Upside down?

Last week I asked Sarah a question - does it matter which way you plant the seeds? I know bulbs have to go in the ground the right way to grow right, but do other kinds of seeds? I vaguely remember something from 9th grade bio about how roots will always grow down.

However, I don't think this is the case. I planted some morning glories on Thursday before I went away for the weekend. When I came back last night, most of them had grown a few inches tall, but about 3 of the 12 grew with the roots coming up and the sprout going down. It was really creepy looking and I wish I had taken a picture. I actually took them out and turned them the right way around to see if that would save their confused, topsy turvy lives. I guess I'll see when I get home tonight!

In other news, I also transplanted my zinnia seedlings on Thursday. They did not look so good last night. It's really windy out on the terrace, so I think that may have hurt them. Also, the extreme heat and lack of water while I was gone may have been an issue. I hope they can be revived! If not, I have many more seeds to sow.

Some Pictures

Here are some pictures I took over the weekend.


The yellow tulips I planted last week have opened up. How much longer will they look this good? Another week or so, maybe?



Until then, I'll enjoy them.

You can't tell yet, but these are some marigold sprouts.

And one more photo. I think this will be a planter full of pansies. Right now, it is a lonely sprout.

Second Summer On My Terrace

Thank you inviting me to post on here. This should be interesting to see how everyone's plants turn out.

This is my second summer gardening on my terrace. Last year was mostly successful considering that I had no clue what I was doing and I got a little carried away with planting all sorts of different fruits and vegetables. I had:

• carrots


• cucumbers


• tomatoes


• hot peppers


• bell peppers


• strawberries


• basil


• mint


• rosemary


• blueberries


• a grape "vine" (with no grapes)


• watermelon


• and various flowers

These were all crammed into not enough or big enough containers. I had 3 tomato bushes to a planter, carrots growing next to cucumbers, jammed in with watermelons. Mid-summer I re-planted a lot of the veges and spread everything out. Even so, it was clear that carrots and watermelons aren't really meant to be grown in planters. The carrots were growing wrapped around each other and were all soft and small. They were edible, but no one wanted them. The watermelons wouldn't grow bigger than a baseball before they split open. There was approximately 1 melon-baller worth of melon inside. I was a little honored when a squirrel ate one of them (They're edible! Second though: How is there a squirrel on my terrace?). My bell peppers had some sort of genetic mutation and only grew on one half, the other half was this brown rottenness. No one ate them.

But, before you think things didn't go well, I had great tomatoes (very tasty beefsteaks), watery and tasty cucumbers (albeit slightly deformed as well), tons of hot peppers (too many), lots of basil, enough mint to make mojitos all summer, and perfect blueberries (picture below). The grape bush didn't produce anything (I think it takes some time for fruit) and it may have died over the winter, I can't tell yet. But, its days are numbered if it doesn't start growing leaves soon. There is no room in my garden for dead weight.

So, this year I'm backed with a scaled down vegetable garden after some lessons learned. I'm going for tomatoes (beefsteak heirlooms), cucumbers, strawberries, basil, and mint. The wild card this year is "ornamental gourds," which my girlfriend made fun of me for planting. Also back from last year is the blueberries bush (proven winner). I have various flowers seeded and some sprouts, but I can't tell yet if they are weeds (or "volunteers" as my Grandma calls them) or flowers. Time will tell. I have a day lily in a pot that my Mom gave me and some tulips on my back balcony.

Weekend of gardening

Thanks for inviting me to post Sarah!

The weekend was full of gardening activity. I took a trip to Home Depot and bought some window boxes, pots and lots of soil. I also bought some tomato plants and a strawberry plant. Those seem difficult to start from scratch. They came in degradable containers, so you just rip off the bottom and then plant the whole thing. This is a very "urban garden" picture of the tomato plant after I transferred it.

Last Monday I planted seedlings in the same pellets Sarah used. I got sprouts by Wednesday - first peas, then beans and zinnias. Now I also have basil and chives coming up. Today I actually see some jalepeno sprouts too. Saturday I transferred the beans and peas to some of the new planters I bought. Their roots were coming out of the pellet and I think they needed more space.

Pics!

Lo! Above are my sprouted Jiffy pellets, 7 days after planting. Started on the upper right corner and going clockwise (the 2 trays are planted identically)...

Garlic chive

Creeping thyme

Leafy dill

Mini basil

French pumpkin

Wild rocket

Help from the gray lady

Not even two weeks ago, the NYTimes published a helpful article on planning your terrace or roof garden:


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/garden/09qna.html?ref=garden

Somewhat helpful in terms of plant selection, but more a more specific how-to guide would be amazing

Quiet week

This week has been devoted to germination: doing very little other than making sure that my Jiffy pellets were kept nice and moist and seeing absolutely nothing until....

I got a call late yesterday afternoon that my creeping thyme, wild arugula and mini basil had all sprouted! Yippee! I will be back in the city in a few hours to witness the sproutedness with my own peepers. I hope to post a picture as well

The sad news is that I have been most interested in getting some fresh dill up in smoggy basil land so let's hope this week is dill-riffic

Jiffy pellets instructed me to keep only the two biggest sprouts in each pellet. I'm not sure that I have the heart to weed out the smaller sprouts - after all, I am no giant myself and my husband is quite the opposite - but maybe Jiffy does know best.

I will keep you posted, dear readers.

On that very note: this blog may feature insightful posts from my friend and co-worker V who is similarly trying to garden in the urban jungle. As of late last week, her peas had sprouted but her herbs were as slow as mine to head towards the sun. She lives in a neighborhood far from mine and has her garden on her roof (!) so this will be an interesting growing season comparing both sun angles and garden locations

PS: When I googled 'germinating seeds' to try and find an apt image for this post, all the top images were instructions on how to germinate illicit seeds. Fascinating, but not the route I'm taking

PPS: I am also posting a picture of dill in an attempt to get my dill to sprout already

Welcome to smoggy basil!

Hello!

I am attempting to grow a basic herb garden on my NYC terrace. My thumb is in no way green and I'm relying entirely on the internet to figure out how to germinate my seeds.

Here's what I'm starting with:

1) Jiffy-7 pellets and mini greenhouse

2) Leafy dill, French pumpkin, wild arugula, garlic chive, creeping thyme and, of course, mini basil. I really just wanted the second word in each pair and have no idea if the first word is appropriate for what I want

3) A large terrace which faces south and gets plenty of sun

4) An awesome pair of gardening gloves

Following the directions on the Jiffy-7 pellets, I soaked them in water until they were an inch and a half high, then put 3 seeds in each. However, I must admit that the arugula and chive seeds were so tiny that I snuck in about a dozen extra. I put the Jiffy domes on to create the mini-greenhouses and stuck the seeds in front of a bathroom window to germinate

Am I growing the right things? Is this how one uses the Jiffy pellets? Should the 'greenhouses' be stuck in the closet to germinate in peace?

HELP!