Strawberry Tower

I've been ridiculously productive today. Aside from cleaning up a ton in my apartment, I also planted up this experimental strawberry tower. The spacing isn't really ideal, as the space around the edge of each pot might be too small... but the idea is that the strawberries will grow out of that space, sort of like a strawberry pot. Here's to hoping. I transplanted some of my existing strawberries into the top container.

In other news, I also added some arugula, spinach and lettuce seeds to the hydroponic setup. Hope they sprout and that none of the plants drown. As of today, they were still alive. Haha! Also, I think all of my seeds from the seed experiments have failed to sprout. More to get rid of, more space for new seeds? =D

New Experiments in the Garden

Today was a busy gardening day! Or at least, labor intensive, as I lugged a large bag of mulch, some bone meal and a bundle of bamboo sticks home from Saifee Hardware on 7th street. I have a push cart I can use for these things, but I didn't expect to get such a large bag of mulch. Unfortunately, when I got to the store I found they didn't have any smaller bags, so it was time to show my commitment to this roof garden =) I'll be sore tomorrow.

Here, you can see the snow peas I planted out on Thursday morning. The seedlings I had in the start tray didn't seem to grow any in the last week, possibly because the tray was dry and I couldn't tell. I'll have to watch more closely next time. You can also see the mulch and the bamboo sticks I brought home today. On the mulch, I'm finally taking my own advice! The bamboo will provide support for the peas as they grow taller. They send out twining tendrils that search for objects to climb.

Because I'm trying to grow more large plants and permanent plants in my pots, I've felt that growing leafy greens in my 5 gallon pots isn't the best use of space/soil. I've seen people grow leafy greens successfully in hydroponic setups. Specifically, the NY Sunworks Science Barge showed me that you can grow bok choi floating on tank full of tilapia fish. So, I decided to run a hydroponics experiment on my leafy greens. Those lettuce and spinach plants from last week, plus a canary yellow swiss chard that overwintered in a pot, were all transplanted into small peat pots of perlite in this (really ghetto) hydroponics setup. I've filled this pan with a mixture of water from my aquarium and from a bucket of compost that filled with water over the winter. The green line in the upper right is an air tube connected to a small aquarium air pump in my apartment. I ran the air tube up through a sky light and onto the roof. The peat pots of perlite sit in a piece of styrofoam that floats on top of the water. Perlite is generally recommended as a good hydroponics medium because it provides good moisture retention and air flow. Here's to hoping this experiment works =)
Thursday morning, I also planted this Anne Raspberry plant, which should yield sweet yellow raspberries. It's hardy to zone 3, which is better than the other two raspberry plants I had planted, which I believe are both now dead. We'll see if the Tulameen raspberry manages to come back, but it's looking pretty dead right now.
The blue potatoes I ordered arrived last week and have been sitting on my windowsill to sprout. In case you didn't know what a potato sprout looks like, here it is. I was pleasantly surprised to find that blue potatoes have dark blue sprouts, too! Not so with the white potatoes I have sprouting in the background, which are growing a normal green.
Today, I potted up the Stupice tomatoes, as well. They were a little spindly, but I buried them "up to their necks", as more roots will grow from the stem that has been buried. This will make for a stronger plant when these are ready to go outside. =) I think they're looking lovely.
Busy spring time in this Manhattan roof garden!

Earliest seedlings ever!

I've got my earliest seedlings ever and I'm proud =) They're looking luscious and have been spending time on my fire escape under the clear plastic lid of this starter tray. Here are some snow peas, which are looking fairly happy.

Some lettuce seedlings, the most organized looking lettuce I've ever had.
And some spinach seedlings. I love how they look like rabbit ears =)
I didn't have a 100% success rate starting my seeds, maybe because the seedlings were attacked by fungus or something. These few plants may not be enough to sustain me, but they will do for now. Everybody always says you should plant in succession anyway =)

Garden Season 2011!!

I know. It's February. There is snow on the trees. But, I don't care. It's time to grow! This is probably the earliest start I've ever had and I think this is for the best. My plan this year is to stick with some tried and true staples, while branching out into fields uncharted!

I started these stupice tomato seedlings around February 15th and sowed them today. Although I've never grown these from seedlings, I did receive one plant from a very kind gardener back in 2007 and it was the most prolific and easy to grow cherryish tomato I've had. This will be my only tomato variety this year:

Another basic staple is some sweet basil, sown a couple weeks ago, and struggling a little, perhaps from fungus in the soil, but I'm hopeful these will be ok. Besides, I'm in no rush for basil. I just harvested a plant that has been growing for almost a year and made a nice batch of pesto I'll save for later:

Now, the new items I am trying this year!!

- King of the North red bell peppers (seeds started on 2/15)

- Blue potatoes (ordered from Seed Savers Exchange and arriving when it's time to plant)

- Asparagus (ordered from Gurney's and will take 2 years before first harvest)

- Anne Raspberry, a yellow variety (ordered from Gurney's) to replace the Summit Raspberry that died in its first season.

- Scallions (seeds started 2/15, but not sure if they'll sprout. Seeds are old and the chives and gao choi below already sprouted.)

Also, things I haven't tried to grow from seed before (seeds started 2/15):

- Chives (I just love those purple flowers and aphids ate mine to the ground last year)

- Chinese Chives (Gao Choi) (These are a must with shrimp and eggs. Sounds weird but tastes amazing)

In fall, I also want to try growing Crocus Sativus, whose stamens are the source of saffron, the world's most expensive spice. I want my own supply of saffron!!

I'm sure there will be other new things to try this year, as well. I'll be replanting my strawberries, as those that are planted have been growing a bit wild. I've read that you have to replant strawberries every few years, as the runners and plants start to return to the wild strawberry state. These are tiny and strange, and I've noticed this is happening to mine. I'm going with 100% Honeoye june-bearing strawberries. I believe these are the kind that my family enjoys best. Hope I'm right!!

I'll be starting lettuce, spinach and peas shortly. These ought to be the first to go outside. Look for more posts as the season goes on!

Finally Sowing

Leaving my plants for 3 months means relying on nature to take care of them as best she can, and when indoors, relying on family. Guess who did a better job? Before I left, my thyme and rosemary were thriving indoors and I had a bumper crop of window basil. I came home to find them all crispy. Somehow, it seems to happen every year, whether my fault or my parents'. So, Friday, I headed to Union Square Green Market and picked up some herbs from the same seller I trust every year. 3 pots for $5, but I guess earlier in the season some types sell for a premium so this thyme was 2 pots for $5. I have lemon thyme to the left and silver thyme to the right. I split a small piece off of both plants in order to keep some inside. I kept the larger portions buried in small containers to make it easier to remove them when it's warm enough to plant out on the roof.
Here from left to right, I have italian oregano, rosemary, and spearmint (3 for $5). I did the same splitting thing to the mint. The oregano and rosemary will have to be propagated by cutting later. Usually, I'm growing basil as well, but I'm all out of seeds. I tried to save seed last year, but it appears that all of those seeds are duds. Maybe indoor basil doesn't pollinate itself very well, even though it loves to send up flowers.
And, finally, I sowed my tomatoes to the left, lettuce bottom right, and spinach top right. When I'm not growing my own salads, I get 1lb containers of baby spinach from whole foods and I realized they might be perfect for starting small seedlings. They seal completely, so I can leave them on the fire escape when they sprout, without fearing that the street exhaust will get all over them, though I'll have to remember to open them every day for some air exchange. I got the container for tomatoes from a package of kiwis my family bought from Costco. Perfectly, it has 6 separate pits for the different plants and plenty of headroom for early growth. I've grown 3 varieties, Black Krim (my favorite from last time), Bloody Butcher (because again I have no Stupice seeds) and Pearly Pink (an intriguing new variety from my tomato seed archive).
When I accumulate more containers, I'll start some arugula. Normally around this time of year, I also start my sugar ann snap peas, but I'm all out of seeds and if I were to wait any longer, they'd be too late. Instead, I do have several new varieties of beets I'll grow this year. More to come on those in a future post =)

Garden Guests and Dinner Party

Today 2 guests joined me for my first successful garden fare dinner party! Here, you can see part of the harvest, including some small strawberries in the background, and this big salad of spinach, lettuce, swiss chard, beet greens, and shelled peas. We also had a nice bunch of sugar ann snap peas that I sauteed for a bit. The first raspberries and (somewhat unripe!) blackberries didn't make it to dinner ;-)

It was really fun to have visitors up in the garden, helping me harvest our food. In the first 3 growing seasons I've had so far, there has rarely been a time when the garden was growing enough food for 3 people. But, I am finding that the amount and variety of produce I am able to grow increases every year. This year, I'm not even growing tomatoes or watermelons! The fact that fruit production is increasing also helps, as rooftop fruit is such a special treat =)

We're back to today, June 6th! Phew!

Good thing we didn't get stuck in the past. We might have run into our May selves and caused a rift in the space time continuum.
Today, almost 2 weeks later, things are changing in the garden! I'm almost done rigging up my extended watering system, so I've brought all my buckets down from the pink air duct. I bought more carpet to put under the buckets and protect the roof from dents. And I also bought thin plastic saucers to keep valuable water and nutrients from washing away in the rain. The garden is looking bigger now!

My Bloody Butcher tomato plant has its first fruitlings. They've already grown quite a bit, nearly bigger than the Stupice from last year, but I think they'll be slower ripening because of it.
All of my tomato plants have grown quite large, and quickly.
My raspberries and blackberries have all leafed out and are growing like weeds! I can't wait for fruit! By then, I better have bird netting...

I moved my flowers, lettuce, arugula, and spinach to a spot in the middle of the roof, where they'll get plenty of sun and rain. They couldn't stay on the pink thing anymore because all of my plants near the pink thing are going to start growing tall, and I wouldn't be able to reach or see the flowers and leafy veggies. But, the garden is beginning to feel like a contained little green space. Kind of nice =) I put up willow expanding fences on my neighbor's windows too, so they can't come out and leave trash everywhere.

More Peas Please!

My how things grow when you're away taking final exams. I have a pea! I'll have to wait until it gets fatter before I eat it though.

Looks like I'll have more to come too. The pea flowers are a pretty white to contrast with my purple chive flowers in the background. I thought about cutting the chive flowers to use in a salad or to color/flavor some vinegar, but every time I go on the roof they're so pretty amongst all the greenery that I leave them.

Looks like I'll have strawberries soon, as well. They're simply covering my strawberry plants and getting bigger.

One strawberry is even turning red! It's kinda small, but that's ok. It is also demented, like many of the strawberries, it seems. I'm learning =)

My tomato plants are big and bushy! But, you can tell that the Black Krim on the left is kinda messed up because it got squashed a couple weeks ago. Still, it's got tiny flower buds. The Bloody Butcher in the middle has a couple of open yellow flowers soon to be tomatoes. The the Hillbilly on the right has one big flower bud and a few tiny ones. It's supposed to give really large tomatoes. I hope they grow ok in the buckets. I had hoped that my tomatoes would ripen earlier this year than last, since I planted them out earlier. I'm not sure I'll be quite so lucky, because when I planted them they were smaller than when I planted the tomatoes last year. The result is that my tomato plants look really healthy and bigger this year, but didn't come to flower quite as soon. Here's a look back at a year ago tomorrow.

The Tulameen Raspberry in the far corner has just started to leaf out from it's roots. The Lock Ness Blackberry that was all white shoots and crimson tips last time has also put out lots of leaves and the Arapaho Blackberry is looking good, though not growing terribly fast. Of all 4 plants, it was the only potted plant and it's root system was pretty small. The Summit Raspberry has yet to show any growth, but I'm sure it'll be coming strong soon.
My lettuce, arugula, and spinach pots are growing along. Since when does Arugula turn brown? I'm surprised.

Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries Oh My!

A lot has happened in my garden lately, most notably the addition of 2 blueberry, 2 raspberry, and 2 blackberry plants!! Also, I've almost given up on growing anything in flats this year. It's only April, and things are dying from drought. Unless my New Zealand Spinach grows, I'm putting my flats away until next year. Anyway, here's a rundown, with pics.
Strange looking shoots from my Loch Ness Blackberry.
Pretty green leaves on my Arapaho Blackberry. The raspberries were just big sticks with roots, so they didn't really warrant their own picture. You can see each in the background, Tulameen and Summit.

My blueberry plants, Briteblue, Northsky, and Chippewa. Unfortunately, the birds have gotten to the Briteblue even before it made fruit! All it's leaves are eaten =( I hope it comes back...

The strawberries have tiny green berries now! I'm excited for when they turn red =)

The tomatoes have all been planted properly, and won't be moved for the remainder of the season. I hope they grow big and strong!

Girlish pinkish-purple flowers about to bloom on my chives! The flowers can be eaten in salads or used to color and flavor vinegar. They didn't have flowers last year.

Here's all the chives, count the buds!

Some short pots of lettuce (upper left), arugula (lower left), and spinach (lower right) I'm growing. Arugula seems much easier to grow than lettuce... I harvested the arugula and lettuce growing in my indoor window boxes. The arugula was SPICY!

Finally, an update on the flower boxes. I planted some lavendar, maiden pinks, and white creeping phlox among the lilies. Nothing yet between the hyacinths, but i'm hoping to add a sedum or something.

Start of the Season

Went on the roof today to sow my pea, beet, chard, and new zealand spinach seeds. Looks like the thyme and gao choi are totally dead. Guess I'll have to buy my 3rd pot of thyme this spring... Gao choi has to come from home though. But here's a few pictures of what IS growing from last year.

My first bloom of the year: Hyacinths

Lilies poking out of the dirt.

Chives off to a good start.

Strawberries too!

Briteblue Blueberry I planted a couple weeks ago. This came mail order form Willis Orchards.

Summer '07 Wrapup, Spring '08 Prep

A busy lazy gardener in August, I let my garden go to ruins. Never got to taste any zucchini or squash. If I had been vigilant, I could probably have gotten 1-2 more months of tomatoes and vegetables. Oh well! At least I got to taste these... YUM!
Now it's time to prepare for this year. I started my Sugar Ann Snap Peas yesterday.



Today, I received an incredible array of tomato seeds from a generous tomato gardener on theGardenWeb Forum. I really only have space for 3 tomato varieties this year, so I'm trying Bloody Butcher (indeterminate), Black Krim (indeterminate), and Hillbilly (indeterminate, potato leaf).As of right now, I have 20 5-gallon buckets, and hope to have them all filled with good soil by planting time. Here's my plan for the year:

1-4 - Strawberries (Honeoye and Ozark's Beauty now mixed up and can't tell the difference) around and 1 Rainbow Chard plant growing in the middle. Planted 2007.
5 - Blueberry - Briteblue. Planted 03/05/2008.
6 - Blueberry (type TBD)
7 - Blueberry (type TBD)
8 - Raspberry - Tulameen
9 - Raspberry - Summit
10 - Blackberry - Arapaho
11 - Blackberry - Loch Ness
12 - Fig - Dessert King. Planted 03/05/2008.
13 - Tomato w/ Basil - Bloody Butcher. Seed started 03/23/2008.
14 - Tomato w/ Basil - Black Krim. Seed started 03/23/2008.
15 - Tomato w/ Basil - Hillbilly. Seed started 03/23/2008.
16-20 from March-May? - Sugar Ann Snap Peas. Seed started 03/22/2008.
May? - August:
16-18 - Sugar Baby Watermelon
19 - Yellow Squash - Regular hybridized variety.
20 - Zucchini - Regular hybridized variety.

I've determined that growing water greedy crops like strawberries or any kind of fruit in the window boxes or flat trays just won't work on my roof, where my watering system is still in dire need of perfection. So, I'll just try baby leafy greens in those this year. The same types as last year and a couple ones I didn't get to try:

New Zealand Spinach - Seed started 03/23/2008.
Bull's Blood Beets - Seed started 03/23/2008.
Rainbow Chard - Seed started 03/23/2008.
Rocky Top Lettuce Mix
Arugula
Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach

First Harvest! Growing Watermelon & More

Here is my first harvest from my rooftop garden! 5 wonderful Stupice tomatoes. They are the perfect size small tomato, and I think I will just grow these and forgoe the smaller Peacevine cherry tomatoes next year. This sandwich is for CJ, but the bite of tomato I had was reaaaaally good.And, remember that baby watermelon I had last week? Well, it just about exploded!
The plants are just growing like crazy so I ended up moving them from their present location and finally hooked them up to the irrigation system. Now they can get water witthout me going up there every day.

In other news, my strawberries finally look like they're going strong. This one even has a runner, which will root and turn into a new plant for next year.And, I've got salad!
Rocky Top Lettuce mix:

Bulls Blood Beets:Rainbow Swiss Chard:New Zealand Spinach: