Hurricane Harvest Irene!

Well, I harvested all of my watermelons, yellow squash, Chimayo peppers and scallions ahead of the hurricane on Saturday morning. I was worried I might lose everything to the wind. This morning, I woke up to an almost sunny day and thought, gee all that fuss was about nothing!
First I tasted a pepper. I took a tiny nibble of the tip and thought, Hmm, that wasn't hot at all. I took a bigger bite and it tasted like a sweet pepper. Then, I took a bigger bite towards the top and was like, Hmm, actually... this is hot. Ha! Still, it was a nice slow burn and I liked it! I'll have to think of something to cook them in.

I knew that the small watermelons weren't quite ripe when I harvested them, but what can you do when a hurricane is bearing down on you. I ate the red parts of this mini guy and it was tasty!
The yellow squash are just a little old, but I skinned one, sliced it very thinly and fried them up to put on a home-made pizza. Mmmmm!! I also stuffed the squash blossom with goat cheese and fried it up in an egg. Mmmm!

I don't know what to do with all those scallions!

Chili Peppers! 2011 Watermelon!

As always, I've been a bit lax with the garden and the blogging by this point in the summer. But, there are successes despite me! I have a nicely sized watermelon for the first time since 2008! This is really an accomplishment. I sure hope it tastes good! You can see that the leaves are yellowing and spotted, so the plant is definitely on its way out. My other watermelon plant looked about the same and has 2 smaller watermelons growing. =) They'll be nice little softball sized treats, I hope.And for the first time ever, I have peppers! These are Chimayo chili peppers, a variety from New Mexico. I'm excited to try making something spicy with them! They are extremely prolific, despite all of my neglect.
My yellow squash is putting out fruit, even without hand pollination. I'm going to eat this baby. You better believe it.
Zucchini, too! Though, it's not doing quite as well as the yellow squash, I think. I really have to watch the curcubits better. I should probably fertilize them more than I do. That's probably part of why the watermelon vines are dying sooner than I'd like.
Tasty fun times await!!

Featured in the Village Voice

Last month Celeste Sloman, a photographer for the Village Voice, contacted me about a slideshow she was putting together on rooftop gardens. She came by as I was putzing around the garden on a normal Saturday morning, July 23rd. I had a lot of weeding and cleaning up to do! Check out slides 8-13 and also the other slides showcasing roof gardens all around the city!
These scallions are out of control! I need to eat them. Also... boy do I look like a dork!

Featured on TV: Joy in Our Town

Back in June, a representative at the Trinity Broadcasting Network contacted me about participating in a piece on their local public program, Joy in Our Town. I jumped at the chance to be on TV and talk a bit about rooftop gardening!

The program aired on August 1st and August 5th, and the Trinity Broadcasting Network was kind enough to send me a DVD with the full episode and let me post it here:

Please do excuse my washed out pastiness! I didn't realize how much makeup one needs to look acceptable on TV and I had just pulled an all nighter at the office. Ooof! Enjoy!

Featured on Reuters

It's been a very busy summer for me, part of which has involved some media attention for the garden! Recently, Chris Michaud from Reuters contacted me for some information on roof gardens and quoted me in his article here:
Lots of other news outlets picked up the article around the world, including a popular site in New Zealand. Check it out! And welcome new readers!