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Plant More Lettuce or Is This Still Growing?

Last month, I was nervous that I killed my lettuces when I harvested them. Luckily for me, the lettuces were fine and grew again.

So now, here I am one month later and facing a similar situation. I’ve gotten about 4-5 harvests from this container of lettuce and it’s starting to show.

I’m not sure if this lettuce better days are behind it or if it still has some fight left. I went to Trina from Silver Heights Farm and asked her what she thought since she is who I bought them from.

She said that they still be good for a few more weeks. Once they start shooting up in a tube like shape that is when they are finished growing.

That got me thinking some about what I’ve been seeing in my Brooklyn garden. Hmm…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ1LY6YACFE

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Indoor Composting Tip: Blend Your Food Scraps

I was at my Grandmother’s one day and talking to one of her friends about gardening. We got talking about compost, so I mentioned the indoor composting set up in my kitchen.

She said that she’d blend up the food scraps and put them in her composting bin when she kept one. That’s a great idea and not sure why I never thought of it. Especially since my composting mistake.

By putting the food scraps in a blender or food processor, it helps to break the it down. Then when it’s put in the compost bin, it’s closer to being fully broken down.

When you throw in the full pieces, it takes longer to break down. This is especially true when you have an indoor composting set up because it’s so small.

Don’t throw all of your food scraps in the blender. Just put things in there that are soft. Stay away from pits, seeds and anything that might get stuck in the blender.

Once the scraps are blended, throw it on the compost pile, top with shredded newspaper and old potting soil.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6el9MFNYnqI

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How to Harvest Lettuce

Once your lettuce grows to be about 4-6 inches, you can safely harvest it and it will grow back again.

To harvest, simply place your thumb and pointer fingers about 2 inches above the soil and snap off the leaf. Place in your harvesting basket and continue.

It’ll likely take a week or so for your crop to grow again for another harvest.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntTwPXQUFm8

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Pick the Flowers Off Your Basil Plant

In case you are new or couldn’t tell at this point, I am new to this gardening thing. Just taking things as they come.

The one thing that I do know (I think) is that when plants start to flower, they are coming near the end of their productive lives.

So I was a bit concerned, when my basil plants began flowering so early. What’s a man to do when his basil plant is coming to it’s end? I did what anyone else would do these days…I asked my peoples on Twitter.

Luckily for me, master gardener Teresa O’Connor of SeasonalWisdom dropped some knowledge on me and advised me to snip the flowers.

That’s what I did when I took to my Brooklyn vegetable garden. I picked off the flowers and am hoping to prolong it’s life.

Thanks Teresa!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lADERWZvac

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Making an Upside Down Herb Planter

Since I am gardening in such a small space, I need to make sure that I am maximizing every inch possible.

When I was doing my initial research, I came across the Instructable on upside down hanging planters.

Perfect for my fire escape and for this project. Using recycled materials, so it’s inexpensive and efficient. They are also easy to make.

    Tools and materials

  • 2L soda bottle
  • Duct tape
  • Razor
  • Hole puncher
  • Thick twine or thin rope

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ei9qBeY2CY

    Instructions on how to make an upside vegetable planter

  • Use razor to cut off bottom third or so of soda bottle.
  • Wrap duct tape around the bottom part of the soda bottle. Make sure that half of the duct tape is on the bottle and half is above it.
  • Cut slits about 2-3″ apart in the duct tape and fold over.
  • Punch two holes about halfway down the duct tape. Cut two more on the opposite side.
  • Cut string and thread through two of the holes form the outside in. Do the same on the other side.
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Starting an Upside Down Herb Garden…Again

I finally got around to starting my upside down herb garden after killing it last month.

Since the first go around was such a success, I decided to take it slowly this time and just planted some parsley.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8XDoYSn8os

Here’s a step by step as to how I planted the parsley upside down in my herb garden. I stress “gently” because I was anything but in the first go round.

  • Gently separate out one of the parsley plants.
  • Gently place into the container.
  • Feed through and gently pull through the bottom.
  • Pat down the soil.
  • Fill container with soil.
  • Tie to spot.
  • Fill with water until it begins to leak.

Gently separate out one of the parsley plants.Gently place into the containerFeed through and gently pull through the bottom.Fill container with soil.Tie up and fill with water until it begins to leak.

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How to Support Growing Cherry Tomatoes

After two months, the cherry tomato container on my fire escape is starting to produce fruit and was starting to get a bit wild.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHJdUn8t5cg

I needed to keep it in check and set up some kind of support for them. The following materials were used to do so – tree branches, string and tire wire.

Three tree branches were attached to the fire escape (so that people can still grab the railing in case of emergency) using the tire wire and one was staked in the middle to support the entire plant.

Then I tied string to the branches and wound up forming a spider web of sorts. The tomatoes and flowers were, ever so gently, placed over the string to support the weight.

It doesn’t look very pretty, but I am going for functionality and not beauty.

Tools for setting up the support for the cherry tomatoes - tree branches, tire wire and string.Three tree branches were attached to the fire escape railing and one in the middle of the container to support the entire plant.String was then attached to all of the branches and the tomatoes were drapsed over the string to support them.Close up of some tomatoes resting on the string.

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Transferring Celery into a New Self Watering Container

I needed to transplant my celery into a new self watering container because the telephone pole in my Grandmother’s neighbor’s backyard rotted and crashed into her backyard. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

Can’t say the same for my celery container. When the pole fell, it hit the pipe, which in turn cracked the reservoir. I used duct tape to patch up the hole because duct tape fixes everything. It’s a myth, don’t believe the hype. The container was still leaking.

Thankfully, I still had some green tubs left over to perform the tedious transplant.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F27GNkBcNY

It was actually much easier than I thought it would be. Here are the steps you need to take if you ever need to do this:

  • Remove the pipe.
  • Turn the container on it’s side and tap the container to loosen everything up.
  • Slowly slide out everything in the container onto the ground.
  • Place the new container on top of the old container contents.
  • With your hand on top of the soil for support, flip everything right side up.
  • Reinsert pipe and fill.

Now if you ever need to transplant your vegetables from one self watering container to another, you have the know how.

I had to transplant all of the contents of the broken container on the right to the new container on the left.The first step is to remove the pipe from the broken container.Next you turn the container on it's side and tap the container to loosen everything up.Then slowly slide out everything in the container onto the ground.After that place the new container on top of the old container contents.The pipe is then placed back into the container and filled.The contents are successfully transplanted into the new container.

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Gram Changes Her Tune About the Lettuce

I didn’t want to have another post about my Grandmother so soon, but after spending the day with her yesterday I had to post a little something.

I spent the day with her to help clean out her shed and take care of some chores around the backyard (because I am such a wonderful grandson.) As I was about to leave she asked me to pick her some lettuce for her dinner.

If you didn’t catch the first post about her, she called my lettuce “grass” when I asked her to taste it.

So I was shocked when she asked me and her thoughts on the lettuce quickly changed.

Luckily, I had my Flip on me and got it all on video.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCSPaLUms30

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Showing Some Love to my Peppers and Tomatoes

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been showering my lettuce plants with love because they’ve been producing the most. Nearly forgot that I had peppers and tomatoes planted on my fire escape as well.

Luckily for me, they didn’t hold it against me and are starting to produce. There is a small sweet Italian pepper that has formed and is doing it’s thing (whatever it’s called) with lots of flowering going on.

My cherry tomato plant is also blooming (I’ll use different phrases until I find out what the proper terminology is) and flowering as well. Being the experienced gardener that I am, I bought a cherry tomato plant for my fire escape thinking that small tomatoes equals small plant. Not so much.

The tomato plant has grown to be pretty large, but it’s still not in the way on the fire escape. Since that’s what it is, a fire escape and not my personal garden.

I have an old mirror frame to support it for now, but with the tomatoes starting to grow, I’ll need to find something a bit more sturdy. Will just go to the park and get some tree branches.

Happy that I’ve raised my vegetables not to hold grudges and they’re still doing their thing. Pretty soon, I’ll have something besides lettuce to chow down on.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp1G_kyCnBo

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Not Guilty. I Did Not Kill My Lettuces.

When I last left you, I was wondering whether or not I properly harvested my lettuce. It was a week since I had harvested them and they were looking…dead.

This is my first time checking in since returning and am happy to say that the lettuces are ok and fully growing. It just took a bit longer after harvesting for them to grow again.

There is still some browning towards the bottom, but the growth is there.

I appreciate the comments that were left about lettuce not liking the heat and how to deal with that.I’ll definitely take those into consideration if it ever reaches above say 75 degrees here.

In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy and appreciate the fact that I’ll be able to get another salad from my fire escape.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25mdeI3hGiY