Sick Gardener = Sick Garden

So, I've been sick for a little under a week. Apart from getting up on the roof yesterday evening, I really hadn't ventured out from my apartment since Wednesday. Even though I'm capable of watering my garden without actually going on the roof, I usually still go up every day or so. Sickness and laziness got the better of me this past week and I didn't go up for several days.I'm pretty sure I watered my plants on Thursday, but then I didn't water them again until Saturday evening because Friday night we got what I thought was heavy rain. Turns out I was fooled, and when I checked on my plants last night several of them looked crispy. And, I missed the bloom on some of the lilies I've been waiting so patiently for. Such is life!!! Still, even with just 2 petals this one is quite pretty...

In other flower news, my marigolds and cosmos have YET to flower and i'm pretty bored of waiting so I've stopped watering them. They are somewhat of an intentional casualty...

However, some of the other plants that have suffered from drought are my thyme (which was supposed to be drought tolerant! Hmph, but maybe the pigeons got to it), Tomatoes, and Strawberries. The Stupice in particular looks dry, yellow and brown. Eeek!Another casualty in the last couple weeks was my lettuce, but not due to underwatering. It fell victim to some strange bug I never saw, but whose little black eggs were everywhere. When I saw first saw the damage, about half was eaten. I moved the lettuce far from the rest of my garden (a benefit of growing things in containers), and in the next couple days the rest was eaten up either by the bugs or pigeons. Thankfully those bugs didn't get to anything else. I don't have the heart to post pics of that carnage....

In brighter news! My watermelons are looking good and hopefully ripening soon:And, the zucchini and yellow squash I seeded around the time of my last post has sprouted and grown quickly. Both plants already have flower buds:

Transplanting Seedlings

Because I hadn't been able to get on the roof regularly over the past couple weeks I had some trouble keeping seedlings alive due to lack of water. Since the last post where I planted seeds, a few of the marigolds and the basil that had been alive died. However, there were still several marigolds alive, and a few new ones had sprouted. Additionally, the 2 watermelon I planted and lots of cosmos have sprouted and look great from having been started under the sun. There are a couple small basil seedlings too, and a few of what I think are New Zealand Spinach. I'm not entirely sure though, and will wait to see what they turn into. Today, I dragged the rest of the compost up to the roof and filled 2 more 5 gallon buckets with approximately the same mixture as for the tomatoes, but with less peat moss because I ran out and without the crushed egg shells (though the worm compost has lots of egg shells in it). I planted 1 watermelon seedling in each bucket and placed a plastic bottle cloche over each. I hope that the cloche will protect them from the birds and retain heat, since watermelons flourish in hot weather.

I filled 2 of the "bulb pans" I got from Novosel with a mix of compost and leftover potting soil I had. I divided the Narcissus bulb CJ gave me back in January and planted a few in each pan (before I read online that you're not really supposed to divide these?). On top, I transplanted a few marigolds and 1 of the bigger cosmos into each pan.

I planted the Chinese Chives ("gao choi") that I got from home over the weekend in their own bulb pan. They look a bit droopy but they're strong and hardy plants, and I'm sure they'll recover soon enough.

Lastly, I filled 2 more bulb pans with pure compost and planted beet seeds in one and rainbow chard seeds in the other. These plants may have to be transplanted into their own 5 gallon buckets later, but right now I don't have enough dirt to plant them in. They were from the recent order I made with Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds from whom I got the following for $12.30 including shipping:

Bull's Blood Beets
Silverbeet (Rainbow Chard)
Rocky Top Lettuce Mix
Arugula
Sugar Ann Snap Peas
Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach
Gaucho Melon (free gift with order!)

I'll probably be waiting to plant the rest of these seeds later in the year, perhaps when it starts getting cooler. I'll work on getting what I've got planted established until then.

Life Count!

Today I checked up on my plants and was happy to find that all of the plants that were alive a few days ago are still alive. I guess it's all about survival of the fittest.

Here's the life count:
21 Marigolds
1 Basil
In addition to the 2 watermelon and 23 Cosmos that I sowed on Saturday, today I sowed a few more seeds to see if they will have more success started outside:
12 New Zealand Spinach
6 Basil
24 Rosemary (they are really bad at germinating)
6 plugs of Oregano (scattered a few seeds in each because the seeds are so tiny it's hard to do otherwise)
6 Cosmos

I also rigged up a tiny drip irrigation system for my tomatoes. It's just some aquarium line, tee, and valves I got from petco. I poked a hole into a quart bucket and shoved the line in. Seemed to be working nicely while I was up there. Now I just have to make a bigger system for when I get my other plants started.

Death Toll Rises

So sad.... Sometimes these little guys just don't make it. This unlucky Cosmo died on the way from my dorm room to the roof. I accidentally smushed it with the cover to the flat, not realizing that the cover doesn't quite fit right.These few were evaporated by a blast of my alcoholic perfume... I was trying to kill gnats. Oops!
But... the news is worse than just these few. Much worse. Manhattan is a difficult place for seedlings to grow! Since I wasn't sure if it would be necessary, I didn't cover the flat of seedlings I posted about last time, so all of those were eaten by pidgeons. Those New Zealand Spinach must have been TASTY! At least I know that when I try again and succeed (because I WILL succeed), they will be yummy.

I also put out a flat a week later, on April 30th. When I saw that the first set had all been eaten, I smartened up a little, cut slits in the flat cover and taped it on. Today I went to see them and the results were a little more encouraging, although I did still have some casualties. Pretty much as expected, all of the poppies were dead but that was probably my fault for planting them too thickly to start. The oregano, 2 lavendar, and 1 rosemary did not survive either. All that was left was my marigolds, which were actually doing pretty well, and my watermelons, which were ok, but I decided to kill them anyway and start over because they were too leggy to begin with.

So now all I have is Marigolds, 1 Basil, and the tomatoes that a kindly NYC gardener gave me from his surplus (Thankfully they survived the week outdoors). Today, I planted 2 watermelon seeds and some Cosmos. I hope that they will do better being started outside in the sun, though what I have learned this week is that in addition to the pigeons, the roof is VERY dry. Even though it rained on Wednesday, my tomato plants were almost bone dry and I was glad they were still alive. Some of the plants in the flat also died from getting too dry. I am going to have to rig up an irrigation system pronto!

Death Count:
All 14 New Zealand Spinach
All ~30 Cosmos
All 5 Watermelon
All but 1 Basil
All Oregano
All Lavendar
All Poppies
All 1 Rosemary

But, I'm gonna keep on trying! Wish me luck!

Seedlings to the Roof!

Today, I traveled to the roof to survey the situation and to bring my first tray of seedlings out into the wilds of Manhattan. As I have described in the description of this blog, the roof is no pretty place. But on the bright side, there is a decent view, and there was even a bird chirping up there.
Here is the view looking towards the back of the building. The skylight is in the middle, and behind that you can see the hatch which I crawl out of to access the roof. That hatch is heavy, and most difficult to close. I will have to figure out a way to make it easier.
Here is the view looking towards the street/front of the building. I plan on making my garden over there, as the roofing material seems more solid there, and if I bring a hose up from my apartment window, it will be from this side.
THIS is what I'm trying to hide.
Here are my seedlings, out in the open for the very first time. These are the Cosmos, New Zealand Spinach, and some Marigolds. They look so smalllll!

Seedlings Grow!

I didn't take too many shots of the overall trays over the past couple weeks, but from these you can see that there was quite a flurry of growth! The poppies look especially active, though really that's because I seeded them too thickly together. This may be a problem, as I am not sure I can transplant them without killing them. Live and learn!
Here are some time progress shots of specific plants:

Cosmos were the first plants to germinate. They seem super hardy, taking a beating and surviving several transplants in odd containers. After doing a rough count, I think the germination rate was about 50%, since I planted all 60ish seeds and got about 30 plants. Not all have survived though, as I killed off a couple slow starters. You can see that a lot of the cosmos have grown kind of tall and spindly, likely due to inadequate lighting non my window sill. Still, they have developed their feathery true leaves, and the last pic is of the most successful seedling, surprisingly, the one transplanted to the egg carton.:

Next were the New Zealand Spinach, which defied expectation and germinated in a mere 4 days compared with the expected 2-3 weeks the seed packet described. Also, 14 of the 17 seeds I planted germinated, which was definitely more than expected. The last 3 might have germinated if I had left them in the dirt, but I was curious and dug them out (they hadn't opened up at all). Overall, the spinach have grown really well and were the first to start developing true leaves. Here you can see how they have grown incredibly in the first days after germination, since they only first pushed through the soil on April 8th:
Here, you may be able to make out the tiniest beginnings of true leaves in the plant in the foreground. You can also see me in this pic!

Here, you can see how much the spinach true leaves have grown over the past week:

The marigolds have also been really hardy and easy to grow, with approximately a 50% germination rate. They germinated a little slower than the cosmos, but not by much. In contrast, they have maintained what seems to me like a good height instead of growing leggy.
Again, the most successful seedlings were the ones transplanted to the egg carton.:
Next to germinate were the basil, coming up on the 8th. Basil plants are possibly the cutest of the seedlings. There was a fairly high germination rate, about 80%.
However, some did not survive as I poured some worm water (i'll discuss this in a later post) on them which burned some of the smaller seedlings.
The poppies came up and were very delicate. They remain delicate and spindly since I seeded them way too thickly. I guess I got too excited about having poppies.... Their seeds are SO small! And I wasn't sure if they would all germinate, but I guess I was wrong to doubt them.
Too many poppies!
Oregano's progress is slow and steady. The seedlings are tiny and germination rate seems ok, but not fantastic. That's ok though, since I don't need that much oregano!
Watermelons were a little slow to start, seeing as they were supposed to germinate in 5-8 days, but all 5 of the seeds I planted grew, and they have grown VERY tall.
Lavender was slow to germinate and not many of the seeds came up. I am hoping more will with time, but my hopes are not high. Right now only 2 seedlings have emerged.
Lastly, Rosemary is true to its nature, being notoriously difficult to start from seed. So far, I only have 1 tiny seedling, almost too small to see.....

More New Life, True Germination in 48 hours

Today, the seeds I saw sprouting yesterday have grown even more and there are other seeds germinating left and right. According to this picture, the small arcs I saw pushing up out of the soil yesterday were the hypocotyl. Today, those 2 cosmos have broken free from their shells completely and I can see their cotyledons.

Here is a shot of the 2 cosmo seedlings we saw yesterday. The green things are the cotyledon and will become the first basic leaves of the plant.Here, you can see more cosmos have sprouted, completing the row:Here are some more seedlings. This cosmo seems to have been planted the right way up, so it's cotyledon is pointing straight into the air, and the shell is still on top. The marigolds are very thin, just like their seeds.When I saw 2 sprouts coming from an area with just 1 spinach seed, I had to investigate. Gently uncovering the seed, I found that at least 3 sprouts had grown from the single seed. I don't know if they are all 1 plant, or if multiple plants can grow from a spinach seed. I just hope they're yummy:

Water-Keep Amazement! Planting Flowers

Today, my Water-Keep(www.water-keep.com) super-absorbent polyacrylamide water crystals arrived! These things are pretty cool, each crystal capable of absorbing over 400 times its weight in water. I don't really know how they work! What I do know, however, is that there is a slight chance they could break down into their monomer-acrylamide building blocks. Nobody knows for sure whether or not polyacrylamide breaks down into monomer-acrylamide when it's in the soil, hit by the sun, or cooked at high temperatures. Regardless, monomer-acrylamide is a neurotoxin and possible carcinogen. There is lots of literature that says no harmful breakdown occurs, which is why this stuff is sold commercially and applied to millions of acres of farmland across the world. However, there is a small amount of literature that suggests it COULD break down and be harmful, so I'm going to be safe and only use it in my flower pots.
This evening, I placed a half a teaspoon of this stuff in a jar and added some water. I expected that like magic, my jar would be full of jelly just like this:
Unfortunately, it didn't occur quite as quickly as I had hoped. Still, at the end of the hour (as the info sheet does say) the crystals had absorbed water to their full capacity and filled a whole pint! That's big for half a teaspoon! And each jelly crystal is quite remarkable, looking just like they do in this picture (but without the dazzle lighting).

I mixed them up in some potting soil and planted my flowers: Marigolds, Lavendar, Cosmos, and Poppies. I didn't have enough jiffy pots, so I planted some in quart buckets. Also, I wanted to plant all the poppies, which are notoriously bad at transfer so the majority of the jiffy pots were devoted to them. Jiffy pots are biodegradable pots made from peat moss. They are great for starting seeds, which can then be planted pot and all into the garden. The pot will decompose on its own over time.
Here are the results of my labor over the past couple days:

Obtaining Seedling Materials, Planting Eatables

What could be more fitting than starting my garden at the beginning of April? So, this afternoon I journeyed out to Plantworks (http://www.plantworksnyc.com) to see what I could gather for the project. A green little hole in the heart of the East Village, Plantworks offers as close to "everything" a gardener could want as you can get in Manhattan, though perhaps that's not saying much. Still, plants, dirt, containers, fertilizer you'll find along with somewhat helpful workers.

Walking into Plantworks, I came right to the seeds. Perfect! I picked out veggies and herbs first, then flowers. Not too many because I should start conservatively. I got some potting soil and jiffy pots. The worker there was also kind enough to shuffle into the back room and find me a tray for my starter pots, between puffs of his cigarette. So here's the list:

Herbs:
Sweet Basil - Germinates in 7-14 days; Matures in 40 days
Oregano - Germinates in 10-20 days; Matures in 90 days
Rosemary - Germinates in 14-28 days; Matures in 85 days

Veggies & Fruits:
Sugar Baby Watermelon - Germinates in 7-10 days; Matures in 75 days
New Zealand Spinach - Germinates in 14-21 days; Matures in 65 days

Flowers:
Marigolds - Germinates in 5-8 days
Poppies - Germinates in 7-10 days
Cosmos - Germinates in 8-15 days
Lavendar - Germinates in 10-20 days

Tonight, I planted all of the eatables, because I am waiting for my Water-Keep (www.water-keep.com) super-absorbent polyacrylamide water crystals to come in the mail for the flowers. I won't use them on veggies because I'm a litttttle scared of neurotoxin.

Here's a look at some of the seeds. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures until after I'd already seeded all of the cosmos, poppies and lavendar. Poppy seeds look just like they do on bagels. Lavendar seeds look like Rosemary seeds but smaller, though not as tiny as Oregano seeds. Cosmo seeds look like little curved spikes.