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Breakdown Your Self Watering Containers Before They Freeze

My winter container gardening ended in December, so I started to break down the self watering containers at my Grandmother’s. Once the sun went down the cold became freezing and I had to stop.

When I woke up the next morning to finish breaking down the containers, they were frozen solid. All of the soil that I had been storing in the wheelbarrow was frozen as well.

Unfortunately, I can’t do much until the soil defrosts, which I don’t see happening in the next few weeks. So I’ll have to wait to break down the rest.

There is also about 0 percent change of my Grandmother letting me bring the containers indoors. You heard her reaction when I brought some fresh picked lettuce into the house.

So that’s another lesson learned for me – don’t wait until it’s too cold to breakdown your containers.

Do you have any similar stories to breaking down your gardens in the winter?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiezAh4q2fY

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Breaking Down the Self-Watering Containers in Brooklyn

Since my backyard vegetable garden died, I needed to clean it up as the first step for getting ready for the spring season.

The first step was to breakdown the self-watering containers. Here is how I did that in my Brooklyn garden:

  • Tilted the container so that the water drained out of the drainage hole. I leaned the container up against a fence for a few minutes.
  • Laid a sheet on the floor to capture the soil.
  • Cut the remaining plant down at the soil line and put into the compost.
  • Turned the container on it’s side and gently shook out the remaining soil.
  • Broke up all the roots and clumps of soil.

    • These steps might seem easy, but it resulted in a mess. I’m likely going to change the way that I made them to make the breakdown easier.

    If you were just going to dump everything or making them for one time usage, it wouldn’t be a problem. I am composting the contents and reusing the soil, so that made it much more difficult and messy.

    The water and wet soil was getting everywhere and made for an unpleasant cold and windy day.

    Do you think there would’ve been an easier way for me to break these down?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXTNH4jx-U4

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    Finding Seaweed For My Compost

    I’ve heard from many people that seaweed is supposed to be real good for your plants and compost. It’s said to be high in all kinds of nutrients and minerals.

    So I decided to head out to the beaches in Brooklyn on a fine winter day and hunt for some seaweed. No better time than the present huh? And yes Brooklyn has beaches.

    Before I headed to the beaches I hit up the Canarsie Pier. I hoped that I’d be able to find some that people fishing tossed away. There was none to be found though.

    The first beach that I went to was Manhattan Beach. Of course the beach was closed, but I was still able to get onto the sand and walk along the shore. There was not a trace of seaweed to be found. It was just me freezing my ass off.

    Then I ventured over to Brighton Beach. I found much of the same here – a lot of wind and nothing.

    At that point, I decided to call it quits and head back to my Grandmother’s. There was some traffic along the Belt Parkway (surprise), so I decided to pull over and check out Plumb Beach.

    I was able to find some seaweed there. When I was walking along the beach I saw the Marine Park Bridge and a light bulb went off in my head – Mike.

    Who is this Mike? He is my boy who lives in Mill Basin and has a house on the water with a dock. I hit him up and asked him if I could swing by for some seaweed. He gladly obliged.

    After seeing that low tide was later that evening, we decided to get some seaweed that night. We headed down to the water and started to scrape some off the rocks.

    It wasn’t until we used the nets in the water that we started to really rake in the seaweed (Jamaica Bay Sticky Icky). It also wasn’t until 20 minutes into the collection of the seaweed that he asked me what I was going to use it for. He thought I was going to eat it.

    For the first time I collected a good amount to start my compost, but definitely know where I’ll be going the next time I need some more of that Sticky Icky.

    The real lesson that I learned is not to go looking for seaweed on beaches in the dead of winter.

    What’s been your experience with using seaweed in your garden?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwFrBJK1ezQ

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    There Will Be No Winter Gardening For Me

    My winter container gardening has already ended on my fire escape. It’s also ended for my backyard vegetable garden in Brooklyn as well.

    This can be attributed to a few things. The first being my neglect. I didn’t go to my Grandmother’s for two weeks to tend to the plants. I’m sure that the snow and cold weather also contributed to the plants dying.

    Now that they are dead, I’ll have to look back on how the vegetable performed, what my mistakes were and how I can improve for the 2010 season.

    The next step is to empty out the containers and started a top-secret composting operation at my Grandmother’s.

    I have big plans for her backyard in 2010. Anything that you think I should do or would like me to experiment with?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvKb4XHMnPY

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    My Winter Container Gardening Ended In December

    My fire escape container garden did not make it through the first big snowfall of the season.

    Once the snow cleared up a little, and I was able to check things out. The small plastic greenhouse was sunken in because of the snow. When I took the cover off, the red peppers and kales were dead. Luckily I was able to get one last harvest out of the kale a few weeks back.

    Unfortunately, I hesitated on the cherry tomatoes and they died.

    The tops of the miniature greenhouses were nearly all blown off and one of the hanging soda bottle planters looked like it was growing snow.

    Now that everything is done I’ll be able to look back on my first season of gardening and see all of the lessons that I learned. I’ll have to clear off the fire escape and get ready for the spring.

    What advice do you have for me for the 2010 season?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuQSrM74L0g

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    My Favorite UrbanOrganicGardener Moments of 2009

    With this being my last post of the year, I wanted to share with you my favorite moments from UrbanOrganicGardener.

    This might seem a bit self-serving, but when I first set out and started this project my goal was to get just one salad. It’s turned into a bit more than that. I’ve been able to get that salad (and many more), but I’ve also been able to connect personally with many of you and that’s really been the best part.

    So I’ll close out this year with some of my faves:

    Like I said my goal was to get one salad, so when I harvested veggies from my fire escape for the first time is up there for me.

    Not only harvesting the salad, but eating the salad ranks high up there as well. The fact that I was able to trace my produce from fire escape to bowl was a bit overwhelming for me. Just check out the video in the post.

    A few months into the blog, I started to receive emails from readers about starting their own gardens after seeing what I did.

    Mariann in Arizona was the first to send me a note. She was hesitant at first and had lots of questions. The best part about her garden was that it was a way for her and her teenage son to bond.

    A few months later her garden was doing well. She was able to harvest lots of basil and her cucumber and tomatoes were starting to fruit and blossom.

    Annie also hit me up to tell me that she started her own urban garden in Washington, DC. She used some soda bottles, planted and hung them in her backyard.

    Earlier in the month, I was on the left coast and did an urban gardening workshop with a kindergarten class in Sherman Oaks, CA.

    I got to work with the kids and parents to get the class set up with their very own Urban-Kinder Garden. The first day was spent with the parents setting up the self-watering containers and talking to them about the importance of growing your own food.

    On the second day, I worked with the parents and the students to set the garden up and start their own worm composting bin. This event was definitely one of the highlights for me of the whole experience – getting to work with the kids. Mad fun.

    Without all of you none of this would have been possible. I sincerely thank all of you and look forward to learning more and keeping this journey going in 2010.

    What were your favorite UrbanOrganicGardener moments of 2009?

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    Harvesting Kale From My Fire Escape

    The kale has been doing well on my fire escape garden. With the weather dropping into the 20s, I decided it was time to harvest and eat it because that’s what it’s there for.

    In harvesting my lettuce, I learned that you should pick the outer most leaves. Otherwise the plant will bolt. Personally, I don’t want it to bolt and want it to keep producing more food for me.

    After I picked me some kale salad for lunch, I put the small plastic greenhouse back over it. The question that I have no is will it continue to grow in this 20 degree temperature?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OJImG8RZ_M

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    Making a Composting Mistake

    The composting mistake that I made is pretty simple – I killed my worms.

    Shortly after starting my worm compost bin, I had to dry it out because it was too wet from all the coffee grinds.

    That didn’t work and the worms were all dead. So I properly buried their remains along with the newspaper bedding at the local community compost.

    That didn’t stop me from starting a new worm bin. Why would I let it? I made a mistake, learned from it and now I’m one step closer to success.

    I cleaned out the old bin, put a fresh bedding of newspaper and another pound of worms. This time I put the bedding in, dropped in the worms and let them get situated for about 10-15 minutes, sprinkled some food scraps on the top and closed the lid.

    I’ll leave them alone for a week or so and periodically check in.

    Any tips or advice for my second go around?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svy9RKHv19s

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    Did Urinating On My Tomatoes Help Them?

    Here we are three months after I urinated on my tomato plants. If you recall, I did this because it’s supposed to make them grow larger. Did it work?

    It’s hard to say, but the plant is still fruiting and blossoming. So they didn’t necessarily grow larger, but it could’ve helped to extend their lives.

    Can that be attributed to my magical urine? I’m not really sure because I think that started to tinkle on them too late in the season. There are a million and five factors that effect the health of the plant like remembering to feed them, planting them at the right time and keeping certain ones out of the cold. It makes it difficult to isolate a specific incident.

    With that being said, I’ll start to relieve myself on my tomato plant earlier in the season next year. I’ll also be bottling up my urine for those of you who would like to purchase it.

    The more pressing issue at the time is the fruit that’s on the tomato vines. Some are light red and some are green. I’d like for them to vine ripen, but the weather is supposed to drop into the 20s. What do you think I should do? Pick them? Or leave them?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiiANuKpwq4

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    Kale is Thriving in the Cold Weather

    This is the first check in of my fire escape garden since returning from my Urban Kinder-Garden Workshop in Los Angeles.

    The weather has dropped into the 40s here and 30s at night, but the kale plants are thriving in this cold weather. Once I removed the small plastic greenhouse from them, they still look healthy and to be growing.

    The container with the red peppers in it didn’t look as well. I think it might be on it’s way out. I was able to pick one small pepper from it, but the leaves were looking all kinds of wilted. Going to leave it up to see how much longer it’ll last though.

    A few weeks ago, I did some housecleaning on my fire escape by removing some of the hanging soda bottle planters.

    This week I removed about four more – a kale, mint and two lettuces because they were on their way out.

    The good thing is that the kale is doing well in the cold weather. I’m not sure if it’s because of the greenhouse or if it naturally does well in the cold or a combination of both.

    What do you think? Whatever the answer is, it’s December and I gots some kale on my fire escape.

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

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    December Gardening Is Upon Us

    Before I left for my Urban Kinder-Garden Workshop in Los Angeles, I scrapped the small plastic greenhouses in my backyard vegetable garden.

    Now that I’m back, December gardening is upon us. So far the garden is holding up better than I thought it would. This proves that the self-watering containers are pretty low maintenance because I didn’t check on them in two weeks and everything didn’t die.

    Here’s a quick summary of how the plants are holding up.

    The kale plants are looking good and don’t show signs of slowing down.

    I already know that I should’ve left the celery plant alone after I harvested it.

    The red pepper plants have fruit, but the leaves are wilting, so I’m guessing that it’s on it’s way out.

    Both of the spinach plants are showing signs of dying. Not sure if it’s because of the weather or because of lack of nutrition. The green malabar stem snapped due to the wind. I likely should’ve had better support for it.

    The cucumber plant is definitely dead and has no chance at revival. At least I know to plant my cucumber earlier in the season.

    The chives and nasturtium both seem to have been infested by slugs. I say that because of the way they look and because I saw some slugs in those containers before I left.

    Much like everything else in this experience, it’s a first for me. The weather hasn’t dropped too low yet (40s at night), but it’s expected to over drop into the 30s over the next week.

    Due to my bad planning in the backyard with the greenhouses, I’m going to start taking down the containers that are totally dead. Then I’ll look back and do more thorough evaluations on what went right and wrong.

    What are your December gardening plans?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV-I48Y8HbY

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    Urban Kinder-Garden Workshop Day 2

    [flickrset id=”72157622928169088″ thumbnail=”square” overlay=”true” size=”medium”]

    The second day of the Urban-Kinder Garden Workshop with Miss Avalos’ class was the real fun because I got to work with the kids on planting everything. No offense to the parents, I totally enjoyed my day with them making the containers too.

    We started the morning off by going over the vegetables that we were going to be planting and talking about the various parts of the plant. The class was most fascinated with the roots.

    I then showed them the worms that we were going to use for the compost bin, which got the biggest response.

    I demonstrated how to fill the container with the soil and fill it with water.

    The parents and kids were then divided up into groups to plant. Each group was assigned two containers with two plants per container. The kids dove into the soil hands first and started to fill the containers.

    After everything was planted, I set up the worm compost bin for the class. I explained how the worms take the newspaper and food to make the soil and how it keeps those items from the landfill.

    The kids screamed and cheered when I finally dumped the worms into the bedding. The food scraps were then divided amongst the kids to put into the bin.

    At the end of the day there were about 15 self-watering containers filled and six hanging soda bottle planters.

    All said and done we planted red leaf lettuce, mesculin mix, swiss chard, peas, green onions, red peppers, basil, parsley, stevia, dill and chocolate mint.

    I’ll definitely be keeping in touch with Miss Avalos’ class and expecting updates as their garden continues to grow.

    My favorite comment of the day was from Zackery who said, “You’re a good gardener.”

    Who am I to argue with him?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm-3eD3KBpU

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    Urban Kinder-Garden Workshop Day 1

    [flickrset id=”72157622911237720″ thumbnail=”square” overlay=”true” size=”medium”]

    For the first day of the Urban Kinder-Garden Workshop at Kester Ave Elementary School, I worked with the parents and relatives of some of the students to build the self watering containers for the garden.

    We also discussed the environmental impacts of gardening and building the containers. Since we’d be growing our own produce, it cuts out the travel and oil costs associated with the food.

    I mentioned to them that on average food travels from farm to table about 1,500 to 2,000 miles. For someone like me, who lives in New York City, most of my food is coming from California (if I’m lucky).

    By the time it’s picked, packaged, shipped, unpacked and put on the shelf at a store…is it really fresh at that point? When you grow your own, you can trace the life of the vegetable.

    Additionally, the containers are made from pre-existing materials. That brings down the cost to make them. Not only is it low cost, but it helps to keep the materials from landfills as well.

    The one fact that I thought resonated with the parents (besides the low cost) was a soda bottle will sit in a landfill for 700 years before decomposing (GreenYour.) So imagine how long the big plastic containers would sit for?

    After we spoke for a bit, we got to working on the containers. The tasks to build them were divided up and everyone got to work.

    All said and done, we built about 15 containers for the kids to plant in. Some of the parents expressed interest in building some of their own self-watering containers at home.

    When we were finished, the kids returned to the classroom and asked me a few questions about gardening such as, “Plants need worms” and “What’s an herb?”

    The next day I’ll be planting the veggies with the kids and setting up a worm bin.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRZmtDO6JxA

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    Preparing For My Urban Kinder-Garden Workshop

    I’m on the left coast this week conducting an Urban Kinder-Garden Workshop with Miss Avalos’ Kindergarten class at Kester Ave Elementary School in Sherman Oaks, CA.

    Miss Avalos is tying the garden into the curriculum for her students.

    Art
    The first part of the project was having her student paint the containers, which helps them to express themselves creatively.

    Science and Language Arts
    “One of the cool things is that it also teaches about seasons and weather,” said Miss Avalos. “We are getting everything that is in season.”

    Her class will be keeping a plant journal and talking about the parts and life cycles of the plants.

    “Also the idea of taking care of our earth. We can do something local. We don’t have to waste fuel to get the food to us,” said Miss Avalos.

    Team Buidling
    The workshop and garden will also help the kids with their team building skills. They’ll have to work together to plant and maintain the garden.

    Math
    She’ll also be tying in math activities like how much they’ve gotten out of each plant.

    Nutrition
    “A lot of these kids haven’t been exposed to anything but iceburg lettuce. This is a whole new experience for them.

    Responsibility
    Some of the kids will also learn about having responsibilities as well. When winter break rolls around in a few weeks, some will get the chance to take the containers home to care for them.

    When I was in elementary school, we just got the chance to take home a hamster.

    The workshop will be broken down into two days with the first focusing on building the self-watering containers with the parents. After the containers are built, I’ll go over how the containers are made, how they work, about how they are reusing materials and the environmental impact of them.

    Day two of the workshop will revolved around planting and setting up a worm composting bin.

    It’ll be interesting to see how the kids react to the worms. I know that they still kind of freak me out.

    My secret plan (well not so secret anymore) is that the kids have such a great time that they pester their parents to start their own gardens at home.

    It’s all about getting people back in touch with their food source.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnuuGOcWzv0

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    Scrapping the Small Plastic Greenhouses in Brooklyn

    I’ve decided to scrap the small plastic greenhouses in my Brooklyn backyard vegetable garden. The past two weeks I’ve had problems with support for them and realized that I should’ve built a larger greenhouse.

    It’s not that they don’t work because they work fine on my fire escape garden. The problem is that I get to my Grandmother’s only a few days a week, so the plastic stays on them for most of the week. This is causing a lot of condensation and affecting the plants.

    Some of the kales, lettuces and especially the sorrels were starting to die because of the conditions. So I took of the plastic greenhouses before I left for a 10 day trip out to Los Angeles.

    It’ll be interesting to see how the plants are affected during this time. The weather hasn’t been too cold here in NYC. It’s been about 50s during the day and 40s at night.

    When I get back it’s still not out of the question to build something, but we shall see when I return.

    My thoughts are just letting the uncovered containers go for as long as possible. Take note of all the lessons, I learned (and will share) and start from scratch (and seeds) next season.

    What do you think?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYg4hFvvxts

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    Drying Out My Wet Compost Bin

    It’s been about a week since I started a worm compost bin in my kitchen.

    When I checked in on it, the newspaper was very damp and there weren’t many worms in sight. I dug some more and finally found some worms, but they weren’t very lively at all.

    Not to point fingers (but I will), my roommate threw in some coffee grinds in there without adding additional newspaper to dry it out.

    The result seems to be a worm bin that is too wet. It’s not leaking or runny and there is no smell though, which is a plus.

    All didn’t seem lost. The worms seemed like they could be revived. I even saw some baby worms poking around.

    I think the bin could definitely be saved by adding additional dry newspaper to dry it out. I dug down to the bottom of the bin and added a layer of newspaper, then scattered more dry bedding throughout.

    After I shot the video, I also separated out the piles into two bins to allow more room for air circulation.

    I’m going to be away for two weeks, doing some urban gardening workshops in LA, and hope that I return to a dry and healthy bin. If not, I’ll have to start another when I return.

    Do you think the bin has a chance at being revived?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg_Gv603y2o

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    Housecleaning On My Fire Escape Garden

    There were two of the hanging soda bottle planters that I took down from my fire escape garden.

    The first one that I removed was because one side of the rope snapped and it was dangling by one side. So I removed it for safety reasons. I didn’t want another soda bottle falling like one did when I did my fall planting. Safety first.

    The other that was removed was the bottle with the basil. It was apparent weeks ago, when I realized that basil isn’t a cold weather herb, but I was holding on to the fleeting thought that it would revive.

    After the bottles were removed, I dumped them into my indoor compost bin where it will eventually make it’s way back out to the garden again.

    Gotta keep the fire escape as clear and safe as possible.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU6iz8ANK7w

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    My Cauliflower Plant is Starting to Head

    One of my cauliflower plants is finally starting to head. A few weeks ago, I gave my thoughts on growing cauliflower in containers.

    I received varied responses as to why they weren’t heading – the weather, not enough nutrients, too many plants in one container and more.

    Not sure what to do, I let the plants be and didn’t do much to mess with them. Sure enough a little over a month later, one of the plants is starting to head. I’m going to continue to keep the container as is.

    It wasn’t the first time that I received a boatload of different answers to help with some my problems. The responses from everyone are much appreciated.

    This is why I keep saying that you should just start your own garden. What happens in my garden may or may not happen in your garden. We each experience things differently.

    What’s stop you from starting your own garden and getting that first hand experience?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmTAnWxrCk0

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    Should’ve Built A Larger Greenhouse For My Backyard Vegetable Garden

    Last week, I realized that there was a support problem with the small plastic greenhouses in my backyard vegetable garden. The water was gathering in the plastic causing it to fall and crush the plants.

    This week the problems continue with them in Brooklyn. One of the plastic covers blew completely off and another slipped off a bit.

    I think there are a few things going wrong with them. The most obvious one is that the rope is loosening up during the week, which is allowing the plastic covering to come off.

    For the backyard vegetable garden, I definitely should’ve built something larger like possibly this hoop house that Andrew Odom built out of nearly all recycled materials.

    This project was just another result of me being lazy and rushing through things. I definitely should’ve taken the time and built something more sturdy and well…better. Plus I’m only at my Grandmother’s 2-3 times a week, so I can’t check on it daily.

    With that being said, the small plastic greenhouse on my fire escape is great. That one I’m able to tend to everyday and have a more secure rope around it.

    One thing is for certain, I’m going to stop being lazy when it comes to this stuff. I hope all of you to start holding me accountable.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKijP_aGAD8

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    When Do You Plant Cucumbers?

    When do you plant cucumber plants? Not in July. I can tell you that much.

    Now that the cold weather has come around and it’s dropped into the 40s some nights, the cucumber plant is sad looking. I’m hoping that the two small pieces of fruit on it will grow some more, but I’ll have to wait and see.

    Next year, I’ll definitely get the cucumber planted much earlier in the season.

    Here’s what happened this year and why I planted it so late – I killed the first one and took too long to get the next one planted. No excuse except laziness.

    The second one was growing nicely. It got to be so big that I had to move it across the backyard closer to allow it to climb up the fence.

    A week or so later I was able to harvest my first cucumbers.

    The downfall of the plant could’ve been a month ago when the leaves started to yellow. At the time I wasn’t concerned because they were still bearing fruit and blossoming, but that’s recently changed with the weather.

    There are still small pieces of fruit on the tree that I’m hoping will grow to be larger, but the important lesson is to get the damned cucumber planted earlier in the season.

    When do you usually get yours planted? When do you start your seeds?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSG8KrvOoXE