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!

Tis the Season...

...to get creative with zucchini, great recipe for baked eggplant, zucchini & tomato gratin and an excellent zucchini bread (courtesy of Canadian Living). I found another 3 pound zucchini hiding in my garden...what now?!

Happy Fruit

I'm still at the cottage in PEI but Martin wanted to show me the haul from the garden yesterday. He titled the email " Happy Fruit". Wonderful!

Happy Fruit on Table, 2014

Cornucopia of Tomatoes - Yum

I made it up to the roof this afternoon, after my conference call and before the thunder storm started. I can safely say, tomato season has officially begun on the roof. A have a lovely variety of tomatoes including a Beef Master (top right), Early Girl (left of that), San Marzano (some with blossom end rot) and lovely little Orange Sunshines. I am delighted with the Orange Sunshine which are pretty and sweet and plentiful. I made a mistake this year and planted Tiny Tims instead of Sweet Millions at ground level garden - the Tiny Tims are flavourless so I'm glad I have the Orange Sunshine to make up for it! I haven't tasted the Beef Master yet so will report on that variety later.

The Zucchini Monster Strikes Again

Everything on the roof is going great guns, loads of tomatoes & blossoms and pepper plants laden with peppers.

That said, we lost the first few ripe tomatoes since they had blossom end rot due to problems getting the water level right earlier in the season. The new fruit all looks fine though so we should have tonnes of tomatoes in August - yum!

And at ground level the zucchini monster has struck again!