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How to Make a Cucumber Trellis for a Self Watering Container

It’s been a few weeks since I planted my cucumber plant.

It was starting to grow outside of the container, which is a good thing (at least it ain’t dying). So I built a cucumber trellis for it using mostly recycled materials.

    Tools and materials:

  • Old poles put out by someone for garbage. You can use anything that is sturdy enough and stands upright such as tree branches, old crutches or broom sticks.
  • Strong tape to tape the poles to the container.
  • String to tie around the poles and make the trellis.
  • Scissors
    Steps to build:

  • Cut the poles to your desired length. I cut mine at about 4 feet each. Since I planted slicing cucumbers, this length should suffice. If not, I’ll have to add extensions.
  • Tape the poles to the container individually, then wrap tape around all of them. I taped mine about 4 inches from the top of the container.
  • Tie the string about 6 inches from the top of the container to leave room to water through the pipe.
  • Wrap the string around each pole with about 3-4 inches between each level of string until the top of the poles are reached.
  • Place the cucumber plant inside of your newly build trellis.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPi0X9MICbI

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Planting Kale and Chard Because My Lettuce Died

I planted some kale and swiss chard out on my fire escape because there is no doubt that my lettuce died and weren’t growing any more.

Before I planted the kale and chard, I had to prepare the soil in the self watering container first. The dead remains of the lettuce were removed and some of my indoor compost was added to the soil and mixed in.

Even though I only bought one cell of each, there were many plants in the cells. There were about 3-4 plants in each. I separated them out, but still bunched them together when planting.

There’s still a bit more room in the container, so next week I might buy some more kale and chard or lettuces to put in the container as well.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBrodD9uDPs

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Allow for Drainage in Your Self Watering Containers

I learned a valuable lesson in gardening (and life) this week, it doesn’t pay to be lazy.

A few weeks ago, I transferred my celery into a new self watering container and didn’t poke a hole to allow for water drainage.

Sure enough with all of the rain that we’ve been getting here, the bucket became nearly submerged under water. The celery was getting water logged and starting to die off. Celery drinks a lot of water, but not that much.

I had to poke a drainage hole in the container to allow the water to drain out and remove the dead ribs. I’m hoping that I caught this early enough and am able to prolong the life of them.

In this video, I show the water in the container and how I poke the hole to drain. My grandmother also tries to make her way on camera (again), but I cut her off. Gotta keep her ego in check 🙂

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ieAXunaaM

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Do Not Use Soda Bottles for Upside Down Herb Planters

It’s been a bit over a week since I planted my upside down herb garden on my fire escape again. I planted them in soda bottles that were recycled into the upside down planters.

The results are the same though. Death.

So unless I am doing something horribly wrong, I wouldn’t recommend building and using this contraption to grow your herbs.

The first time I planted them, the herbs died quickly as well. It could’ve been because the soil was too heavy or because of my not so gentle hands. So I decided it was time to give it another go.

This time I used the coconut coir based soil and was definitely much more gentle, but the results were still the same.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPitnVwVY8s

Now I need to figure out another way to grow herbs on my fire escape. I need something that I can hang from the railing. Any ideas?

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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

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Did I Harvest or Kill My Lettuces?

Let me start this post by saying that I’ll be taking off for a week and a half. Going on a camping trip to the Grand Canyon and Utah. Try not to miss me too much. Now on to the post…

Last week, I harvested my lettuce for the first time and was pretty happy. This week, I might be able to substitute the word “kill” for “harvest”.

I think I clipped them too close to the roots and killed them. Dead. Done. No more life.

Lettuces one week after harvest and they don't appear to be lively.I had to add a support for tomato plant by recycling a mirror frame that I found on the street.Pepper is starting to flower.Lettuces one week after harvesting. Looks like they could use some CPR.

On a good note, I didn’t kill the tomato plant. It actually started to flower and get top heavy, so I need to give it some support. I wasn’t going to pay for anything, so I hit the streets and found a mirror and broke the frame off. It’s providing the perfect support.

The pepper plants are also starting to flower as well. They aren’t nearly as large as the tomato plant and don’t need a support.

Back to me killing…I mean harvesting the lettuce. At this point, I think it can be that it takes longer for the leaves to regrow or I actually did kill them.

What will the outcome be? You’ll just have to check back to find out (they only wish they could script stuff like this for TV).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aroKWQSkCw

PS – Hope everyone has a happy and healthy 4th of July. Did you think I was going to say have a miserable one?

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The Woman Behind My Brooklyn Vegetable Garden

I spend a lot of time with my Grandmother. One day during the winter we got to talking and I expressed my interest in wanting to grow my own vegetables.

She offered up her backyard, which was great. As much as I wanted to utilize it, it wouldn’t have been fair to her because some of the responsibility would be on her shoulders.

Door to door Gram is about an hour commute from my Manhattan apartment. So making that trip 3-4 times a week would’ve been a bit much for me.

She just turned 90 a few months back, but she’s still as sharp as they come and ain’t nothing really slowing her down.

Back in the day when she was a bit more spry, she used to grow a lot of her own produce in the backyard. These days she just rocks a few tomato plants that she harassed me to plant for her.

So when I came across the self watering container idea, I thought it would be perfect for her backyard. She was adamant that it was to be my responsibility and didn’t want to have to take of it. That was fine with me. I didn’t want to put that burden on her.

Sure enough each time I visit to check in on things, she’s bent over and knuckle deep in some soil. She’ll be straightening things out and making sure things are ok. It’s good to see her showing interest in it too. I love it.

One of the great things about her is that she’s also not scared to speak what’s on her mind. When I completed my first harvest in her backyard, I brought it into her room to show her. Let’s just say that she wasn’t nearly as excited and amazed as I was. She was more concerned with some of the lettuce soiling her bed.

I shot some video of her as she rips apart my attire to attempts to figure out how old she is:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC0dZtfBwtk

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Some Pest Problems in My Brooklyn Vegetable Garden

After not checking in for a week, I was bit nervous in checking in on my vegetable garden in Brooklyn. Luckily with the ridiculous amounts of rain that we’ve been getting, things looked good, but some of the containers showed signs of pest problems.

June 19, 2009 - Some of the leaves of the collard greens on the left side were chewed.The first problem that I noticed was on the collard greens. Some of the leaves on the left side were a bit chewed through. Most of the bigger leaves were untouched. I didn’t notice any pests on them while I was there. At this point, I’m not seeing this as a huge problem, but just something to note.

June 19, 2009 - Close up of the bug ridden nasturtiumThe plant that had the biggest pest problem was the nasturtium. The flowers that bloomed were overridden by some tiny black bugs. I think the problem was that I let the flowers go too long and they died. Once that happened the bugs took over. To help combat the problem, I just picked off what appeared to be dead.

June 19, 2009 - One of the leaves of the pepper plant had a mysterious black funk on it with some ants and the basil leaves were chewed through.The container with the peppers and basil had some pest issues as well. One of the leaves on the pepper plant had some kind of black stuff of some sort on it. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was besides nasty. There were ants crawling all around it. The basil leaves were also slightly chewed through.

June 19, 2009 - I was still able harvest a good amount of lettuces and herbs.Despite the small pest problems, the rest of the containers looked good. I was able to harvest a boatload of lettuces, some herbs and should be able to get some more throughout the week. Check this video too see how everything is looking:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YhYvQHPk6Q

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Farm to Plate? My Produce is Traced Fire Escape to Bowl

Last month, I read the book Plenty. There was a passage in it about “food traceability” and how our food travels on the average 1,500 to 2,000 miles from farm to plate. That has stuck with me, well because that number is insane.

Besides the distance that it traveled, what about what else went into getting that food to me. How was it treated? Who are the people that worked to get it to me? How were they treated?

Even though I didn’t start from seed, I can tell you that I got the planter from Trina at Silver Heights Farm, which is a few miles outside of NYC. Then I planted it on my fire escape, harvested it and put it in my belly, which is part of me.

I also didn’t harm myself in the growing of my veggies. Though I did nearly bust my ass climbing out to and in from the fire escape. The risks I take for my food.

When I first started this gardening project, with my ingenious window garden idea, my goal was to get one salad out of this. Well, I stand (or type) before you now with that goal accomplished.

I harvested my first round of lettuces from my fire escape garden and made me a salad. Yes, I GOT MY FIRST SALAD.

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

The feeling is difficult for me to put into words, but I’ll do my best to. It FEELS AMAZING.

You see, I’m a city boy. My gardening experience is non-existent. My gardening skills were picking produce from the grocery stores because that’s where produce is grown in the back of the grocery store, right?

This experience so far has made me realize and appreciate food that much more. Entire societies and civilizations have been built around areas where food can be grown.

Now here I am in my Manhattan apartment growing on my freaking fire escape. It’s crazy. Maybe I’ll start a civilization in my apartment. It should help with the expenses around here.

More importantly, what I hope this does is inspire at least one of you out there to take on something like this.

Go ahead you know you wanna. I’m here for you if you need any help.

Before and after picks of the self-watering containers:
June 16, 2009. Bucket of lettuces with tomato plant in the middle before (L) and after (R) I harvested them.June 16, 2009. Bucket of lettuces before (L) and after (R) I harvested them.June 16, 2009. Me with my first lettuce harvest.