brooklyn farms

Cleaned the gutter at the low edge of the roof yesterday morning for the first time in about a year. Mucked out about 20 lbs of composted maple seeds, soil runoff, wood chips and other organic matter while laying flat on my belly. My heart was pounding the whole time. Once upon a time I wasn’t scared of heights but these days it kills me to go near the edge of the roof. This time it was worth the fear and the stink as the gutter worked properly during yesterday afternoon’s deluge.

Hard to decide when to fertilize give our tropical weather of late. Seems like we have intense afternoon thunderstorms many afternoons lately so I don’t think the soil is ever really drying out. Had the drip system off over the weekend and it had been about 24 hours since the last soaking rain when I fertilized today. So much budding flowering fruiting going on I want to feed them every day.

Teeny tiny baby peppers visible on several plants this morning.

One of the chiltepin plants snapped off about midway up the main stem. At first I was crushed, but then think maybe what’s left is bushy enough that it will still bear fruit. In any case I think I should step up the staking project.

More fertilizer for the babies. It kills me to see any liquid dripping out of the containers, especially this stinky food. Must think of way to capture the runoff.

Odd weather continues this season. After the heat of the last week or so we’re having days in the upper 70s this week and nights going down below 60. I’m a bit worried about the chiles. Low of 57 last night. Hopefully everybody is well-established and baby flowers won’t be damaged.

Lots of rain over the weekend so had the drip turned off for the past couple of days. This afternoon I gave everyone a second drink of liquid fertilizer cocktail. Plants are beginning to show lots of buds and I’m letting them go now.

Wind has been wicked up on the roof lately. Plants were getting bent over practically horizontal this afternoon and it’s not nearly the strongest wind we’ve had lately. It’s amazing all the plants are still standing tall though it seems like now is a good time to start adding some bamboo stakes to add a bit of extra support.

All the new transplants seem to be making the transition in tiptop shape. Plants look droopy but vigorous. Crowing really seems to be having the desired effect as all plants have new growth sprouting out of lower main stem. It feels weird to pinch off the tiny flower buds and I’ll be glad to stop in a couple of days but I’m optimistic about the quality of this method.

Maybe I’ll increase watering. Most containers seem to have moist soil down to at least three inches but there’s a fair bit of variation and some pots seem too dry. I think I’m going to add an 8 or 9pm watering to the schedule.

Saw a bee buzzing around this evening. Hopefully she’ll come back again next week when we’ll have some flowers.

The non-baby fam came up to see the garden tonight. Wilder was able to use his nimble fingers to pinch off a few flower buds I couldn’t get. He also sees a lot of ninja-type fun potential in the bamboo stakes left over from last year.