Renfrew Collingwood Food Security Institute

After the heat wave.

The heat wave we've been having in Vancouver was especially noticeable up on the rooftop garden. Our planter boxes are made of cement, which absorbs and radiates heat. There is also relatively little shade so things were pretty toasty for a while.

We've also been having ongoing challenges with our irrigation system. With the help of our dedicated volunteer team we did manage to keep the garden alive, with a combination of hand-watering and ongoing irrigation repairs. Since temperatures have returned to normal, we've been taking the opportunity to do a harvesting and weeding blitz. We've also removed several plants which (due to predictable life cycles or due to water stress) have gone to seed. This has opened up lots of extra space for winter gardening!

Here are a few photos of the goings on:


Youth participant with Russian blue potato.




Funny-shaped carrots such as these happen when carrots are forced to grow in rocky or very hard soil. They can also occur when carrots are overcrowded. If straight carrots are important to you, it's important to thin seedlings and to loosen the soil when planting.


Here are the 3 kinds of potatoes we grew. To guard against crop failure, it's important to grow different types of foods; some may be more or less suited to your particular growing space, and if one fails another may succeed. This principle is called Biodiversity and is just as important in large-scale farming as it is in small gardens.


Summer student Shannon with a bowl of freshly dug potatoes.


Holy cow! This pile of potato leaves represents only a portion of the plants we pulled up to harvest the potatoes.


While we weren't looking, apples, eggplants, and many types of heirloom tomatoes were enjoying the heat.




Yellow brandywine tomatoes such as these are a "potato-leaf" tomato variety. These types of tomatoes cross-pollinate with other types of tomatoes much more easily than other tomatoes.


Sungold cherry tomatoes are an F1 hybrid which are bright orange when ripe. They are very productive and sweet. This plant "volunteered" in the garden, meaning we didn't plant it. It likely grew from a tomato that fell in the soil last summer and rotted away, leaving the seeds hiding in the ground.


Young eggplant, ichiban variety. Visitors to the garden comment on the similarity between eggplant and potato flowers...another indication that eggplants and potatoes are closely related.


Companion planting: traditional wisdom holds that certain plants grow very well alongside each other. here, heirloom tomatoes, basil, and purple-podded peas are thriving together.


Heat/water stress: lettuce is one of the common garden veggies that does not thrive in hot temperatures. When grown in "stressful" conditions, lettuce will "bolt." This means it gets tall and flowers so that it can produce seeds--it wants to reproduce before it dies. Here is Youth Kitchen Leader Jason with lettuce that has bolted.


Asian greens like bok choy (pictured here) are also cool weather vegetables. When subjected to too much heat and too little water they will readily go to flower. Once they flower, the plant's flavour is affected and it may not be so great for eating. This one passed the taste test!