The patio is just looking lovely this time of year! Here is view of the west end of the patio.

A view looking at the east end of the patio, look at the colour on those nicotiana and the height on those golden girl tomatoes!

Its a jungle in there! An emerging Hungarian hot wax pepper can be seen on the left edge of the photo and some window box romas in the background.

Check out the size of this Hungarian hot wax pepper! Big as my manly thumb.

And another one! They have really enjoyed the constant string of 27 to 30 C degree days.
The biggest tomato by far is this golden girl. I love how its got that classic "fat/squat" heirloom tomato shape.
The only pole bean that survived is now thriving! Look at how its climbing the wire I ran up the window frame.

All in all our Vancouver patio makes a pleasant place to have dinner and some white wine tonight.
Nicotiana in full bloom...provides a fragrant evening for us.
Llast of all, the first tomato to turn colour, a window box roma.

Were having a great sumer for gardening!

July begins with a burst of colour! The nicotiana is doing extremely well.


There is only one good looking pole bean on the patio, as you can see below its reached the top of its pole. There are 2 other pole beans on the patio but as we'll soon see I predict they will die soon.

Here's the smaller pot of nicotiana, yesterday it started to wilt a bit - I think the full mid day sun is a bit too strong for it, so after this entry I am going to move it down off the railing.

Look at these East Bunch tomatoes. They are huge! I have thinned the pots removing the straggler or 'runt' from each litter.

In this close-up you can see the first tomatoes out of the gate are the East Bunch Window Box Romas. I counted 18 of them this morning! No sign of any Golden Girls just yet.

Beautiful bushy tomatoes! These are the Golden Girls bushes.

Here is D*'s beautiful floral arrangement pot. The lillies just began to bloom this week. We thought they would be yellow or pink or red...but the stark white seems equally regal and pure. This pot of plants replaced the strawberries that dies 2 weeks after purchase at Grandview Rona. This particular collection of mini petunias and the lilly are from the Flase Creek Flats Home Depot.

Here are some reluctant Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers...they are coming along slowly and just getting ready to bloom. I thought the plant would need to be bigger first...
And now turning from success stories to some of the sadder moments on the patio garden...
I think the soil in this pot is too moist or something...I bet they will die soon. They are turning yellow and drooping.
More impending death...this pole bean is a tragicly stunted underperformer...dead in a week I am sure. Some of the tomatoes in this same pot were loking close to death a week ago but have since turned the corner. I dug them up and found them root bound and drowning inside the old peat pots they were nursed in - somehow they did not find the strenghth to break out of the peat pots so I ripped them up on the bottoms and replanted.
Seen from a far you can see how stunted these two pots are. The tomoatoes that I think will die in a week are on the left...yellower than those on the right.

Here is a closer look at some Hungarian Hot Wax Pepers...last week these were in smalled disposable pot on the railing, but didn't have enough room to grow. So I transplanted them into another pot of failed tomatoes. I pulled them up and dropped in the peppers and now 2 days into their new home they appear to be doing well.

I'll end today's post with a close up of the bug infested daisies. They are nice and tall now but simply covered with aphids and leaf miners.



See you next week, I am hoping to be able to show you the first Golden Girl tomatoes and maybe some pepper blooms.

June

June 26, 2009:


Here is a late batch of pics from the end of June. First up: D*'s new flower arrangement custom selected and planting directed by him. He selected the plants at the local Home Depot and told me where to plant them. He's not a dirty hands kind of guy.
The nicotiana has begun to bloom and they are beautiful. By far my favourite plants right now. They are very fragrant ans have helped to attract bees to pollinate the tomatoes.

More nicotiana. Lovely flowers.

Here is the happy looking East Bunch. They are getting lots of sun and growing fast now.

Looking down the patio past the east bunch to the west bunch. In the foreground is my bomeliad that Jason and Shannon gave me for a house warming.


West Bunch below looking down the patio to the East Bunch.

Mesclun Mix from Vesey's is still doing well. We have just noticed some aphids andwill be treating with Safer's Insecticidal Soap.

Here are the super-tall daisy's my Mom gave us (background), they are doing well but seem to attract and harbour a lot of insects. In the foreground are the new pink boots D* picked up at Home Depot a few weeks ago. They are quite cute.

Oregano, tomtoes and beans doing well.

Frontal view of West Bunch - they get a bit less sun than East Bunch and as such are a bit smaller.

That's got us up to date to June 26, 2009. As I type its July 3 and I've already got another update to do!

Garden Master

Some of the East Bunch tomatoes - these are the Golden Girls and if you look closely you can see a new pole bean just breaking the surface and the smaller leafs are a new crop of mesclun mix.

Some very healthy looking Romas in the East Bunch. Looking like a thick forest of sorts.


Here is a group shot of the East Bunch looking westward down the length of the patio. The Nicotiana in the East Bunch are the bigger of the two groups, looks like they love their home.

East Bunch Golden Girls - looking a little bit spindly compared to the Window Box Romas - but I think that is to be expected. Still coming along nicely.

Ah the mighty mesclun mix - now sitting in the shady end of the balcony. This wonderful mix of lettuce leaves has supplied the Garden Master and D-Star with at lease 3 sallads each (6 in total) so far. We hope to keep our wonderfully symbiotic relationship going throughout the summer.

OK so its time for another update on the patio planters! We've had a week and a half of spectacular weather. Today's high temperature according to my National Geographic atomic thermometer was 34.1 C!! Lets have a look at how the plants are doing. Above are the West Bunch Roma tomatoes. I am happy to announce that in one day alone the stems of the plants gained significant girth. I think it might be because I watered from the bottom this morning at 7:00 AM so the plant enjoyed a sustained supply of moisture. I think I'll keep it up.

The peppers are going slow but finally getting substantially larger than they've been in the last 2 weeks. I think a growth spurt is underway. I have noticed that something is eating nice uniform round hoes on the leaves in the last 2 days.


In this pulled-back shot you can see the entire West Bunch including some very happy Nicotiana (lower left), peppers and oregano (lower right) and further back are the toatoes and the mesclun mix lettuce. I moved the lettuce today to this location because its shadier and cooler. The lettuce has not been happy with the intense heat and sun.

Above are the West Bunch Golden Girls and a new Blue Lake Stringless Pole Bean. I only have one pole bean left from the original crop so a new round was planted last week. Only took 3 days to germinate!

Here is a close up of the West Bunch Roma that displays the strongest stems! Look at the trunk on her.

Growing

Our little patio faces south and has an excellent view of the lane and our neighbours' yards. The quality of the sun from this angle is great, we get sun from about 8AM till 8PM, making the patio a fantastic place for sun loving plants like tomatoes and peppers.


Here is the current state of the Hungarian wax peppers. The first pot below is in the East Bunch and the other is in the West Bunch. Both seem to be doing well so far.


Here is an update on the Golden Girls hanging out in the East Bunch. Looking good ladies!
The mesclun mix is doing great! I thought they might be vulnerable to sun burn, so I have kept them down below the railing to act as a screen, much like has been done for the strawberries. The mescun LOVES the patio, we've had several salads from this box already.

Hope you enjoyed seeing how our garden has been growing,
Garden Master

A Week of Progress...mostly

There have been some disappointments though, namely the strawberries, they look like they can't handle the sun and have become sun burned. Its not a watering problem because they've never really been allowed to dry out.


A week in and there is visible progress in the garden! The nicotiana in the East Bunch really took off this week!
I thought I would post a few bigger picture shots of the patio garden, below is the East Patio:
Below is the West Patio: