Last year, we planted a few herbs and that was the extent of our gardening. Meanwhile we participated in a Community Supported Agriculture Farm Share, and received some great local vegetables.
Our landlords and neighbors live above us and have a nice backyard, small, but tightly packed with greenery. They told us we were welcome to use some of the space, and so we did. Last year, we planted oregano, garlic, lavender, and we bought a small window box and planted some chives and a few other herbs. They already had mint growing in the are we planted the herbs and garlic, so we figured we'd keep it there. Later in the growing season they had tomatoes and peppers, while we wished we did. they had nice baby lettuces, while we wished we did.
This year, I resolved to extend our garden-able space. I was going to build a box. And so I did. I went to Home Depot and bought 2, 1 in x 10 in x 6 ft pine boards and 4, 1 in x4 in x6 ft pine boards. I decided the boxes dimensions would be 1.5 ft by 6 ft. One month ago today, I built the box and painted it. One week prior to that, I had started my seedbeds. I used to egg cartons, both sides of the lids, splayed out on a cooking sheet, and 4 other 2 -4 in plastic container pots.
Within 2 weeks everything was at least 2 inches high and it would soon to time to harden them and move them outside.
I needed soil. I needed something to line the box. I'd been reading a great beginner gardening book called, You Grow Girl, I know I'm not a girl, but Tracie bought it and it's a really great book for starting a garden in an urban environment. I decided I would line the box with landscaping fabric, which would breath and allow proper drainage. I also decided that would line it with mulch and then a mixture of composted manure and gardening soil.
Living in a big city has an advantage of having so many options available for so many things, except when it comes to gardening apparently. I remembered from when we loved over in Clinton Hill, that there was a decent gardening supply, called Gardell's. I called Gardell up and he explained that he wasn't open on the weekdays anymore, and that he didn't ahve what I needed anyways. So, tracie suggested another gardening supply she ahd read about, Chelsea Gardening Supply. So, we called them up and they had everything I needed, except it wouldn't come for a week.
I sucked it up and ordered. They suggested I order about 1/3 more than I did, and when the soil and compost arrived, I ended up with about 1/3 more than I needed anyways. But its always good to have extra on hand. For expansions sake and replanting sake. It has already come in handy.
Hurriedly, last Sunday, I laid in the landscaping fabric, poured in the mulch, and mixed in the composted manure and gardeing soil. The next day, I would plant. I spent the early morning of that day hardening off the seedlings. Some took well, some didn't so I did the same the next day. They all withstood the hot day well, so about midday I decided to plant them all.
I laid out my plans, drew a few sketches in my notebooks, this will go here, that there, and came up with a few plans. Then I just set in to planting. It took an hour or two in the hot sun, so by the time I was finished. I needed a break and some lunch. I took a short break, about an hour, and made lunch inside.
Upon my return outside, I noticed something was amiss with my new plantings already. A number of the seedlings were crushed or uprooted, but most were still well and intact. There were cat hairs in the box. I know cat hairs, we have one cat and our landlords have a bunch that they let roam in the afternoons sometime (all neutered and spayed). One of them, one I like a lot, Goldenrod, had turned the new box into a playpen.
I fixed what I could and built a makeshift moveable cover of sorts. I had two extra 1 x 4's that I hadn't used for the box, so I set two nails into thte sides of the box on each of the long sides, and bent the nails where they would support the 1 x 4's resting firmly. Next, I stapled a length of landscaping fabric between the two boards. I then set some gardening stakes down the middle of the box and across the ends, and placed the cover over the box, creating a quasi greenhouse.
Our landlords and neighbors live above us and have a nice backyard, small, but tightly packed with greenery. They told us we were welcome to use some of the space, and so we did. Last year, we planted oregano, garlic, lavender, and we bought a small window box and planted some chives and a few other herbs. They already had mint growing in the are we planted the herbs and garlic, so we figured we'd keep it there. Later in the growing season they had tomatoes and peppers, while we wished we did. they had nice baby lettuces, while we wished we did.
This year, I resolved to extend our garden-able space. I was going to build a box. And so I did. I went to Home Depot and bought 2, 1 in x 10 in x 6 ft pine boards and 4, 1 in x4 in x6 ft pine boards. I decided the boxes dimensions would be 1.5 ft by 6 ft. One month ago today, I built the box and painted it. One week prior to that, I had started my seedbeds. I used to egg cartons, both sides of the lids, splayed out on a cooking sheet, and 4 other 2 -4 in plastic container pots.
Within 2 weeks everything was at least 2 inches high and it would soon to time to harden them and move them outside.
I needed soil. I needed something to line the box. I'd been reading a great beginner gardening book called, You Grow Girl, I know I'm not a girl, but Tracie bought it and it's a really great book for starting a garden in an urban environment. I decided I would line the box with landscaping fabric, which would breath and allow proper drainage. I also decided that would line it with mulch and then a mixture of composted manure and gardening soil.
Living in a big city has an advantage of having so many options available for so many things, except when it comes to gardening apparently. I remembered from when we loved over in Clinton Hill, that there was a decent gardening supply, called Gardell's. I called Gardell up and he explained that he wasn't open on the weekdays anymore, and that he didn't ahve what I needed anyways. So, tracie suggested another gardening supply she ahd read about, Chelsea Gardening Supply. So, we called them up and they had everything I needed, except it wouldn't come for a week.
I sucked it up and ordered. They suggested I order about 1/3 more than I did, and when the soil and compost arrived, I ended up with about 1/3 more than I needed anyways. But its always good to have extra on hand. For expansions sake and replanting sake. It has already come in handy.
Hurriedly, last Sunday, I laid in the landscaping fabric, poured in the mulch, and mixed in the composted manure and gardeing soil. The next day, I would plant. I spent the early morning of that day hardening off the seedlings. Some took well, some didn't so I did the same the next day. They all withstood the hot day well, so about midday I decided to plant them all.
I laid out my plans, drew a few sketches in my notebooks, this will go here, that there, and came up with a few plans. Then I just set in to planting. It took an hour or two in the hot sun, so by the time I was finished. I needed a break and some lunch. I took a short break, about an hour, and made lunch inside.
Upon my return outside, I noticed something was amiss with my new plantings already. A number of the seedlings were crushed or uprooted, but most were still well and intact. There were cat hairs in the box. I know cat hairs, we have one cat and our landlords have a bunch that they let roam in the afternoons sometime (all neutered and spayed). One of them, one I like a lot, Goldenrod, had turned the new box into a playpen.
I fixed what I could and built a makeshift moveable cover of sorts. I had two extra 1 x 4's that I hadn't used for the box, so I set two nails into thte sides of the box on each of the long sides, and bent the nails where they would support the 1 x 4's resting firmly. Next, I stapled a length of landscaping fabric between the two boards. I then set some gardening stakes down the middle of the box and across the ends, and placed the cover over the box, creating a quasi greenhouse.
I secured the openings at the end with a few staples from my trusty staple gun. I figured this would be good enough to keep the critters out and let the light in. It was a hot day and projected week, and so I thought this would also help harden my seedlings off a bit before opening it up. In the back of my mind though, I wish I had some kind of chicken wire covering to wrap this fabric over, so that I could have complete peace of mind from the critters.
Late in the week a storm came and I went out to tighten the fabric and noticed one of the cats had been sleeping o top of the cover, flattening out the lettuces below. I tightened the fabric and waited until the next day. When I checked the following day, cat hair again, and a storm had ripped the fabric over night. I replaced the fabric and thought all would be fine, this time, I had battened it down and tightened it well. But I knew I needed some chicken wire to keep these critters off the new sleeping box.
Sunday morning, Tracie and I checked the box, a hole was ripped and it looked like the cat had slept there again. I resolved to get some chicken wire. We went inside and had coffee and came out to find one of the cats tearing up the seedlings inside the cover. That was it, it needed stronger protection.
I was extremely pissed at myself for not having gotten chicken wire sooner, and for those cats just not leaving well enough alone. We resolved to work into our day to find some chicken wire and return and fix the box.
Boy is finding chicken wire in Brooklyn a chore. We were headed out to brunch in Ft. Greene at Bonita, so we stopped by Gardell's by the Lafayatte stop on the c to see if he had any chicken wire. He didn't, but suggested we try "Midtown Gardening", over off of Atlantic and Vanderbuilt. They didn't have any either. We then tried a small hardware store on vanderbuilt. No luck there either. Then we resolved to go to Lowe's. I opted to walk, this turned out to be a much much further walk than I could have imagined. Never again. Always take a cab or the train. We get to Lowe's and its huge and no one that works there knows jack about anything. I finally ask the right guy and find the chicken wire, only to spend the next ten minutes searching for chicken wire nails and a spool of wire to construct and tie down the whole mess.
Finally we get the stuff and head home. Tired and weary of the work yet to come. I took a nap and then went ot work on constructing the hooped chicken wire cover. This is me finishing it, and this is where it stands today, except it's a lot wetter. It's been raining all day. Now I need to seed some more plants and re-plant and maybe supplement some from seedlings that others have already hardened.
I'm still excited about growing veggies for ourselves, but a bit annoyed by losing so many beautiful seedlings in the early processes. 
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