The yellow habeneros actually produced red fruit. I’m wondering if all habeneros sold in this city are the same despite what their tag says. Photo taken on 10/21/2011.
Category Archives: Main Roof
Main Roof status
Cosmos in debris clump
Cosmos grow amongst two year old debris clump occupying the western edge of main roof. These clumps are going through drought periods. I haven’t been diligent watering since the tomatoes died. The wildflowers are still popping up however and blooming. I cheated and seeded these. The grass and most all other plants in these clumps comes from whatever seeds make it and survive.
Blight Observation
This is container #12, a Celebrity tomato planted in a smaller container as an experiment. It was more or less healthy throughout the summer albeit a little smaller (most likely due to container size). It caught blight from container #11 which supported another variety that struggled all summer and should have been pulled and replaced after the first week. Celebrity tomatoes have been hardy as demonstrated with this plant. Even though the bottom half is devastated by blight, it has second growth and may produce a second crop of tomatoes. Celebrity tomatoes are a nice size too. It is important to figure out what types of tomatoes can grow in a rooftop environment. So far, Celebrity tomatoes top my list. More on Early Girls and Brandywine, the other two main types planted later.
Blight
This doesn’t look good.
Lost Island
Lost Island in morning light casts a shadow upon the western two year old debris clump. The tomatoes are to the right and you can start to see the blight from this angle. Even if the tomato crop fails again, at least I won’t have to work as hard doing all that canning. The debris clumps look nice.
Black Eyed Susans
Black eyed susans thrive amongst squash, chives, spearmint, and eggplant on the main roof. These flowers volunteer their services every year and share a 20 gallon container with chives.
More Debris Clumps
Here’s a nice shot of three debris clumps in morning light. The far clump is in its second year. Lost island is in the middle and the greenery is starting to take hold. Debris clumps are light, portable groups of plants that can go into dormancy. They are light enough where they can occupy middle areas of the roof. The roots don’t bond to anything so they can be easily moved. Theoretically an entire roof could consist of these. They would need some watering regime. I’ll find out this summer if one of them puts a hole in my rubber roof. A problem I see is that an elm seed starts to grow and that would mean tree roots. Tree roots can go through concrete. IMHO, green roofs should be inspected frequently.
Tomato patch
Another view of the tomato patch on first day of harvest.
Tomatoes and Debris clump
The tomatoes look OK and today was the first day of harvesting. Although the tomatoes taken today are small hopefully they’ll get bigger. If everything goes right I should be harvesting tomatoes through September. The Debris Clump next to the tomatoes has gotten quite large. This is two debris clumps from last year that merged into one. When dry, the entire mass can be pushed around the roof like a big mop head. Hopefully no roots penetrate the rubber. Since I’ve never done this to such a large scale I’m in unchartered territory. I need to find a roofer to help me out should a leak occur.