Reading Round Up: Corn Gluten Edition

Lots of interesting garden trivia here.

Maybe I should consider a career change. More and more people are hiring others to garden vegetables in their own backyard.

Hmmm, seeds or transplants? I prefer seeds, it takes more time and effort, but your options in terms of what you can grow are limitless, plus you know exactly what goes into each seedling. I'll use transplants if I don't have enough time to start from seed.

It's corn gluten meal time! I'm constantly amazed at the versatility of corn and its byproducts. I had no idea it could be used as an herbicide, you learn something new everyday.

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Vegetable Harvest Report 09 2009

My autumn seeds have sprouted, but it was too dark to take a photo by the time I returned from work. I'll do this over the weekend.

Bell Pepper: 3.8 ounces
Average Price: $0.29/ounce
Total: $1.10

Cherry Tomato: 9.3 ounces
Average Price: $0.42/ounce
Total: $3.91

Eggplant: 12.7 ounces
Average Price: $0.25/ounce
Total: $3.18

Tomato: 5.6 ounces
Average Price: $0.22/ounce
Total: $1.23

Weight Total: 1 pound, 15.4 ounces
Price Total: $9.42

Running Weight Total: 59 pounds, 5.3 ounces
Running Price Total: $260.85

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Vegetable Garden Spotter: the East River Update

I visited the East River rooftop gardeners last weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day so I walked from Bushwick all the way to Union Square in Manhattan. I brought my camera with me so I could take a photo when I crossed the Williamsburg Bridge. I see several changes since my last post.

They moved everything next to the stairway bulkhead. I think this is an excellent idea. Before the plants were completely exposed to the elements, now they at least have a little shelter from the sun and the wind. They've added one new container, it looks like one they sell at Ikea, I see soil but no growth yet.

What happened to the corn? I hope they got some ears. Their tomatoes seem to be doing fine, unlike everyone else in the Northeast, myself included. The tomato supports however, look horrible, they have taken a severe beating from the elements in the last 2 months. They don't look like they'll make it to next year. I'm still not sure what's growing right next to the eggplant, but I'm leaning toward cucumbers. I see a 3rd plant that was out of view before, peppers maybe?

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Reading Round Up: Small Bronze Children

Happy Labor Day everybody.

The NY Times Starter Garden reveals their harvest totals. I wish he listed all his expenditures. If he continues gardening I'm sure some of the costs could be spread over several years.

Toronto gets their own urban farmers for hire.

Container gardening in the Capitol. I love how the first lady re-purposed the sidewalk plot. I hope she finds someplace place else to garden next year.

Go crazy with lawn ornaments. In my youth I used sneer at lawn ornaments, now I have a garden gnome on my Christmas wish list.

An interesting look into the history of important garden tools. What's your favorite garden tool? My favorite is the hose. If I didn't have that I wouldn't garden. Carrying buckets and buckets of water up a tight, spiral staircase every single day would have killed my desire to garden.

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Vegetable Harvest Report 08 2009

Small harvest this week.

I originally didn't want to plant any fall crops because wasn't sure that I wanted to be on the roof during these colder months, but I decided a small crop couldn't hurt. I'm going to use only a few of the containers and pack the rest away until next year. I sowed some spinach and lettuce seeds in the container that used to hold the aphid encrusted broccoli. I also sowed some radish seeds in a smaller container that used to hold my spring snow peas.

We'll see what sprouts.

Bell Pepper: 12 ounces
Average Price: $0.29/ounce
Total: $3.48

Cherry Tomato: 7.5 ounces
Average Price: $0.42/ounce
Total: $3.15

Eggplant: 14.6 ounces
Average Price: $0.25/ounce
Total: $3.65

Hot Pepper: 5.2 ounces
Average Price: $0.34/ounce
Total: $1.77

Weight Total: 2 pounds, 7.3 ounces
Price Total: $12.05

Running Weight Total: 57 pounds, 5.9 ounces
Running Price Total: $251.43

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Vegetable Plant Update 6 2009

With the cooler and shortening days I'm letting the vegetable plants get more afternoon light. So, as you can see in the photo, I've rolled back the reed fence. One end of the fence is fastened to the building's old, unused chimney. The other end is attached to a wooden pole I've slid into a heavy, patio umbrella base. When the fence was longer I used more supports to keep the fence upright between the chimney and the umbrella base, but those have been removed since they are no longer needed. I still have the umbrella meant for this base, but with the windy conditions on this rooftop I don't dare try to it use here.

Everything is still plugging along, just producing at a slower rate. I pulled out the broccoli from the DIY self-watering container several days ago. I'm not sure what happened while I was gone, but when I returned all the aphids were gone. Their molted skin was all that they left behind. I certainly don't miss them, but I wonder where they went.

Below are my sad looking tomato plants. I really expected them to die while I was away, but I was pleasantly surprised to find them with plum sized fruits when I returned. Let's see if they make it to maturity.

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