Growing, inside and out...

A long awaited project began taking shape this weekend at the SPEC building, as our artistic volunteers Naomi and Jodi took to the brush and began transforming our previously colourless stairwell into the site of a gorgeous, garden-themed mural.

Frank, hard at work getting the space ready for the mural - many thanks!


Jodi painting in the city-skyline silhouette

Detail of one of the (huge) moths

Before vs. After: an incredible transformation, only just begun!

Huge thank you to Jodi and Naomi for what they've accomplished so far. Both are going to continue working on a mural over the next couple of weeks, so feel free to stop in and check out their work as it progresses. If you're interested, you can also take a look at Naomi'sportfolio to see more of her amazing work: http://naomicairnsart.com/

Up in the garden, there has also been some new growth. Chard, onions, lettuce, carrots, beets, and other crops we planted at the last rooftop workparty are starting to germinate - promising an abundant winter harvest this year!

tiny swiss chard

tiny onions

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Tomato Troubles...


Some new challenges have presented themselves over the past few days on the rooftop garden. Our heritage tomatoes are starting to ripen, and from above, seem to look great...

A closer look, however, reveals some problems...



















Some of our rooftop tomatoes seem to be suffering from blossom end rot, a problem caused by calcium deficiency in the fruit. Sources I found explain that the deficiency is not always the result of low calcium levels in the soil, but more likely linked to erratic watering. Fluctuations in soil moisture levels reportedly reduce uptake and movement of calcium into the plant, resulting in tissue breakdown that leaves the dry, sunken lesions that you see in the tomatoes pictured above. Although we do our best to water regularly and thoroughly on the rooftop, it was especially difficult to maintain sufficient moisture levels in the containers during the heat wave we've just been through, leading me to believe that calcium uptake, rather than level of available calcium is a likely causal factor for the problems we're now seeing.

That said, however, it would be interesting to know what the calcium levels are looking like in the tomato pots, so I would like to do some soil testing at our next rooftop workparty and will report back with my results. pH could also be a contributing factor to the problem - tomatoes are able to absorb the most calcium at a soil pH of 6.5 - so we will look into this as well.

There is a lot to be learned from this experience! In an effory to improve our record keeping, we've created a new "Rooftop Garden Log Book" and labelled every pot on the roof wih a number. We hope to use this to build a document that tracks the successes and failures in our rooftop experiment, so that we can continue to improve our understanding of best practices for growing food in small spaces.

And, lucky for us foodies, these lesions are only skin deep. After cutting away the blemish, these are really a beautiful (and delicious) garden harvest!

Yum!

For more information on blossom end rot, try some of these sites:


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fun rainy day at city square

yellow zucchinis on the way! this time we'll stay on top of the powdery mildew by spraying with milk

Teomi trimming the hedge - a big job!

Kiana cutting the alyssum which has gone to seed. We will dry it a little more then put it in paper envelopes for next time



many plants, including this blueberry, have leafs that are turning brown, indicating a possible nutrient deficiency




the pumpkin continues to grow!





our broccoli (right), is doing much better than the brussel sprouts


the little cabbages that we transplanted last week, the 4 that survived haven't grown at all. it's a variety called January King, a hint as to when we hope to harvest



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the good and the bad

the lushness of summer....

beans! it's that time of year again to just sit back, relax, and chow down! these are purple peacock variety


the wildflowers not only look beautiful, but also aid in attracting our beneficial pollinators to the garden



unfortunately the zucchinis have succumbed to the powdery mildew...we were a bit negligent because the plants can often tolerate some level of mildew, but it was too much for these ones...




we got one ear of corn on each plant, which was amazing! too bad some one or some thing got to half of it before we did!


however we still managed to reap in a pretty good harvest! Mesclun, zucchini, corn, beans, beets, and little red and white strawberries!


not sure if you can tell by the video, but we are also dealing with an infestation of white flies. These too are mostly a problem in the greenhouse, but extreme infestations such as this can have effects on the plant, including irregular ripening of fruit. We will be monitoring the fruit closely as it ripens.

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