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:

Seedlings Are Up

All tomato and peppers seeds were sown at the beginning of April, melon seeds will be started mid April and corn seeds will be direct sown once the soil temp reaches 55-60 degrees.

The seeds of the ultra early tomato variety I bought this year, Beaver Lodge, were sown in cups and placed outside in the mini greenhouse as soon as they sprouted. I bring them in overnight if the temp dips to 40 or below, otherwise they stay outside. The plan is to get them acclimated to the roof as soon as possible so that they can be planted a couple weeks ahead of everything else.

Almost Two Weeks Later...

It's been 12 days since 2012 rooftop vegetable seeds were started. Most of the seeds have sprouted and grown seed leaves (cotyledons).

As soon as the more than half the seeds sprouted I removed the dome to improve air circulation. Last year I had a problem with damping off due to poor air circulation so I'm very eager to avoid this problem this year.

Starting 2012 Rooftop Vegetable Seeds

The rooftop vegetable seeds were started last Saturday. The indoor carrots were moved to the side so that the only thing under the grow light is the seed starting dome.

Have you started your seeds yet?

Have you started your seeds yet? When is your target planting date?

It's still too early for me, I won't start mine until the 4th week of March. That may not seem like enough time for the plants to mature, but having a heat mat and grow light really accelerates plant growth. They cut off at least a week's worth of time, if not more, from the seed sowing schedule. Last year was my first year with a grow light and I underestimated its effect on the seedlings. They got so large before the weather warmed up that I had to stop fertilizing them in order to slow their growth.

My target planting date is mid May. Given how mild the winter has been though, things might warm up sooner this year. I'll wait and see what the next few months bring and reassess my schedule by May 1st. If the overnight soil temperature in the containers is warm enough I'll move up my schedule, if not I can wait.

I've come to realize there's no point in hustling plants outside, no matter how eager you are to start gardening. If it's too cold for the plants they'll just sit there and sulk until it warms up. You can even permanently stunt the growth of certain vegetable varieties if you put them out too early. It's better to be safe than sorry, waiting one or two weeks to put plants out doesn't hurt.

Hmmm, maybe I should add that to my rooftop vegetable gardening tips. What do you think?

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Starting Cucumber and Melon Seeds

Just started some Tasty Bites F1 cantaloupe seeds and Lemon cucumber seeds. Both melon and cucumber seeds will grow very quickly once they sprout so it's okay to start them close to the target planting date (mid May for me). It's also best to get them outside soon after sprouting. I learned cantaloupe vine can be easily damaged during transport. Last year I started the seeds too early and had to transplant a long, flimsy vine onto the windy roof. I ended up splitting open the vine during that transplant.The plant survived, but it had to take time to recover.

Melon and cucumber seeds can also be directly sown outside, but I prefer to start them indoors in more favorable conditions. I don't want to take the chance some extreme weather event will knock out all my chances for homegrown goodness. Store bought cantaloupe really cannot compare.

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Seedling Update: Grow Light Makes a Huge Difference

I'm really happy I bought the grow light. It's made an incredible difference in seedling quality. Last year's seedlings were thin and leggy, this year's seedlings are much stouter and bushier. The difference is very clear in the pictures below.

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!