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%)