Roof Garden 10003

Ran into D on the street as I was walking to the Greenmarket. She apologized for not watering regularly and I told her it was no big deal. She is so excited about the garden. Says it's much better than she had hoped and she is eager to have more containers. Says they have a new chef at Counter and he is excited about the garden and has even been up to harvest on his own. (I feel a little resentful about this but must get over it.) She says that they had their first herb-oriented special in the restaurant which was wild mushrooms in phyllo dough with an herb broth and fresh basil. She was so excited she actually gave me a hug which is very effusive for her. Her enthusiasm makes me feel really good.

We're about to go away for a few days. Got a 100 foot hose rigged up from D & D's backyard. Plenty of water pressure up on the roof. This will be a big improvement over carrying five gallon buckets of water up two flights from my apartment over and over again.

Got some more plants at the Union Square Greenmarket today. A couple of brandywine tomatoes and couple more nasturtiums. Can't wait until there are peppers available. Planted the tomatoes in five gallon white plastic buckets. I hope they are big enough.

Past couple days have been rainy. Waited until tonight to put the herbs in the beds. I'm eager to get things in the soil so I plant a bit carelessly. Between 8 and 12 seedlings per bed.

Armloads of herb seedlings from the Greenmarket: sweet cinnamon lemon and bush basil, English lemon and two-tone thyme, apple spear and chocolate mint, white and pineapple sage, marjoram, tarragon, cilantro. A couple of the basil containers had many different seedlings so I separated them and planted individually. I have 8 sweet basil, 5 cinnamon, 2 globe.

Mixing as fast as I can whenever I have free time. Have three boxes filled now. My current mixture is 2 parts topsoil, 2 parts potting mix, 1 part compost, 1 part perlite. (Less perlite than before.)

Drove to Union Square early this morning. Filled 7 40 lb bags with compost. Wish I had brought more bags. I'm getting some good exercise carrying all these bags up to the roof.

Major score today. Found the Lower East Side Ecology Center table at the Greenmarket this morning. The woman working was a bit gruff but ultimately hooked me up with excellent stuff. Ordered a compost bin for $10. Turns out they had a composting workshop last weekend. Though I missed that, they gave away 30 yards of compost and a lot of it is still left on the sidewalk on the W side of Union Square. I'll come back tomorrow with the car to get some. I'm really excited to get the good stuff for free.

Actually getting started on building the beds. Drilled holes in the bottoms of the boxes, then a layer of gravel, then a sheet of plastic mesh. Hopefully the mesh/gravel combo will keep too much soil from draining out the bottom.

My first soil mix is as follows: 1 part topsoil, 1 part potting mix, 1 part perlite. Each box takes approximately 2 bags each of topsoil and potting mix. Also adding about a cup of fertilizer per box. I'm mixing everything with a trowel in a 15 gallon plastic bucket. It feels really good to have my hands in the soil.

Received my first order from Extremely Green today. 30 lbs of worm castings and a 10 lb bag of organic fertilizer. I'd rather have a local source for things like this but having this amazing online source is too convenient to pass up. Now I'm ready to start mixing.

Went to Plantworks, a small nursery in the neighborhood. Had D & D's car. Bought a cubic yard of perlite after some extensive discussions over price. Typically they sell it in much smaller bags for a hefty price but someone had mercy on me and they sold one of the giant bags they use for mixing their own potting mix for a reasonable price. This is a major coup as I think a light soil mix is critical for the continued life of the roof.