Roof Garden 10003

No dead mice.

Fired the first volley in the war on pests. Put some glue traps under the beds that have been the most nibbled. Normally I would seek a humane method of dispatching pests, or would ignore them completely, but somehow having my garden plundered makes me want the mice dead in the most efficient way possible.

Encountered the Russians roofing the building next door yesterday. They were full of advice and bought me a beer. Don't water when it's hot or it will kill the plants.

Rained a little last night so I didn't water much this morning. Gave the plants some liquid fertilizer tonight. About a half ounce per half gallon of water for each fruiting plant, more or less. Also gave a folar feeding with the spray bottle to the tomatoes and peppers. It was kind of overcast and windy up there but hopefully it won't rain for a day or two.

Transplanted the brandywines to huge 16 inch plastic pots. They were in fact pot bound. I hope the appreciate the extra room.

Seems like a big storm is coming tonight. Very windy on the roof. I'm a bit worried about the tomatoes and peppers. Might move a few containers next to the compost bin for a bit of shelter.

I am ecstatic about the appearance of the first tomato this morning. A couple of fruits on one brandywine and a Roma between one and two inches long. I can't believe it could pop out so big in one day. The joy of fruit! I was so worried they would never come.

Took Joey's advice and didn't water the tomatoes this morning.

Took some people from work up to see the garden tonight. Joey offered many good suggestions. He thinks there may be slugs in addition to caterpillars eating the leaves. He guesses the brandywine tomatoes may be pot-bound and that they will fruit if I shock them with less water for a while. As we were just coming up I saw a mouse running from under one of the boxes. J thinks it may be eating the plants too.

I'm getting worried about the tomatoes. There have been plenty of flowers but no signs of fruit. Gave everything a dose of liquid fertilizer. Both to the roots and folar. I hope I didn't mix it too strong.

Put cages on the brandywine tomatoes this afternoon. I should have done it a long time ago. It was really hard to get them over the plants. I was horrified when I accidentally snapped off a top stalk with several flowers. It's hard to focus on the entire plant at the same time.