Name: KWJ
Location: Gowanus, Brooklyn
Size: 4X6
Favorite Resource: the Gowanus Nursery, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, GRDN, and the Seed Savers Catalogue. I have been known to pull up wild plants (aka 'weeds') growing in sidewalk cracks, too.
Pitch:
"After my container garden bottomed out of the running in last year's contest, I set out to grow some prettier stuff and to take better photos of what I've got. I offer up my industrial romantic rooftop garden, eked out of the wilds along the Gowanus canal.
Like my interstitial neighborhood, wedged between Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, my garden's a bit of a secret. No one can see it from the street. ..." [more below]
The formal constraints are tight: Because we rent (and aren't even supposed to be out on the roof) everything has to be in an easily moveable, lightweight pot. The climate out there is also hot, dry and windy. And, since I'm a starving graduate student, I've had to keep things cheap. (Hence the salvaged plaster
buckets.)
Right now, the best elements of the garden are the nasturtiums, the marigolds, and the lavender. I've also got lots of morning glories, cherry tomatoes, herbs, some sedums, a hardy honeysuckle, geraniums, and sunflowers.
The lavender is alive this week with honeybees.
love, kwj
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Comments (6)
Points for correct spelling of "eked." Nice plants, too.
I am curious how much of the stuff made it through the winter up on the roof? Also, do you climp up a ladder/fire escape to water the garden?!
yes, it's true, I am a professional grammarian, so I spelt correctly. (thanks.)
almost everything makes it over the winter--the lavender was the showstopping survivor, and the honeysuckle put out lots of blooms, too. the mint will survive a nuclear holocaust. the herbs come inside, and the annuals, obviously, need replacing each year.
we can access the roof from our kitchen window, and have a hose that connects to our kitchen sink faucet for watering.
Love the morning glories-the dark bkue-purplish color is just beautiful
You have some super pretty lavender. Where did you get that sweet smellin stuff?
Brava! Brava! Beautiful results in a difficult space. Your gumption is admirable.