Welcome To Our Garden

Believe it or not, in Manhattan this passes for a garden. Don't laugh. I've worked really hard on it.

I had goals for the place, I really did. I had visions of skipping through the apartment with an apron full of tomatoes, of serving dinner guests home-grown strawberries with cream. This was before I understood anything about growing stuff, and even thought it might be fun to have a fig tree in a big pot on the terrace (no, I am not kidding).

In reality, it's a daily struggle just to keep everybody alive. The unusually hot, dry summer that New York is currently experiencing hasn't helped; for the past month, the terrace has been practically radioactive, which means we've lost a lot of good men out there. It also means that rather than lounging on the terrace in our spare time we mainly dart out in the evening with a couple of cans of water and then retreat back into the safety and comfort of our air-conditioned apartment. So much for that idea.

I took the above picture last night while I was tending to our crops. It captures our ramshackle assortment of plants (the Bad News Bears of rooftop agriculture), and the tools of my trade: a utility broom, a watering can, a pair of clippers, and a glass of wine. Everything that a farmer needs.

Over the past few months, trial and error has taught me a thing or two about rooftop plant husbandry, and I thought I would pass these lessons on to you.

Plant herbs: Unless you want to sit around waiting for your three tomatoes and eight beans to ripen (or possibly to die in the meantime, as mine did), stick to herbs. Herbs grow fast (they are, after all, mostly weeds), they are resilient, and being able to go outside and choose from a wide array of available herbs will do wonders for your cooking. It's a genuine money-saver to be able to snip off a few sprigs rosemary instead of buying a fistful of it at the grocery store.

Specifically, basil: You can use basil to flavor just about anything during the summer, and our two plants produce more than we can eat. Every few weeks the basil threatens to take over the world and I have to cut it all down and make pesto. What's more, I've brought my basil to the brink of death at least three times and it has always snapped back quickly, so that's a good sign for those of you without a green thumb. The only thing to keep in mind about this herb is that it will continuously sprout little white flowers, and you need to pull them off in order to keep it strong and productive.

Give your plants room to grow: Plant each starter plant with plenty of room to breathe and grow -- more than seems necessary. I arranged mine too close together and after a week had to rip them all out and replant them. If they're too crowded, they won't grow to their full potential and will compete with each other for resources.

Water, water, water: In case you haven't heard, water is very important for plants, especially for ones in small pots sitting on baking-hot pavement. Unlike plants growing in the ground which can spread their roots and pull water from far and wide, plants in containers have very limited water supplies. We water once if not twice a day and that still probably isn't enough.

Use plant food: I water with Miracle Grow at least once a week. This is important in a container garden, because the amount of soil that your plants have access to -- and therefore the amount of nutrients -- is so limited.

Keep the faith: If you forget to water your plants for a while and they look like goners for sure (I'm talking splayed out on the soil, leaves shriveled up, brown, the works), keep watering them anyway because they might not have given up the ghost yet. They might not be dead, just playing dead. If after a couple of weeks there is no sign of life, then it's time to stop CPR.