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Moving My Garden and Life Out to LA

The weather is starting to finally brighten up in NYC, enough for me to start my seeds, but I won’t be doing any fire escape gardening this year because I am moving across the country to Los Angeles.

By no means does this mean that I am going to stop gardening. It just means that I won’t be gardening on a fire escape. I’ll be trading it in for a balcony.

I’ve proven it possible to grow your own organic produce on a fire escape in NYC. Now I’ll show that you can do the same on a balcony in Los Angeles.

Growing my own food has become part of who I am and what I do. No matter where I am, I’ll find a way to grow. Whether that location is NYC, LA or wherever I may wind up next. Growing your own food is possible anywhere.

The weather in LA will enable me to grow more and do it year round. It’ll be a whole new learning experience and challenge, but one that I’ll embrace. I’ll take the knowledge and memories that I gained from the fire escape, including the gardening mistakes that I made, and continue to expand my knowledge.

Fire escape or not, I’ll be growing my own food and hopefully continue to inspire people to do the same. It’s possible no matter where you are.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vuB2Q_glGk

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Starting The Worm Factory 360

So I’m giving the worm composting another shot after several unsuccessful attempts at it.

The woman at the Lower East Side Ecology Center who sells me the worms was hesitant to sell me another pound because I’ve killed so many. I let her know about the new bin and she seemed genuinely concerned about my previous experiences.

We chatted a bit more, sold me the worms and said to stop by in a few weeks and she’ll give me some more. Very nice and thoughtful of her.

I got back home and set the Worm Factory up. It’s definitely large and not great for smaller spaces.

I’ll check in in a few days to see if these things are still alive.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ-A5ZUJSdw

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Receiving The Worm Factory 360

The fine people at Natures Footprint Inc heard about my worm killing ways and were concerned.

They contacted me and thought that it could be the bin that I was using. Of course they did because they make worm bins. They offered to send me a Worm Factory 360 to try out. I willingly agreed.

It arrived in the mail last week and is quite the beast. I need to read the instructions on how to use and set up.

What I’m nervous about is ordering another pound of worms. The lady from the Lower East Side Ecology Center, where I buy my worms from, jokingly said that she wouldn’t sell me anymore if I continued to kill them.

So now I need to get me some more worms and give this Worm Factory a shot.

Has anyone ever used this bin or any others similar to it?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBIYELP4RBk

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Is Direct Sunlight Required For Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors?

The final question that I have before starting my vegetable seeds is do they require direct sunlight? Can they get by with indirect sunlight?

I could easily put them out on my window garden. It gets a few hours of indirect sunlight a day, but no direct sunlight.

The fire escape is an option as well, but having to get into and out of it everyday would be a pain since it’s in my roommate’s room.

I’d have go through his room to set them out each morning, then bring them in each night. My preference would be to avoid that.

I’ll likely experiment and put some on the window garden and some on the fire escape.

Do you think the indirect sunlight of the window garden enough? Is there somewhere else that I could put them?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPPLqJq4CLY

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How To Make Seed Starter Pots Using Toilet Paper Rolls

An easy way to start your seeds indoors is to use toilet paper or paper towel rolls.

There are two advantages of using toilet paper rolls. The first is that they are free. It’s likely that you already have both items available in your apartment. Ain’t no better price than free. The other is that that they can be put directly into the soil when transplanted because the cardboard will biodegrade into the soil.

    What you’ll need to get your toilet paper roll seed starters made:

  • Toilet paper or paper towel roll
  • Razor
  • Scissors
  • Duct tape
    How to make a seed starter pot using a toilet paper roll:

  • Cut the toilet paper roll in half using your razor and scissors.
  • Take one of the halves and cut four slits about 3/4″-1″ or so up the roll.
  • Fold the toilet paper roll into each other to form the bottom of the seed starter pot.
  • Use tape to secure the bottom.
  • To fill put your soil inside, followed by your seed and cover with more soil.

[flickrset id=”72157623905884153″ thumbnail=”square” overlay=”true” size=”medium”]

After a few weeks, when the seed is ready to be transplanted into the soil, you can undo the bottom of the toilet paper roll and stick the whole thing into the soil. The toilet paper roll will biodegrade into the soil.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-nnzX-Cd0I

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When To Start Vegetable Seeds Indoors In New York City

Truthfully a lot of that last frost and zoning information is a bit over my head. So I had to look it up quickly.

According to the book Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers, New York City is in Zone 7 and the last frost date is sometime in mid-April. The map and legend were hard to decipher. In the video, I erroneously say Zone 8 and mid-May. Genius idea to color code a map and put similar colors side by side.

I also checked out a bunch of sites online and the only one that was somewhat coherent was the What to Plant Now guide from Mother Earth News.

It’s March and I’m in the Mid-Atlantic, so here is what you should be planting now and where. You can easily select your region.

My seed order from Botanical Interests arrived in the mail last week. It was my first order, and somewhat exciting to get the packets in my hand.

(Jayme from aHaModernLiving seemed much more happy to get her seed order than I was. Check out her post on Facebook about it.)

The back of the packet says when to plant outside, when to start inside and also gives any special sowing instructions. Apparently there is even more information on the inside of the packet as well.

In looking at the packets, I need to start them anywhere from 3-10 weeks before the last spring frost date. Some say that it’s not recommended to start indoors at all and to sow directly into the containers like cilantro. Check Perry J Post’s great insight on planting cilantro.

To be safe and realistic at this point, I’m going to plan to have everything planted by mid-May the latest and I’m sticking to it. That means I need to start these vegetable seeds with the quickness.

When do you start your vegetable seeds indoors?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hiiJa8j17E

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Making Kitchen Compost Containers Of All Sizes

Now that I’ve figured out a way to compost in my kitchen without worms, I’ve started to pack as many containers as I can to make compost.

I found an empty container of cat litter on the sidewalk that I brought home and filled. I’ve also had my roommate keep his coffee containers and have begun to use them as well.

More food scraps were added to the original container, but didn’t want it to get too heavy to shake around. This is why I started new ones.

A scoop of old potting soil was added to the bottom of each of them, the blended food scraps were added and then covered with a bit more soil and shredded newspaper.

They were then set off to the side out of the way and are going to be to shaken up every few days. I should have fresh compost in a few weeks. Little hassle and easy to maintain.

This is something that anyone can do and it can be scaled up or down to your needs. I’m not stopping here. I plan to start many more.

When are you getting started on yours?

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Five Gardening Mistakes I’ve Made

Since I’m still new to this gardening thing, I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my first year. I’ve also had many successes as well, with the most memorable being my first lettuce harvest.

For this post, I’d like to share the Top Five Gardening Mistakes that I’ve Made. Life ain’t perfect and neither are my gardens. I know hard to believe.

I’ve made these mistakes, learned from them and have become better at gardening (and life) because of it.

  1. Putting too many food scraps in the compost bin. This was one of my first mistakes and happened before I even planted my garden. Luckily, it wasn’t a tell-tale sign of things to come and easily rectified. Though the smell in my apartment was absolutely horrendous for a few days.
  2. Upside down herb gardening. When I first started this, it seemed like a great idea and looked cool as hell too. The first time around, they all died in less than a month. So I tried again with the same results – dead herbs. Then I realized I should turn grow the herbs out of the top, not the bottom…duh.
  3. Planting cherry tomatoes on my fire escape. It was great that I was able to get fresh, ripe tomatoes from my fire escape, but the plant grew to be way too large for my fire escape. I definitely won’t grow it again in such a small space.
  4. Plant fewer or single plants in each container. The celery plant that grew alone in a container was more than double the size of the ones that were packed together. Also I had combined herbs into containers, which stunted the growth of some of them. It was just a case of me being greedy and trying to plant as much as I could.
  5. Worm composting. I went through not one, not two, but three sets of worms that I killed. What can I say? I’m a worm serial killer. They were literally dying to get away from me. It was a major fail.

These are only five of the mistakes that I’ve made while gardening this first time around. There were plenty more and there will be plenty more to come. None of which will stop me from continuing to garden.

What are some gardening mistakes that you’ve made?

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Taking Back Our Food From Corporations

Day 28: Harvested My Own Vegetables
Not sure if it’s me or the crowd that I keep, but it seems like a food revolution has started. People are starting to take food back from corporations.

This is one of the reasons that I started to garden. I wanted to get back in touch with my food. I feel that America has lost its connection with food for business and corporate reasons.

The fact that gardening on my fire escape allows me to harvest my meals so that I can trace my produce from fire escape to table still amazes me.

There are no words that can explain the joy that goes into growing, harvesting and eating your own produce. Food is the fuel that energizes and nourishes our bodies. Somehow we’ve given that responsibility to someone else.

By starting to garden, I’m taking that responsibility on myself. Being in an urban environment hasn’t stopped me and it hasn’t seemed to stop others as well. Urban gardens and farms are in the news more and more lately.

Stacey Murphy founded BK Farmyards as a decentralized urban farming network in Brooklyn.

BK Farmyards puts the farmers in consumers back in touch, cutting out the middle man. They help to transform people’s backyards into farms. The residents pay for the farmers to tend to the land and make it bountiful and get to keep some of the produce. Those without land to farm on can pay for the produce that is harvested in their neighbors yards.

New York isn’t the only urban area that is getting into the gardening and farming. In South Florida there are lots of gardens and farms starting to pop-up.

The reason that they are starting is the same – people are looking for more locally grown produce that they grew on their own.

Mid-westerners factor urban farming and gardening into their plans for revitalization. Parts of western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio have already started to move forward.

Grow Pittsburgh has the vision of, “Grow Pittsburgh envisions the day when growing and eating healthy, local food is commonplace. ”

Similar programs have started in Youngstown and Cleveland, Ohio with Akron not too far behind in the urban farming and gardening space.

The food revolution has begun. Are you on board?

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Getting Into and Out of My Fire Escape Garden

I’m sure that most of you think that having a fire escape garden is easy. Well it aint’s.

You already know that my fire escape garden is out of my roommate’s room.

There is a radiator that is in front of the window that the fire escape is out of. On the radiator is a bunch of stuff that I need to take off each time I want to go out. Then I have to open the gate and the window, which doesn’t freely open.

Once the window is open, I can get out onto the fire escape. Not that simple though. The radiator is mad shaky, which makes it difficult to use as a stepping stool. There is also about a foot or so of window ledge that I need to clear as well.

On the way out of the fire escape, it’s just as difficult again because of the shaky radiator.

Contrary to popular belief, fire escape gardening is much more dangerous than you think it would be and that’s just getting to and from the garden.

Check out this video to see what I’m talking about.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xrbAHDAwo0

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Watering The Urban Kinder-Garden

After checking in with Miss Avalos and the Urban Kinder-Garden, the kids showed me how they watered and tended to their garden.

Before they watered the garden, they filled me in on what’s been going down with the garden since I last saw them.

“Some of the plants died, but we got more in and they are still growing,” one student told me.

That comment was followed up with, “The plants are pretty.”

And, “The plants are super big.”

When Miss Avalos asked her class if they thought that they are going to have enough for a salad soon, they answered with an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

Table One is in charge of watering the garden this week and took me outside to show me what’s up.

The kids took turns using the rain water that they harvested to water the plants. They shared their favorite plants with me as well. The red leaf lettuce, kale and peas were some of the top.

When I asked them how soon until they thought that they were going to get a salad, the number of days ranged from 20 through 100. We’ll just have to wait and see.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WNV-SdfRDg

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Checking In On the Urban Kinder-Garden

It’s been just over two months since I set up the Urban Kinder-Garden with Miss Avalos’ class at Kester Ave Elementary, so I took a visit to check in.

Shortly after the garden was set up, the students went on winter break. Some of the students families took the containers home to care for them. Unfortunately, there were some casualties and not all of the plants returned.

Miss Avalos and the students replaced the plants with some new ones, including kale and parsley.

Each week, Miss Avalos has a table assigned to taking care of and watering the plants.

Southern Cali has been getting some rain lately, so the class set out a bucket to harvest rainwater to water their garden and taught them about using the resources that are available.

Since the garden is starting to grow, the kids are getting more excited as they get closer to getting the salad that they set out to grow.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he8Xuibe7KE

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Ordering Vegetable Seeds For The First Time

When I asked for help buying vegetable seeds, I got all kinds of advice and suggestions, which are much appreciated.

Spinach, chard and all sorts of greens were the most recommended. I don’t really eat that many starchy veggies like carrots and beets, so didn’t want to get those for my fire escape garden.

Since I only have three containers for veggies and the hanging soda bottle planters, I really wanted to maximize the space for productivity.

I decided to do all greens and lettuces in the containers and ordered some herbs for the hanging planters. I decided against growing cucumbers and tomatoes because they just get too large for the fire escape and there isn’t enough sunlight for the peppers.

This first round of seeds: Here is what I ordered from www.SeedsNow.com:

I’m also going to have to order some seeds for my backyard vegetable garden.

What do you think of the selection for my fire escape?

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Kitchen Compost Bin Minus The Worms

I started a kitchen compost bin since I’m done with worm composting.

Gabriel Withington (@IntegroDesign) gave me a great idea. He said to compost in buckets similar to the
the aerobic compost bin that I built.

The main difference is that there is no need to drill holes to aerate the compost. If you leave enough room, you can shake it up to aerate. If it gets too moist, drain off the liquid and use as fertilizer. Brilliant!

Here’s what I put in the bin in order:

  • Fresh compost (b)
  • Old potting soil (b)
  • Shredded newspaper (b)
  • Old worm compost bin (b/g)
  • Coffee grinds and tea bags (g)

(b) indicates browns
(g) indicate greens

I layered them in the bin in the order above. Some more finished compost and newspaper was laid on top of the coffee grinds and tea bags.

When composting you want a balance of browns and greens. If you have too many greens, it will smell horribly. Trust me.

NYCCompost.org has a good list of browns and greens to add to your compost bin.

If this works out as well, I’ll be starting a lot more of them in my kitchen.

What are your thoughts on composting this way?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPNcNdJCs3o

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Done With Worm Composting

I can honestly say that I am done with worm composting after killing my third set of worms. This isn’t much of a surprise since they were literally crawling out of the bin a few days back.

My first set of worms I killed because they were too damp. The second batch were too dry and this batch…obviously I have no clue because I keep killing them.

So I’ll leave it at three pounds of dead worms and likely start more aerobic compost bins in my kitchen.

I’m sure that there are some worms somewhere thanking whoever worms thank that they won’t have to go home with me.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKQ45uPnSdI

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Worms Are Crawling Out Of The Worm Bin

I must be making a name in the worm community and not a good one. When I checked on my latest batch of worms some of them crawled out of the bin. The ones that escaped didn’t last long and were dead under the kitchen sink.

Since I started this third bin, I moved it under the kitchen sink to protect them from the light. I also noticed that some of the worms were crawling to the top of the bin, but the lid was on.

Fresh bedding was added because I didn’t want to make the same mistake as before and have too moist of a bedding.

The lid was also removed to get some more circulation going throughout the bin.

Once the bin was removed from the under the sink, there were dead worms that escaped the bin scattered under the kitchen sink. Dried up and dead worms are gross.

Since the worms are escaping, it means that there is something wrong with the bin that they don’t like and want to escape. It could just be a few stragglers or they could’ve heard about me and my worm killing ways and decided it was best to off themselves.

I’m going to add more bedding and toss it together with what’s already in there to freshen it up and aerate.

If this doesn’t work, it’s likely my last go at this.

Any more advice to save these worms?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZwl-uoThhg

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How Much Horse Manure To Order For The Soil?

Now that I’ve gotten some advice on planning for the garden beds in my Grandmother’s backyard, I made a call to obtain some horse manure.

I definitely want to add things to the soil to mineralize and amend it. One reason that I want to do this is because Brooklyn soil is known for being flat out nasty and on the border of toxic. The other reason that I want to is because I’ve seen the crap that my Grandmother has put in her soil and I wouldn’t want it anywhere near my stuff. The 60+ years of what’s been put in there ain’t for me.

The first, and only, spot that popped into my mind was the Jamaica Bay Riding Academy in Brooklyn off of the Belt Parkway. Yes, there is a horse riding academy in Brooklyn.

My hope was to call and ask if I could take some of their excess horse manure off their hands. The reality was that they don’t just give it away. They sell it. A 50lb bag costs $5 or I could fill up the bed of a pick-up truck for $25.

Shawna Coronado put over 5,000 lbs of buffalo manure into her garden. My garden area isn’t nearly as big as hers. She did refer to me this link which says 250-300lbs per 1,000 square feet.

Knowing that I’m still not sure as to how much I would need to fill in the garden beds. They are 4’x2′, 4’x6′, 4’x4′ and 4’x4′.

How much horse manure do you think I should buy?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOm0NxUsnVE

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Help and Advice for Planning Garden Beds

This spring season, I plan to use some of the garden beds in the backyard vegetable garden at my Grandmother’s.

I got her approval and documented in the video below, but I’m sure that she’ll still have some complaints about it.

There are four beds that measure approximately 4×2, 4×6 (which has a little bit of moss growing on it), 4×4 and 4×4. I’ve seen some of the stuff that my Grandmother has put in her soil, so I’d definitely like to mineralize and amend it.

The plan that I had was to till it and add compost, seaweed and horse manure once the weather warmed up.

The questions that I currently have are:

  • Is there anything else that I should do to mineralize the soil?
  • Should I be worried about the moss? If so, what should I do
  • Is there anything else that I can do now or should be aware of?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PErx1227H8Y

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My Fire Escape Garden and the Fire Code

The complaint that I often hear about my fire escape garden is that it is a fire hazard and that I’m putting lives at risk.

I do respect the fact that it is a fire escape and a means for people to evacuate the building in case of an emergency. This is something that I take seriously because on January 29, 2003, my apartment burned down.

This is just one reason why I make sure that there is a clear foot path for people to walk and that the hand rails are available to use.

Screenshot 2014-04-10 17.40.00Technically, my garden violates the fire code because I am storing items on it. I also break the law daily when I j-walk. I’m not trying to be a smart ass, but it’s one of those laws that’s not always enforced.

The landing space of the fire escape is about 2’x3′ with the containers taking up about 8″. That leaves 16″ of foot space, which is plenty of room for someone to safely walk.

The one potential hazard was the cherry tomato plant, which wasn’t a small plant. I won’t be growing that on the fire escape in the future.

With all of that being said, I do maintain the integrity of the fire escape while using the available space to grow fresh organic vegetables.

What do you think about my fire escape garden?

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My Fire Escape Garden Isn’t Outside Of My Room

One misconception about my fire escape garden is that it is outside of the window in my room. Well, it’s not.

The fire escape is actually outside of my roommate’s window. So I have to go through his room to get to it.

One of the windows in my room is where I initially planned to garden. I even built a window garden, but it gets absolutely no sunlight.

Having the fire escape outside of his window puts me at his mercy for taking care of the garden. If he sleeps in late or goes to bed early, I can’t tend to it. I also have to be extra cautious when bringing things to and from the garden, especially compost.

Having the garden out of his window is also one of the reasons that during the winter months, I couldn’t take the containers in and out during the night.

This is what I go through for my fire escape garden.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtbIF80duZM