Brooklyn Rooftop Gardener

1264 Views 1 Reply 1 Participant Last post by Brooklynroof, Jul 31, 2012

Brooklynroof

Discussion Starter · Jul 31, 2012

BR here (Brooklyn Roof). My garden space is on top of a building in Brooklyn NY, which presents different challenges than ground level gardening. The most challenging is extreme heat and adequate watering. I'll provide rooftop tips for others like me, and I'm also open to suggestions. Every year I learn something new. The average temp on the roof is 100+ degrees and hotter when there is a heat wave.
This year an extreme heat wave and a faulty water system set me back a few weeks.

Background:
This is my 4th year of rooftop gardening. I have 30 containers (mostly 5 gallon buckets). I use a water timer and soaker hose to keep everything moist. I collected 200 lbs of coco husks from a chocolate manufacturer and use that as mulch (I have a LOT left over). I'm growing 20 tomato plants - small/med/large, eggplants 3 kinds, cukes, watermellon, flowers , peppers, and 2 containers of herbs.
I've been fertilizing with Fish Emulsion, Epsom salts and a generic "Grow" formula (10-55-10).

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Brooklynroof

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jul 31, 2012

question for the community:
This year I have an abundance of flowers on my tomato plants, but not a lot of fruit set. I think its due to the high temps. Historically, I've had good yields and haven't been doing anything different. The next step is to get Shade cloth to cover the plants. I've tried misting with an epsom salt solution. Any other suggestions?

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