Saturday, May 23, 2009

The urban garden blooms!!!!


More than a month has passed since I revamped my little fire-escape garden.  Much has changed since then.  For one thing, the little lettuce seedlings have blossomed into a forest of emerald leafs covering the top of the entire container.  I should be able to harvest the first wave of lettuce leaves in a few weeks.  I plan to grow another crop of the same container this season.  One thing that I noticed about container gardening is the need for more water.  Containers need more watering than raised beds.  I've gotten into the habit of watering my containers every single day.

Both of my onion containers are getting ready to bolt.  After a year of growth 3 of my green onions are at the cusp of flowering.  Each onion plant has a single heart shaped bulb growing outwards.   I plan on letting all three reach maturity and saving their seeds.  The peas are doing quite well.  3 of the 6 peas that I planted have survived so far.  All three are beginning to climb up the railings of the fire-escape.    




My latest addition to the garden is a hanging basket.  It costs plenty of hard currency to acquire, but after lusting over it for 10 minutes straight at Home Depot, I couldn't help myself and just had to buy it.  The basket has a base of peat moss which absorbs water.  I filled the basket with 2/3 potting soil and the other 1/3 with home brewed compost.  Then I planted in a huge tomato seedling.  After several days of growth the tomato plant has gotten noticeably bigger.  My fire-escape garden is so small yet it brings me so much joy.  To a certain extent, one realizes that life is so precious and should be allowed to continue on. :)

  

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