Urban farming in Calgary

[Blader]

An experiment
Brassicas on the north side of the house
o - orientation east/west
o - distance between the 2 story houses - 9 1/2 feet.
o - sunlight - morning and late afternoon/early evening - minimal sunlight
o - cool weather crops
o - 3 rectangular containers
o - kale and Brussels sprouts

Brussels sprouts
o - 9 plants - 1 is sick
o - starting to produce
o - I didn't do enough research - I should been pruning the bottom leaves periodically - I did it all at once 2 days ago.
o - next year I'll do it right

 

[Blader]

Why do Cucumbers fruit Fail in the Garden?
Informative video. 8 minutes

 

[Blader]

Update 1st harvest yellow zucchini - it's producing vigorously.

 

[Surrealplaces]

@Blader I think youre post about hand pollinating squash may have helped my figure out whey my driveway cukes don't produce much. The have tons of flowers, but not much yield....I've now started paying attention to the pollination...I think there just aren't enough bees. My 6 squash plants up in the garden have produced 6 squash with another 20 that are almost ready to pick, but the 6 cuke plants have produced exactly 3 cucumbers! and two that will be ready in about a week.

Why do Cucumbers fruit Fail in the Garden?
Informative video. 8 minutes

 

[Blader]

@Blader I think youre post about hand pollinating squash may have helped my figure out whey my driveway cukes don't produce much. The have tons of flowers, but not much yield....I've now started paying attention to the pollination...I think there just aren't enough bees. My 6 squash plants up in the garden have produced 6 squash with another 20 that are almost ready to pick, but the 6 cuke plants have produced exactly 3 cucumbers! and two that will be ready in about a week.

@Surrealplaces
Cross pollination and flowering at the same time.
o - my neighbor 2 doors down has a dwarf apple tree 12 footer when mature. He plucked flowers from my front yard ornamental crab in full bloom and cross pollinated his apple tree also in full bloom - excellent results.

o - bees - have you given thought to building a bee motel?

Another worthwhile youtube video - 14 minutes

My unpollinated brown tipped yellow zucchini

The anatomy

 

[UrbanWarrior]

Every veggie on this plate was grown in my gardens Very happy about my garden's success this year.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Of been thinking of having bees. I'm going to google a bee motel and look into it. My neighbor a few houses down keeps bees and makes honey, and we get a good number of them in the backyard, but I don't usually see them in the front yard.

@Surrealplaces
Cross pollination and flowering at the same time.
o - my neighbor 2 doors down has a dwarf apple tree 12 footer when mature. He plucked flowers from my front yard ornamental crab in full bloom and cross pollinated his apple tree also in full bloom - excellent results.

o - bees - have you given thought to building a bee motel?

 

[Blader]

For my own edification, I've been investigating the efficacy of a bee hotel. The hotel is designed to attract orchard mason bees. They look like small iridescent flies.

Honey bees versus orchard mason bees:
The range of a honey bee is several miles. The range of an orchard mason bee is 300 ft.
It takes over 500 honey bees to properly pollinate an orchard apple tree. It takes only seven orchard mason bees to do the same.

Concerns:
O - hotel maintenance over the winter
O - are there enough flowers in a 300 foot range to support 7 mason bees let alone what a one hundred cell bee hotel would house?
O - I just got off the phone with my brother in law who resides in Red Deer. His bee hotel has attracted no bees at all over the 2 seasons that he owned it.

Conclusion:
If other than a few plants pollination is satisfactory, then I think hand pollenating those few is the easiest solution.

Of been thinking of having bees. I'm going to google a bee motel and look into it. My neighbor a few houses down keeps bees and makes honey, and we get a good number of them in the backyard, but I don't usually see them in the front yard.

 

[Blader]

^^^
I forgot to include sources.

https://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Parks/Documents/Programs/Community-Orchards/mason-bee.pdf?noredirect=1

https://www.macleans.ca/society/science/are-bee-hotels-the-answer-in-saving-a-species/

And the video below.

 

[Surrealplaces]

I think you're right. If it's just those two pots, maybe hand pollination is the way to go. I could also put a couple of flower pots out beside them.

For my own edification, I've been investigating the efficacy of a bee hotel. The hotel is designed to attract orchard mason bees. They look like small iridescent flies.

Honey bees versus orchard mason bees:
The range of a honey bee is several miles. The range of an orchard mason bee is 300 ft.
It takes over 500 honey bees to properly pollinate an orchard apple tree. It takes only seven orchard mason bees to do the same.

Concerns:
O - hotel maintenance over the winter
O - are there enough flowers in a 300 foot range to support 7 mason bees let alone what a one hundred cell bee hotel would house?
O - I just got off the phone with my brother in law who resides in Red Deer. His bee hotel has attracted no bees at all over the 2 seasons that he owned it.

Conclusion:
If other than a few plants pollination is satisfactory, then I think hand pollenating those few is the easiest solution.

 

[Stephen Ave]

It might be because you are growing them in pots. My wife grows zucchini’s and had some in pots right beside the other zucchinis that were planted in the garden, and the zucchinis in the garden did way better.

@Blader I think youre post about hand pollinating squash may have helped my figure out whey my driveway cukes don't produce much. The have tons of flowers, but not much yield....I've now started paying attention to the pollination...I think there just aren't enough bees. My 6 squash plants up in the garden have produced 6 squash with another 20 that are almost ready to pick, but the 6 cuke plants have produced exactly 3 cucumbers! and two that will be ready in about a week.

 

[Blader]

tomatoes
I'm starting to pick them earlier before full ripeness .The flesh is firmer and flavor leans to tart. Of course, every variety has a different profile and every eater has their own flavor preferences.

 

[Blader]

August update on tomatoes and zucchini.
Tomatoes:
Decent production but worried about the cool weather night time and smoke.
Zucchini:
I've been actively cross-pollinating the various plants but I'm worried that fall is coming too soon.

A photo of fettuccine aglio e olio with a side of mild Italian sausage.
Topped with tomatoes, fried zucchini, and bell pepper from my garden

 

[Blader]

Fall is fast approaching.
Here's a photo of a painting I own. It's bleak but with a never give up against all odds.

I'm planning to cover my squash and peppers. The tomatoes can't be covered. I hope that the forecast is wrong.

 

[Blader]

^^^
luckily it turns out that the forecast was wrong and Tuesday night instead of being 1 degrees Celsius is forcasted to be 4 degrees Celsius. I can deal with that.
Tomatoes and yield.

left to right
Tumblers - 273 grams - 7 plants in 134 liters - yield per liter 2.03 grams
Sugary hybrid - 549 grams - 3 plants in 201 liters - yield per liter 2.731 grams
Sweet million - 523 grams - 12 plants in 804 liters - yield per liter .65 grams
Bottom
Stupice - 145 grams - 3 plants in 201 liters - yield per liter .72 grams

The yield is over 3 days of picking. It's rough insofar as some pickings of low yielding plants might increase dramatically.

I'm already thinking about next year!
Oh, I forgot. In a male flower on the yellow zucchini I watched an insect, bee, wasp, who knows, riggle, twist, and cover it's whole body with pollen. Was it a mason?