May 2-4 Planting

Officially it's The May 24 weekend even though it's only May 17th. Oddly, we in Canada celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday although they don't in England. The May 2-4 is an important date in Canada as it is usually the date when people "open their cottages" for the season, youngster buy and consume a 2-4 (case of 24 bottles of beer) and gardeners can usually safely plant their gardens without fear of frost. Although it was 3C in Toronto last night, I think it's time to start planting if for no other reason than the tomato seedlings I started indoors in March are now too tall for the soil they're standing in. I have had them out in the sun (and rain, lots of rain) for the last 10 days to harden off the seedlings.

Beefmaster tomatoes on the top right planted March 3'14

Martin and I have been repairing containers, replacing the soil. Some of the grow buckets have been on the roof for 3 years and the plastic is getting brittle from all that exposure to the elements. We've had to get a few more buckets from our local Loblaws (thank you very much!) and replaced those that are cracked and broken. Also,  this year I made sure I used PRO-MIX HP (High Porosity) which is supposed to have better water retention properties. Last year I bought BX by mistake. The containers are ready to go and connected to the irrigation system. 

Spinach in homemade Terrarium

The terrarium has worked extremely well for starting seedlings! I started spinach indoors under the grow lamp as well as outdoors in the homemade terrarium. Although they were both planted at the same time, those planted outdoors are larger. No electricity required - just sunshine and a little water.

Spinach seedlings from Indoor (Fluorescent Light)

Overall, the seedling have done very well, both those started under grow lights and those in the homemade terraria. I have only started my own seedlings once and so am pleased with the results and will do this again. 

I'll post some photos from the roof this weekend. Happy May 2-4, one rule though, I have to save the beer for after my final trip up the ladder!

Seedlings and our pup Salta!

It's been a very long winter in Toronto. I was wearing my skidoo boots from early December right through to Early April. It's sometimes hard to contemplate that gardening weather will ever come when there's two feet of snow in the back yard but I kept busy reading seed catalogues and  new ways of sowing seedlings without grow lights.

The tomatoes coming along very well inside under grow lights. (San Marzano, Early Girl, Beefmaster, Delicious and Orange Sunshine).

In-door Seedings

Outdoors I planted beets, bush beans, mustard greens and spinach in whatever containers I could find (i.e. 2 litre vinegar & soya sauce containers). These are essentially mini greenhouses for the seedlings. I put in some soiless mixture and the seeds with a light watering and some drain holes in the containers. The bean and mustard have already sprouted (within 2 weeks).  If I was doing a proper experiment, I would have planted two of the same seeds to verify the success with both methods but  I'm trying to getting my garden ready, not do a science experiment.  I think you can start them very early but I started mine in early April when the night time (and sometimes the day time) temperatures are cold (-7C). The heat and moisture is kept in the greenhouse and they get loads of natural light. Apparently this method produces sturdier seedlings. My inspiration for the greenhouses came from here and there's a very good description of how to make them.  http://www.gardendesign.com/seed-sowing-snow?pnid=122085#gallery-content.

Outdoor Seedlings

Another change this year will be how I plant things at ground level. Usually I put things right in the garden but we have a new puppy who loves to run fast through the garden, pounce on things and dig! So this year, I will plant several things in containers to keep curious a curious puppy at bay. It's a small price to pay to have Salta running around the garden :-).

Salta

Zucchini - Rooftop 0, Garden 4

I still don't know why, maybe wind, maybe excessive heat but the zucchini and cucumbers do not thrive on the roof. They do thrive in a traditional ( in the soil on the ground). I have no viable zucchini or cucumbers on the rooftop but after two weeks away, I have lots from my garden on the ground. Zucchini bread anyone?

Strawberry Fact or Fiction?

I heard recently that strawberries taste sweeter when served on a white plate rather than a black plate. I actually have no idea whether it's true but I can attest to the fact that these beauties from my own garden tasted delicious with my cereal!

Mmm mmm good!

Dreaming of my own Tomatoes!

At the moment there's not too much to do but check on the rooftop situation every week or so and add fertilizer (since I have quite a few blooms). I think we are a bit behind as we've had lots of rain and not as much heat and sun as we sometime do in June - or maybe I'm just not remembering correctly!

Every year the zucchini have started off well and then done poorly. I added compost to the grow bucket - I hope this year might be The Year of the Great Zucchini!

The hybrid Brandy Wine, bought on a whim.

My first tomato. They all look fine but I did have to pluck off several brown or spotted leaves from all the tomato plants. There are lots of blossoms though so I am hopeful! I'v also planted beets - my first time every. The ones on the rooftop and fairing much better than those in my traditional garden.

Wait till May 24

We had some warm weather so I thought it was safe and planted around May 4th... apparently waiting till after May 24 is safer! Anyway, I only lost a zucchini and a cucumber due to the low (1C) temperature.

This year in an effort to to cut down on the work of hauling buckets up and down from the roof in order to change out the soil I removed the old plant material and roots from the underside of the container, topped up the containers with some new soilless mixture (Promix HP).

Wrap up for 2012 ...Finally

Overall 2012 was a great success on the rooftop. Tomatoes and peppers were prolific other than the Brandy Wine. Cucumbers and zucchini had very poor yield. Because my sister and niece both grown zucchini in containers I don't think the container is this issue per se - it may be lack of nutrients (more on this later) or the wind on the roof. I'm not giving up on them yet and will try again this year!

On a whim I also grew a shallot - which was massive, one half of it was nearly as big as my rather large coffee cup!

I put the water soluble fertilizer into the float bucket and because of how the buckets were connected to the irrigation system the first two tomato plants (which were connected in series) got more fertilizer than other plants. I think this might have been the problem with the Brandy Wine tomato and the zucchini & cucumbers.

We - and by we I mean Martin has fixed this problem so that fertilizer gets distributed evenly hoping that in 2013 I might finally overcome my total failure at zucchini and cucumbers!