Tag Archives: cleome

Cleome Main Roof

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IMG_0544Cleome blooms on the main roof.  Cleome seedlings were quite small this spring.  Placed two Cleome per 3 cuft container in caged position 8 and one in SE corner corner 3 cuft container.  These containers  probably could support companion wildflowers if seeded.  Maybe next year.

All hot pepper plants growing nicely.  I forgot to label them too which might become a challenge.

Update: Just thought of this observation.  The Cleome plants look kind of weak and haven’t grown as big as in previous years.  This applies to Cleome in front parkway as well.  I am worried my potting mix lacks nutrition and I have been lax fertilizing this season.  I need to make a fertilizing schedule and stick to it next season.  Maybe get one of these reminder apps to buzz me when it is time to fertilize.

Tomato Patch

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All 15 of tomato caged positions as of 7/17/2014. All tomatoes look good.  Tomatoes in the same type of container are bigger on western end of the row.  Cleome is once again used as a buffer plant placed between sets of tomatoes to attract bees.  The western end of the row gets the first shade of the day so I wonder if that has something to do with increased growth.

New Front Parkway

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IMG_8945A new corner was installed last season and they turned the front into a front parkway.  A container grew raspberries and catnip here in previous years and now the entire 20+ feet is an in ground garden.  I was able to save the mature raspberries from last season and they are doing well.  Catnip survived and I planted Cleome, and a lot of flowering seeds.  There are some volunteer tomatoes and some plants I can’t identify.

The alley planters were disassembled and all that potting soil was used to somewhat raise the center of this bed.  In the distance I built a raised bed structure to contain the potting soil.  That box is completely wildflower.

I’m letting all tree seedlings grow.  By the time the weather cleared to plant trees it was too late so I have to wait until August.  If some seedlings look good I may defer to them to grow into full size trees in the next 20 years or so.

Tomato Status

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IMG_8784 IMG_8785Here’s a brief update of tomatoes as of 6/27/2014.  All 8 tomatoes in caged positions healthy and we’ve had a lot of rain.  Fertilized once last week.  That might be kind of late.  Need to fertilize today.

The two wooden boxes are new planters that can hold two big plants.  They are 2x3x1.5=9 cubic feet.  The plastic tub planters are only 3 cu ft.  The two pictures show caged positions 1-7 of which there are 15 this season.  The wooden cage slots have not been installed and they may not be necessary.

Tomatoes buffered by Cleome in caged position 4 and skinny eggplant in caged position 1.  Caged position 7 has two habeneros and caged position 5 and 6 (bottom pic) has tomatoes.  The caged positions closest to the west which get the first shade are growing the best independent of container size.

NE Corner Main Roof Status

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This corner has a collapsed box that I decided to let be this year because of the large population of volunteer snapdragons from last season.   The box contains 8 habeneros, 2 cucumbers, 1 eggplant, and 1 Cleome that I planted.  In the bottom left corner is part of the pineapple mint container which is on its third or fourth year.  Next season I’ll have to replace this box and since it supports edibles I can’t use treated wood.  This pine box painted with white polyurethane paint was built for the 2007 season so it has lasted only 6 years — which might not be so bad.  The treated wood boxes on the veranda level are on their 11th year and show no signs of wear.  I need to figure out a way to line the inside of these large box containers with some kind of plastic to protect the wood from soil moisture without introducing nasty chemicals that can get into edible plants.

Here’s the box in 2007 on SE wall main roof.