Rooftop Garden: Getting Started

2 June 2011





Acquiring Materials

After calling to make sure they had organic seedlings, I went to a Long Island garden store. The selection was limited, but that’s fair enough: June is pretty late for getting started.

I purchased:

• Two tomato plants (one Early Girl and one Beefsteak)
• Two basil plants
• One mint plant
• A Thai hot pepper plant
• Onions
• Organic potting mix
• Organic fish fertilizer
• Package of bamboo canes

I then visited my friend Coryna’s garden and dug up the carrots, onions and broccoli that she had planted before deciding to head to Oregon for the summer. I had not planned on there being so much, so I carefully tore as few roots as I could, threw in some extra soil (more for the free soil than for the well-being of the transplants) and I transported the buckets of plants back to my Upper West Side garden. I returned late at night, so there was no chance of me planting before the morning. I was worried, though: the plants were in one big clumpy mess, and I could not water them without making it worse. I took a spray bottle and misted all of the leaves, told them a bedtime story, and left my little green friends on the roof until the morning.
Before going to bed, I realized that I had forgotten my mom’s Styrofoam at home, which I had planned on using on the bottom of my pots in place of rocks. In a potted garden, rocks are good to put under the first layer of soil because the roots do not go past them, so extra water sits in the rocks and does not rot the roots. Styrofoam, though, is cheaper and lighter for a transportable garden and serves the same purpose. In a frantic rush, I searched Craig’s List and Freecycle and send out a dozen messages, hoping to get someone’s used Styrofoam packing peanuts without purchasing my own. Not because I can’t spend five dollars, but because I cannot justify purchasing new something so entirely environmentally ravenous, especially something that people throw away after one use all the time.
In the morning, I woke up with no responses. I needed to get started early so I would have time to bike the 8.7 miles to my waitressing job by one, so I caved and looked for the closest Staples. It was close, but on my way I stopped at every store that looked like it may receive fragile shipments that would need packing peanuts. The fourth stop was the winner: I got a giant bag of packing peanuts from a Christian bookstore and hurried home to plant!

Planting my Garden

I took everything up to the roof and got started. First, I showered a layer of the peanuts into the bottom of each plastic bin and pot. They should cover the entire bottom. Then I poured down the soil that I had stolen from my friend’s garden in plastic bags (shhh!) and covered the rest with purchased potting mix. I planted everything and realized that I have way too little space; I had not planned on bringing so much of my friend’s garden, and they need a lot of space to grow. For now, I planted them all too close together. In reality, I am not too optimistic that they all last the transplant. The ones who do not make it I will pull out, and hopefully that will make elbow room for everyone else. I then watered and headed down the beautiful Hudson River bike path on a beautiful day to work!