No News Is Good News

Nothing exciting to report. Just watering and harvesting my way through  summer. No aphids, which I find somewhat unbelievable, but I'll take it. No more tomato hornworms. The Lil Keeper melon plants have a mild spider mite problem, but all of the fruits are close to maturity so I'm not worried about it. And besides the Beaverlodge tomato plant no signs of disease. This summer is turning out to be the most uneventful growing season I've ever had on the roof. Let's hope its stays that way!

Reading Round Up: Xameleon Edition

A San Francisco Startup Has Plans To Blow Up The Egg Industry

Some Food Companies Are Quietly Dumping GMO Ingredients

Two Chelsea Restaurants Grow Fruits and Veggies on a Rooftop Aeroponic Garden

The Soylent Subculture: 10 People Tell Us What It's Like Living on Powdered Food

Physicist-Turned-Cook Invents Ice Cream That Changes Color as It Melts

Unwanted Garden Visitor

Daily monitoring has caught a pest in the garden, but otherwise the rooftop crops are doing well. Right now I'm watering every 3rd day, which is much nicer than watering every single day. Compact plants growing in containers with large water reservoirs is definitely the way to go for a relatively low maintenance rooftop vegetable garden. Depending on the temperature I can sometimes get away with watering every 4th day, but I prefer to err on the side of caution and stick to watering every 3rd day.

My only problem happens during the week, when I sometimes forget if I watered on the previous Sunday or the previous Saturday, which means the plants sometimes get watered every 4th day instead of every 3rd. 4th day watering is only a problem when there's been a string of consecutive hot days (high 80's or 90's). I can tell I've made this mistake when I come back from work and find wilted eggplant leaves. The large leaves of the eggplant make it very easy to notice if they're wilting. I've done this only a couple of times though so there's been no lasting side effects to the garden.

Reading Round Up: Gummy Bear Bratwurst Edition

From Bushwick to the South Bronx, 15 Urban Farms in NYC

The New Face of Hunger

How to make a cake in 60 seconds

Yes, Cheetos, Funnel Cake, and Domino's Are Approved School Lunch Items

Minnesota Meat Shop Makes Gummy-Bear Bratwursts

Trickling In

The summer crops are beginning to trickle in. First it was the eggplant, now it's the cherry tomatoes. What will be next? Personally, I'm hoping for a watermelon.

Reading Round Up: Potato Salad Kickstarter Edition

"Super Bananas" Enter U.S. Market Trials

This Pocket-Sized Sensor Will Tell You When Fruit Is Ripe

The Potato Salad Kickstarter Guy Isn't in This for the Money

Move over potato chips, it's time for cricket Chirps

Diet during Pregnancy Linked to Diabetes in Grandchildren

Cracks in the Calm Facade

The long weekend allowed me to take a break from the garden and return to it with fresh eyes.

Enjoying the Calm

I sound like a broken record, but I don't care because the garden is still doing great! So far I see no signs of any pests or disease. Usually I'm battling aphids or spider mites this time of year, it's a nice change of pace. I'd like to say this is all due to my steadily improving gardening skills, but frankly I think most of the credit goes to the mild weather we've been having. Heat waves put a lot of stress on plants, which opens the door to pests and disease. No heat waves means less stress. I'm going to enjoy the calm while it lasts because I expect this to change as soon as the first heat wave hits.

Reading Round Up: Cannibalism Edition

Would Cannibalism Make You Fat?

Inside Job: A New Chip Tells Farmers When to Water

How We Can Tame Overlooked Wild Plants to Feed the World

Food safety: Take matters into your own hands

Penguin device checks your food for antibiotic residue