Total Money Spent 2016

Seeds: $34.65

50' Zero-G Garden Hose: $32.64

Jobe's Organic Vegetable & Tomato Granular Fertilizer (3 Bags): $22.44

T5 Grow Lights: $19.70

Total Money Spent 2016: $109.43

Total Money Spent 2015: $259.68
Total Money Spent 2014: $285.85
Total Money Spent 2013: $212.96
Total Money Spent 2012: $190.88
Total Money Spent 2011: $300.54
Total Money Spent 2010: $152.41
Total Money Spent 2009: $201.90

On The Roof!

At long last all of the plants are finally on the roof. The tomato plants went up mid May and the rest were held back until the overnights temps moved up into the 60's.

2015 Rooftop & Indoor Seed Selections

Ok, I'm back! The winter was long and brutal, but spring is finally here and I'm ready to get back to rooftop growing.

Total Money Spent 2015

Seeds: $33.15

Seed Starting Mix: $5.71

AeroGarden Ultra LED Indoor Garden with Gourmet Herb Seed Kit: $174.19

AeroGarden Deluxe Grow Anything Kit (3 Season): $37.71

Rope: $8.92

Total Money Spent 2015: $259.68

Total Money Spent 2014: $285.85
Total Money Spent 2013: $212.96
Total Money Spent 2012: $190.88
Total Money Spent 2011: $300.54
Total Money Spent 2010: $152.41
Total Money Spent 2009: $201.90

Steady Progress

The garden is doing very well. I'm keeping my eye on the corn, but otherwise I'm very happy with the state of the garden.

Rooftop Debut

The dreary winter is over and the rooftop is ready to go!

2014 Rooftop Vegetable Seed Selections

Alright, back in business! Sorry for the delayed return, real life has been keeping me busy so I'm only just now fitting in gardening/blogging time. I've been doing mini-updates on the Bucolic Bushwick Facebook page, but mostly just quick snapshots, full length updates will always be exclusively for this site. So, without further ado, the 2014 seed selections:

Total Money Spent 2014

Seeds: $51.18

Fertilizer (1 bottle liquid, 3 bags granular): $42.80

Reed fence: $26.10

18 gallon totes, 16 units: $79.64

Spray paint for plastic, 8 cans: $45.25

Misc (rubber replacement garden hose washers, nitrile garden gloves and all weather duct tape): $19.97

Flower Seeds, Seed Starting Soil and Jiffy Pots: $20.91

Total Money Spent 2014: $285.85

Total Money Spent 2013: $212.96
Total Money Spent 2012: $190.88
Total Money Spent 2011: $300.54
Total Money Spent 2010: $152.41
Total Money Spent 2009: $201.90

Total Money Spent 2013

Seeds: $72.37

Self watering container mix and fertilizer from gardeners.com: $92.29

Yukon Gold Seed Potatoes & 16" Round Pot: $11.97

1 Pint Liquid Fertilizer & 2 Bags of Granular Fertilizer: $36.33

Total Money Spent 2013: $212.96

Total Money Spent 2012: $190.88
Total Money Spent 2011: $300.54
Total Money Spent 2010: $152.41
Total Money Spent 2009: $201.90

Preparing for the Unexpected

I'm not sure what this year's summer will bring in terms of high temperatures, but I'm preparing for the worst. I can't build any large, elaborate structures to help keep the plants cool, the wind will knock down anything too big, plus I live in a rental so whatever I make must be removable, so instead I focused on smaller fixes.

2012 Rooftop Vegetable Seed Selections

Charantais Melon - Hakucho Hybrid
Cherry Tomato - Black Cherry
Eggplant - Pingtung Long
Shelling Peas - Caselode
Sweet Pepper - Flexum Hybrid
Sweet Pepper - Giant Aconcagua
Tomato - Mountain Magic (F1)
Tomato - Summertime Green

Indoor Gardening Adventures Continue!

Last week I started a small indoor vegetable garden. My fall planted soybeans and carrots did not work on the roof so I'm trying again on the windowsill. So far I've successfully grown swiss chard, radishes and beets indoors, now I'm trying a few more vegetable varieties.

Total Money Spent 2012

Seeds, Soil & Smart Pots for Indoor Gardening: $33.25

Seeds & Seed Starting Pellets for Rooftop Gardening: $42.94

Rooftop Garden Prep: $90.21

3'x25' roll of window screen fabric for shade cloth: $14.68

3 large flower pots: $9.80

Total Money Spent 2012: $190.88

Total Money Spent 2011: $300.54
Total Money Spent 2010: $152.41
Total Money Spent 2009: $201.90

Garden Prep is Done + More Containers for the Roof

The garden is ready to go! Every container  has been mulched, fertilized, and caged/staked. All that's left to do is to transfer the plants to their permanent home.

Preparing the Garden

When the weather allows I've been prepping the garden for planting. I like to do this a little bit at a time, an hour after work or a couple hours on the weekend. Adding soil to containers that look a little low, adding stakes/cages where needed, removing/replacing mulch, etc. are tasks done over a long period of time and completed days before the plants go out. Doing this beforehand means an enjoyable, stress free planting day.

DIY Self Watering Planter: How to Convert a Standard Planter

Welcome to Bucolic Bushwick. Here you'll find advice on rooftop vegetable gardening, as well as several plans for DIY self watering planters. Please share this page with others and help spread the vegetable gardening movement.

If you're interested in gardening with self watering containers, but still want to make use of your existing standard planters, here's a great way to convert all your planters into self watering containers. This project would also be good for gardeners interested in growing in self watering containers, but want something more visually attractive than storage totes.

To convert a standard planter into a self watering container you'll need a watertight container with a lid, this will act as the water reservoir, a tall water bottle, this will act as the fill tube, and 2 strips of fabric, these strips will draw water from the reservoir to the soil above.

Southern Patio Jumbo Growing Tower for the Rooftop Garden

I was shopping at Manhattan's 23rd St HD when I came across this planter, the Jumbo Growing Tower from the HDR line of Southern Patio. This is the first self watering container I've ever seen sold in this store. I bought one for the roof, $15.98 plus tax.

My Seed Starting Setup

Eggplants, peppers and tomatoes were started last weekend. The cucumbers and melons will come in April. My target planting date is mid May. I know that seems a bit late, but I prefer to wait for nighttime temperatures to warm up before I put plants on the roof.

I started every Atris pepper seed in the packet (10), but I only intend to use 3 or 4 on the rooftop so there will be several to give away in a few weeks. I started extra Sun Gold cherry tomato seeds to give away too. I'll let you know when everything is ready.

As you can see from the photo I bought a grow light. Actually, I was shopping for desk light when I noticed I could buy a grow light for the same price so I figured why not. Plus, since I now have a grow light I can reclaim the desk light I was using in my indoor gardening experiment. I no longer need to buy a desk light!

2011 Seeds

Beet, Detroit Dark Red
Carrot, Parmex
Cherry Tomato, Sun Gold F1
Cucumber, Lemon
Eggplant, Fairy Tale F1
Melon, Tasty Bites F1
Radish, Cherry Belle
Radish, French Breakfast
Radish, Sparkler Top
Sweet Pepper, Atris F1
Sweet Pepper, King Crimson
Swiss Chard, Bright Lights
Tomato, Lemon Perfection
Tomato, Valencia

Total Money Spent 2011

Seeds: $50.89

2-Foot T5 Grow Light System: $45.66

Southern Patio Jumbo Growing Tower: $17.40

DIY Project - Converting a Standard Planter into a Self Watering Container: $9.80

Soil & Cages: $105.03

Granular Fertilizer & Fertilizer Spikes: $71.76

Total Money Spent 2011: $300.54

Total Money Spent 2010: $152.41
Total Money Spent 2009: $201.90