Urban Organic Gardener

Hey! I'm about to start my own fire escape garden in Akron, OH. I have 22 colorful fruits, vegetables and herbs picked out. Your blog is a great inspiration. Thanks!

Nice. 22? You got a fire escape or a farm!??! Hahaha. Definitely keep me updated and share some pics when you get started.

very cool. I am crazy about planting but live in apartment as well.
very nice to see your garden. thanks.

Thanks Ines. What do you have planted in your apt?

Dear Mike,

I have started my seedlings on Feb 10 2010. My first container..with a 36 seedling starter from Home Depot. In it I have Basil, oregano,curly parsley, rosemary and lavender. Basil is already sprouting like crazy. I took the genovese basil. Oregano is right behind basil and up like crazy. the other ones i see only few.. small guys poking their heads so far.

Then yesterday i planted a second 36 places sprouting container. I added to this one Italian plain leafed parsley, and flowers. In flowers i have four O'clock, Marigold - court jester, and Marigold burpees best mix.

I intend to nurse these plants indoors .. for as long as i have to before its possible to plant outside. I am working on building containers for them.. first smaller ones.. then larger. Some I will keep.. and some give away. It is incredible joy for me to see things grow. I have back escape stairs just like you.. but also some more space on the level below me that I will use. I am also saving tomato cans ..to use for plants.. and have bought Rust -Oleum painters touch spray.. in gloss to protect the cans from rusting outside. I asked my restaurant friends to keep the big cans they use for me but i also use ones that I have at home.. for medium size plants.. or for that stage.

Will keep you posted.

I have also bought Rooting Hormone, because i want to try to propagate plants from cuttings. They had Schultz Take Root in Home Depot, so I got that one.

Happy planting :)

Nice. Good stuff Ines. Please keep me updated.

I have learned some other stuff that might be beneficial for people, from my next door neighbour.. ( who is unfortunately moving out soon). He worked in family business which was in exactly planting.. or nursery. Just had a conversation tonight.. and he knew all and more then i have found on the net.
If space is of the concern, and you cant decide or dont know if your plants need large deep contaniers or not.. among the ones that i have.. he said:
1. small containers because they dont have deep rooths are: oregano, parsley, marigold flowers, mint.

2. Deep containers because they have deep roots are: rosemary, basil, lavender,four o'clock flowers.

Few other interesting things:
Italians add a flower of Marigold to their other pots of hers or veggies.. etc because it kills all insects.. basicaly naturaly protects against .. insects and other.

Do not mix lavender with other plants you are going to eat.
Oregano and mint are very invasive, basicaly they spread all over and can take over.. so you can plant them alone in their containers.. to prevent this.

About making your own soil and adding coffe grainds to it.. ( used ones ).
My green thumb neighbour has told me that it is too late now for me to add coffe grinds for this season because they did not have enough time to decompose. What he suggests is that is better to add it end of the season.. like fall for the next planting season.

About benefits of ashes for flowers.
Flowers love ashes and it helps their growth. Ashes from the wood (fire place) or even from cigaretes.
We sprinkled a bit over my seedlings.. just a little bit because they are small, but he suggests that i add the ashes to the soil when i move the seedlings to bigger pots. He says its excelent for tomato plants.

I do remember farmers and people that grow their stuff just throwing ashes in the air spreading the ashes over them.

I hope you find some helpfull tips. :)

Absolutely. Thanks for sharing. I have added some coffee grinds to my compost bins. Not too much though. We'll see what happens. Thanks again for all the tips. I'll definitely keep these in mind.

Hello Mike,

There is more. ahha.

I bought arugula salad seeds, because i really love it, and its great on its own or just added a bit to other salads for the flavor. They had the seeds at home depot. I found some posts on arugula and people say its really simple. The thing is that .. you dont have to use all the seeds at once.. as you have to keep making new batches of it.. but that also depends on ..how you pick the leaves off the plant. If you just pick leaf by leaf.. and let the rest go.. it can last a while. Once it goes to flower.. you can save those seeds.. for the next time. I read it someplace.. if you pick the dry stems.. that have the seeds and put the flowers into a paper bag .. and tie it... it will catch all the seeds.

People usualy just plant diffeent batches at different times..I bought 2 packets of arugula seeds so that should be plenty for multiple batches.

Suposedly salad is the first thing that can be planted, and even indoors.. so i think I will start early on this one and see what it does inside.
I bought also another gourmet blend salad mix, and my neighbour tells me that Red leaf type is pain to grow. But i just want to have different things to mix with arugula.

Tomatoes
My neighbour talked me into planting them. I did not think its possible in the space i have or ..planters. But he recomends SWEET HUNDRED small cherry tomatoes.. I was also told that i can start it inside.. and have the plants grow more while inside.. so they are bigger in may.. when suposedly is the time that people put the seeds out for tomatoes.
These tomatoes are small and really give alot of tomatoes.. and they are suposedly sweet.

In regards arugula suposedly it likes a bit of sandy soil so i will collect some at the beach and add some to the soil when i move it to the big planter.
The thing with salad is that it does not like .. very high temperatures.. and suposedly it "melts". So that is the only danger with salads. All salads.

Mint
As i said i bought Schultz TakeRoot Rooting Hormone, because i wanted to try propagating plants from cuttings.
Since my neighbour was available, thank god, he did it for me and showed me the right way.
I had 8 cuttings of mint, the same thing you can buy at supermarket or vegetable stand.
he took the cuttings, and the ones i had were about 3 -4 inches long.
He dipped the cuttings all the way up to the leaves in the glass of water, and then dipped the cuttings of mint into bottle of rooting hormone that is in powder form.
He dipped the cuttings all the way up to the leaves level. So not just the end or bottom of the cutting, but all the way up to the leaves. Reason is that roots will not grow from the end of the cutting but from the "knot' areas on the stem.
I asked him if i have to cut off some leaves..which i have read is done for some other plants in order for the plant to save energy, but he said that it is not necesary here.

IMPORTANT WHEN USING ROOTING HORMONE:

You have to make sure that the soil you are putting cuttings in is already watered.. and give it time to soak a bit.. because You Can Not water the plant afterwards, because it will wash the Rooting Hormone off the plant.

Also, make a hole into the soil where you will put your cuttings, and carefully put the plant with rooting hormone in it, trying not to rub off the rooting hormone, then just close the top of the hole with plant.. gently.

He also swears that Miracle - Grow - brand potting mix or soil is the best to use, in his gardening family business experience.. and that even if it is more expensive its worth the price. So I guess that is what I will use :)

In regards growing Tomatoes from seeds, and in my case i will start indoors, i logged bunch of my stuff out of the kitchen as possible seedling starting containers.. because i have run out of Burpee Seed Starting 72 cell Greenhouse Kit,
and even though he says those are the best.. he says that i can use simply container that i have from Chinese Food which is 7 by 5 inches on the inside. and its 1.5 inches high.
He says that i dont even have to make the holes on the botton as long as I dont overwater. I use a little spritz bottle to water my seedlings, and he agrees that is the best way to do it.
His opinion is that i can put 15 spots of seeds in it. So 3 on the with and 5 on the wide side. His system is that he usualy puts 3-4 seeds in the same spot, and then picks the best 2 out of them. He says he likes to have 2 plants of tomatoes really close.. almost touching ( for later replanting into bigger planters).
He promised to teach me also some tehniques where you get more out of one plant.. and the plants are really bushy instead just one stem tall.
So I will report on that in the future.

So basicaly if I am putting 15 spots on my tray for growing seeds, and each spot has 3 seeds, ( he likes 4 ), then I would use 45 seeds - if 3 per spot, or 60 seeds if 4 on spot.
As I said , then he picks the strongest best 2 to grow out of the spot.

I intend to give alot away.. but for myself the most i would be able to handle or need is really 4 plants, which is 2 containers. 2 plants in each container.
These things grow.. and produce alot of tomatoes.

If you have any questions fire away and I can ask my neighbour while he is still around.

ines :)

I just watched your video on "How to Make a Self Watering Container".
Very creative and very cool again. How did it work for you last year? And do you also find you have to water them up top from time to time, or that is it?

ines :)

Thanks again for all the info. Not really sure what rooting hormone is, so don't really mess with it. For dirt, I prefer to stay away from Miracle Grow as well. I prefer to grow my stuff organically. It's my personal preference.

I also only water through the pipe. The only time it gets watered from the top is when I first plant and when it rains.

Just saw this link via Apartment Therapy - what did you do (are you doing) with this beautiful garden in the winter months? I had a great little herb garden started, but when the winter came, no matter how hard I tried, it just went kaput. I'd love any suggestions!

I usually complain about the size of my roof garden/terrace (about 2x8 meters)...now I'll take your garden as an inspiring example!

Thanks for the comment and for visiting. I'm expecting to hear back from you about your new garden.

It's quite old actually, now still flourished with the freshest and greenest herbs. Not for long though, as I don't cover the terrace during the coldest months. Usually they're fine but I'd love to enjoy them during winter too..

This week I'm going to make some kind of cover. Still figuring out the with what part.

Looking forward to read a post on that..

Alice

Me too. Haha.

you guys are awesome

Haha..it's awesome that I found 2 awesome websites in one day, this one and farm to table! I'll be visiting often

Thanks for your videos. I have an itchy green thumb and an empty fire escape right outside my bedroom window. I'm inspired!

Thanks for the comment. Get it done and forward along the pics. Would love to see it.

I LOVE this! I have literally JUST begun planting some over-wintering stuff in my tiny courtyard garden, and a patch of 2m x 3m allotment I have been given here in the UK. Trust me, I am not your typical gardener, but I am determined to give this a go. Like you say, if you can do it in that tiny space of yours, I can definitely give it a shot. Well done!

Thanks. I'm not your typical gardener either. It's my first time. Who wants to be typical? Send me some pics when you get everything planted and set up.

I'm glad you are opening people's eyes to gardening in small spaces. Small spaces do have their advantages, too -- keeping your garden manageable and your costs lower, plus you get to enjoy all the color and greenery on your fire escape/balcony with all the sustainable benefits!

Thanks for the comment Meredith. That's a great idea for a post. Thanks!

so great! video is awesome, love the accent too!

Thanks Zachary. The gardening I just started, but have been working on the accent for 30+ years.

haha! just posted on farm to table and will throw on facebook in a bit! the
video is hysterical but great too

Dear Urban Gardener, You are an inspiration to me. If you can grow vegetables on your fire escape, I can certainly grow some on my acre of land. The only problem is the deer eat mine, but I suspect that's less of a problem for you in Manhattan.

Yup Bob. The fire escape is a built in deer deterrent.