Urban farming in Calgary

[Blader]

Just a few notes
I deleted the original post of 18July2018 because my images weren't displaying properly.
o - I've added a bird bath - hopefully it'll satisfy the magpies thirst and allow me to enjoy the tomatoes.
o - The eggplant is flowering.
o - I'm no longer buying peppers and tomatoes.
o - I haven't tried the potatoes. My neighbours are delicious. I suspect mine will be also. The yield won't be as good as previous years.
o - The tomatoes are rapidly flowering and should yield better than last year per plant. That said, too much at once.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Everything looks great Blader. My crop is coming along decently, I'll get some update pics.

 

[Surrealplaces]

A few update pics

Not veggies in this shot, just flowers. all flowers grown from seed. I collect the seeds in a ziploc bag and replant the following year. Saves a few bucks.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Some veggie shots


Driveway Cukes

Tomato and squash bed. A few red tomatoes here and there that I need to start picking.

Carrots and potatoes. Carrots needs to be thinned out. I'm going to expand this bed after the growing season is done, so as to have room to do beets and more carrots next year.

Squash coming along. Many are hand sized, but will be football sized in about 10 days I counted 11 hand sized ones so far and about a half dozen more smaller ones just starting out. Should be a decent harvest.

I usually plant the squash in three different intervals about 3 weeks apart, so I have plants from the first interval producing quite early and the last interval plants still producing right at the end of the growing season. This year, due to being too busy I only did two intervals.

 

[Blader]

@Surrealplaces
Great looking garden, front and back, flowers and vegetables.

I'm interested in the kinds of squash you grow and why, the room needed per plant, and whether you start them indoors. Actually all your considerations. It'll help me plan next years planting.

 

[Surrealplaces]

@Surrealplaces
Great looking garden, front and back, flowers and vegetables.

I'm interested in the kinds of squash you grow and why, the room needed per plant, and whether you start them indoors. Actually all your considerations. It'll help me plan next years planting.

Thanks @Blader! The squash I plant is spaghetti squash, with the main reason being that I generally like squash, but also if the squash is cooked a certain way, it comes out like spaghetti noodles, and can be substituted for pasta. It's nice to mix it up some times. The plants do take up a lot of space, but generally the vines grow along in a line, so are good against a wall, and the vines will also grown in and around other pots. My neighbor grows hers in pots beside the fence and then trains the vines to go along a band of chicken wire along the bottom of the fence. The vines will cling on and then crawl along the fence with the squash hanging down. Pretty cool.

I usually plant them about 2-3 feet apart. I start the first batch about a month before planting, and the second batch three weeks later. One of the other things I like about the Spaghetti squash, is that it's a winter squash, so the last ones coming out in early October will usually last (in a cool dry place) right up to Christmas.

One tip I do have is if growing from seed, it's best to buy the seeds. You can reuse seeds, but the seem to cross-pollinate easily. When tried re-using seeds, the Squash came out differently the next year, and had no flavor...something that often happens with cross-pollination.

 

[Habanero]

Thanks Blader, I somehow missed this post earlier. The covered part is to keep the birds out. I must confess, my wife does all the gardening so I can’t take any credit for it lol.

Btw, your garden looks great. You’ve got quite crop going.

@Habanero
I'm impressed! On the lower left you have a part of a bed covered? Rodents?
Is this a corner lot?

 

[Blader]

@Habanero
Tnx

I've been pondering squash.
Here's a short and excellent video on male/female flowers, identification, and instructions for hand pollinating.

 

[UrbanWarrior]

My squash are about to blossom. I will post pics soon.

 

[Surrealplaces]

My driveway cukes have blossomed and there are a few cukes coming out. I'll post pics in the next day or two.

 

[Blader]

I'm happy. I've successfully pollinated a male to a female. Thank God they're not cattle

Cross pollination - for those who don't know - Hell, I didn't know until today.
Cucurbita - species
pepo - sub species

Cucurbita pepo
All members of this family will cross pollinate. However , the seeds produced and the fruit produced from those seeds are unpredictable.

Source:
https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/1996/8-23-1996/crosspol.html

So, next year, besides zucchini, I'll plant spaghetti squash and maybe one other.

 

[Surrealplaces]

I might have to do some manual pollination on my cucumbers. they have had lots of flowers, but I've only found 3 cucumbers so far. There aren't any flowers right nearby and I wonder if there aren't enough bees.

 

[Blader]

I forgot to mention - on the male zucchini flower the pollen was on the lower part of the petals, not in the centre. It took an extra moment for me to notice - I wasn't expecting that. The centre appeared to be identical to the female - as smooth as a babies bum - no visible pollen..

 

[Blader]

I forgot to mention - on the male zucchini flower the pollen was on the lower part of the petals, not in the centre. It took an extra moment for me to notice - I wasn't expecting that. The centre appeared to be identical to the female - as smooth as a babies bum - no visible pollen..

Sometimes I'm dumber than hell. The pollen, although fresh, was disturbed. Tail between my legs!

 

[Blader]

Potatoes - 2 1/2 lbs
Roasted are delicious
This is the good.

This is the bad and the ugly

I'll be lucky if I get 40 lbs out a 21foot by 52 inch bed - 80 plants that sucks. Poor seed potatoes. What can I say - disappointing!