My Summer Outdoor Garden 2015

[tropicanna]

This is the story of mad man and his obsession with turning a few hundred square feet of concrete jungle into an oasis, a hideout from the hustle and bustle of the city.

 

[tropicanna]

It all started back in January with these two…

 

[tropicanna]

First I needed a way to provide a long photoperiod, so I came up with this…

 

[who dat is]

Pics aren't showing up. Do you have your albums set to private?

 

[tropicanna]

I also started some tropical fruit seeds, passion fruit, guava fruit and papaya, along with some basil and tomatoes

 

[tropicanna]

Thanks, I changed it to public. Let me know if they show.

 

[dickcorn]

Working now

 

[tropicanna]

Once sex was determined, it was time to take cuttings. But, things wouldn't go that easy.

 

[tropicanna]

Hot start to a summer and no A/C meant that the plan to propagate would shift into burying more seed.

 

[tropicanna]

So, while the mothers healed and grew and the beans came in the mail some tomatoes were transplanted.

 

[tropicanna]

Realizing how harsh the conditions can be outdoors it made perfect sense to use the passion fruit vines to make some shade and help cool things down.

 

[tropicanna]

A tensile structure was the perfect solution to train them in to a natural fiber tent.

 

[tropicanna]

In the mail came in some help to get the population growing.

 

[tropicanna]

And so they were buried and out they came. On an almost non existent budget a new pack was germinated each month for the rest of the summer. Perhaps not top tier genetic material, but good enough to rough out the learning curve.

 

[tropicanna]

Soon enough the veg area started filling up.

 

[tropicanna]

My first two females were almost 4 months old and started to show signs that it was time to flower.They were the survivors of a botched germination attempt. One a polyhybrid cross of Johnny Blaze and Chemdawg D and the other an alleged Mozambiquen Poison from Marlberry.

 

[tropicanna]

September 20th is the start of summer closer to the 45th N but near the tropics that date is probably closer to June 20th. This June brought with it a hot and unusually dry start to the summer season, much like an indian summer. The concrete was proving unbearable for the plants light requirements in the middle of the hot terrace concrete. To make things worst we undergoing a drought that brought water rationing. It would be a tough road ahead. But I was making strides. No longer walking in the dark, I was armed with pH and EC meters and with the deteriorating water quality came the decision to purchase an RO filter and that meant better nutrient solutions, living microbiology and lower feeding requirements.

 

[tropicanna]

The tomato harvest gave me a lesson in acclimatization of species to their environments or the lack thereof and the need for constant, uniform and periodic irrigation. Fruit set got cut short because the blossoms would fail due to the high heat and humidity.Full sun exposure, fives stories high some type of shading was a priority at this point, luckily the passionfruit vines were doing well despite the harsh conditions.At this point I'm really looking into setting an irrigation system because all the hand watering is taking a toll.

 

[tropicanna]

Before long, it was time to flip the first two ladies.

 

[tropicanna]

With the veg area in full force it was time to screen for male plants..