bunch of purple mustard and spinach....waiting for dinner in a bowl!