Thursday, July 31, 2014

No News Is Good News


Nothing exciting to report. Just watering and harvesting my way through  summer. No aphids, which I find somewhat unbelievable, but I'll take it. No more tomato hornworms. The Lil Keeper melon plants have a mild spider mite problem, but all of the fruits are close to maturity so I'm not worried about it. And besides the Beaverlodge tomato plant no signs of disease. This summer is turning out to be the most uneventful growing season I've ever had on the roof. Let's hope its stays that way!



Sunsugar F1 cherry tomato


Finally lots of green fruit on this plant.


Little Baby Flower F1 watermelons


Almost there.



Lil Keeper F1 melons



Beaverlodge tomato


Orient Express F1 eggplant, the biggest eggplant plant I've ever grown. This variety is definitely going on the greatest hits list.


This little corner of the roof seems to be the eggplant sweet spot. The last eggplants I grew in this location, way back in 2009, gave me 20 pounds from 2 plants. I have no ambitions to beat that record ever. I've never been so sick of eggplants like I was that year and have no desire to revisit that feeling. If I get 8 pounds out of this plant I'll be happy.



Yukon Gold potatoes


Sugar Buns F1 corn


A few ears have appeared on some of the stalks, but I'm still skeptical about a successful corn harvest.


The tassel on the tallest stalk looks like it's completely exhausted its supply of pollen. I can see why you need a bunch of corn planted closely together to get a good crop. If the timing between tassel growth and ear growth on the same stalk is off you'll need a neighboring plant to do the pollination.


Orange Blaze F1 peppers


A little early for colored peppers, but I noticed if a pepper even has just a hint of sunscald it will change color faster than a healthy one. These were delicious, sweet and crunchy. I just cut off the damaged parts and ate the rest raw.


Bush Goliath F1 tomatoes. Regular checks have not found another tomato hornworm caterpillar so I think that bullet was successfully dodged. That doesn't mean I'll stop looking though!



Giant Aconcagua peppers


A cluster of peppers has sunscald. I'm not sure where the damaging light source is coming from since this container is in shade for most of the afternoon. It must be some kind of reflected light hitting the peppers in the morning, maybe light bouncing off a window? Sounds far fetched, but it has happened before. Only 3 peppers are affected though so I haven't thought too deeply about it.


Pink Berkeley Tie Dye tomato

July 24-30:

Cherry Tomato (Sunsugar F1): 1.125 ounces

Eggplant (Orient Express F1): 1 pound, 1.75 ounces

Pepper (Giant Aconcagua): 11.0 ounces

Pepper (Orange Blaze F1): 8.0 ounces

Tomato (Beaverlodge): 1 pound, 2.0 ounces

Tomato (Pink Berkeley Tye Die): 14.75 ounces

Total: 4 pounds, 6.625 ounces

2014 Running Weight Total: 8 pounds, 14.625 ounces


Visit bucolicbushwick.com to read more about rooftop vegetable gardening.

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