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Finally Spring
Many of the edible plants at Battery Rooftop Garden, such as the fruit trees and berry bushes, are new to rooftop gardening. It was far from certain that they would survive the extreme conditions of...
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Cold Frame Success
Although the cold frame was installed late (see previous post) and the first sowings of lettuce and spinach in January failed (see previous post), by late February my harvest of winter greens began in...
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Après le déluge
Plants on rooftop gardens are far more exposed to the elements than their ground-level cousins. With Hurricane Irene heading directly for lower Manhattan, it was alarming to hear the experts explain...
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What zone is this?
One of the first things that gardeners learn is their plant hardiness zone, a helpful construct of the USDA based on the expected low winter temperature. Plant and seed catalogs helpfully tell us...
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Over-winter
This morning I picked some baby kale leaves from the enormous over-wintered kale shrub and some older leaves from the over-wintered sorrel, gave them two stirs in hot oil, and added two fresh eggs....
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Sandy
Your correspondent returned to lower Manhattan today, fearing that, like Icarus, he had dared to fly too high, to grow food where nature did not intend, and that he would find his presumption rewarded...
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The Snow Storm
The National Weather Service and New York Times have authoritatively harrumphed that the recent winter storm does not in fact have a name, “Nemo” having been chosen for ratings purposes by those for...
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Breaking Records
Just before the ground re-froze, we harvested some sweet winter carrots and were rather amazed when this giant emerged from the relatively shallow soils of its rooftop bed: I’ve always been drawn much...
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Manhattan Rooftop Terroir
Today I enjoyed the first rooftop asparagus of the season, which of course raised the knotty question of Manhattan rooftop terroir. Let’s start with the question of what terroir is: the unique,...
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Peaches 2016
The headlines were breathless but accurate: “Valentine’s Day Massacre of Peach Blooms,” screamed the headline in Growing Produce; “Cold snap decimates peach crop in Massachusetts and beyond,” said...
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