Garden Update

It's late August and the summer has brought a fair amount of excitement to the land of the fire escape. A view from below shows a summer of growth.

Much of the growth has been due to the wet summer we've had, and regular watering to offset the super hot days. Although, the rain has been hard to manage, especially for my compost when it comes in hard and sideways.

But most importantly I got fruit this year: Mostly cucumbers and peppers.

However the other day I found something peculiar. One of my tomato plants was gnawed to the stems. It was completely stripped.

After a quick investigation. I found the culprit.

A tomato hornworm. Turns out these are pretty damaging machines, as I had learned the hard way. Although fortunately for me, there are these braconid wasps out there who like to control the tomato hornworm population by laying their eggs on the worms and slowly eating out their insides. I didn't really believe it when I heard it until I looked out the window and saw it being done...twice...pretty intense sight to see.

But all in all, the garden is still well. If only I could grow some friggin broccoli...

Spring 2011 Garden

The garden is more or less complete for the season. I've expanded about 80% more than my previous year's surface area, now occupying more than half of the walkable area of the top level of the fire escape.

In here I have some Basil, Rosemary, Peas, a Pepper, a bunch of Fennel, Chamomile, 2 Easter Lilies, some cosmos and some duck foot ivy.

From left to right: in back in pots: Broccoli, Peppers, Chocolate Mint, random indoor plant, Sage; in middle planters: random stuff and String Beans, 4 each of Red and Green Bell, Cayenne and Jalapeno Peppers (that I got from Dad in Philly) , a Tomato Pot; Rain Catchment Bins; Compost...

To note is a funny "weed" I kept pulling out. It was obviously something that made it into my compost with a lot of seeds that eventually found themselves in pretty much everything I had planted for the past couple weeks. But I couldn't figure out what the darn thing was...

Yesterday morning I figured out what they were, as I was walking around a farmer's market in Madison, WI.

The plant caught my eye and I knew at once what had settled all over my garden. My roommate Dave had definitely put scrap zucchini in the compost bag, which had a whole bunch of seeds that would end up in the big compost bin and eventually get mixed in with soil to use. I'm going to get some of it growing in a pot or two and see if I can get some fruit out of it.

Slow Fade

It's been over 3 months since I cut up the "compostable" Sun Chips bag and threw it in the bin. Seems to be no signs of breaking down. See the red arrow below.

Next update in 3 months.

Worm Suicide?

Worms are amazingly intelligent creatures, except for their oblivious lemming-like suicidal nature. Ok, so it was a little hot in your little worm condo, does that warrant a mass exodus through a drain hole? Where do you all intend to go now? To the beach? Good thing I was around to save you all from impending death. You are welcome.

Though I must say, picking up a ball of 500 or so worms was a pretty unique and enjoyable sensation. Ok, now you all think I'm a sick bastard...do you see me disagreeing with you?

Breakfast for 2...thousand

When I eat breakfast, so do my little friends. This is what the red wiggler breakfast consists of:

Egg carton, egg shells, coffee filter, coffee grinds and burnt toast (toaster's fault, not mine).

Memorial Lily

How cute, my lily decided to bloom on Memorial Day. My worms are also feasting today on all of yesterday's organic leftovers. It's a circus in that bin, and Mr. Sage and Mr. Hosta are peeking in on the action. It makes my fire escape garden complete. Except for the tomatoes. Anybody want to donate a plant?

Back Outside

Although I had been tricked several other times during this deceiving spring, I think now the cold weather is finally gone for good. Therefor, it's time for good ol' compost bin to get back outside, where it belongs.

Now I actually have room to move around in my rolly desk chair next to my desk.

Sun Chip Challenge

I love Sun Chips, mostly because they taste amazing. But only the original ones. I don't know why they had to go and ruin them with all these other stupid flavors. Anyway, SC recently came out with these "compostable" bags. I have to say I'm skeptical since the "compostable" plastic cups I threw in my compost from last summer are still in tact, but we'll see if Sun Chips can live up to their word.

Now feast, little wormies!

Only time will tell. I'll let you know.

Egg Stamp

Seriously? Is it really necessary to put a "USE BY" stamp on every single egg?

That ink better be soy-based if that shell is ending up in my compost bin.  It's bad enough that Duane Reade only sells eggs in styrofoam cartons.  Makes me cringe.

Compost Journey

Kate Zidar's class on Waste Management rekindled my hidden desire to compost things. The benefits of composting in a 4-story walkup apartment building in the city were surprisingly overwhelming. The diversion of smelly organics from a several day stay in our building's trash room at the bottom of the hallway was a major motivation, as was the constant food source for a hard working army of worms. It was these worms, however that helped me understand the true challenges of urban composing.

Prior to this year, my only experience with composting was in a back yard, with lots of space. Composting in plastic bins is a completely different animal, and there was a learning curve. I started with a plastic chinese food container with newspaper, random food scraps, coffee grinds and a small handful of worms Aurelia (from the union square LESEC compost stand) gave me. Our team upgraded to a few bigger bins as the compost mass increased steadily until currently occupying a 20 gallon bin. However, 2 colonies of worms suffered throughout the journey.

With the 10 gallon bin sitting in my kitchen with a vented lid, the smell was too noticible to keep as it was (even while excluding all meats and dairies). However, reducing the air vents provided an unexpected quick death to my worms, as their oxygen ran out. $11 got me another 1/2 lb. The solution to keep these ones alive was to move the bin out to the fire escape, as I could keep the lid off entirely. This seemed the perfect solution until the massive rains of the summer of '09 overflowed the bin on two occasions. The second occasion drowned my second colony of worms, as effectively draining my bin was more tedious than i thought, especially when the darn rain wouldn't stop! Covering the bin again was still a challenge as the water kept getting in. I needed a better setup.

I arrived at the following solution:

This worked perfectly, until of course the harsh December frosts posed a threat to the third colony of worms. I contemplated insulating my bin, maybe dropping the entire bin into a larger bin lined on the inside with a sandwiched blanket, but then another thought crossed my mind. Since I was bringing many of my outdoor plants inside to survive the cold, what if I also brought the bin back inside, keeping it both warm and accessible. I had blue polystyrene and 6" flex duct so I could keep it lidded with a passive exhaust out the window. It seemed crazy enough to try...

For the past month, the team has been doing great. The worms, right within view of the kitchen, wait patiently each day for their feeding. The only hurdle with this setup were the fruit flies, trapped inside the bin, but inevitably escaping when the bin was opened for feeding and stirrings. The solution, which has worked thus far, including spreading concentrated deltamethrin around the perimeter of the rim and brim of the bin, where the flies previously congregated. It worked immediately. It should be noted that deltamethrin should not come into contact with the compost matter nor human skin, as it is toxic and not for amateur use.

I currently have a steady enough flow and enough compost to occasionally re-pot certain plants and also provide some hearty richness to friends upon request. If you want any, let me know.