The Wonders of Gardening...in NYC

Early in the Spring, I was walking through the Union Sq. Farmer's Market, and there wasn't so much to choose from...not the big sprawling market that's there now, since the weather was cooler. Anyways, I was walking along and saw one large vendor with tons of plants to choose from- vegetables and herbs of all kinds were just starting to grow in little plastic trays. I remember thinking, "Wow, if I just water a few plants every day, I can supply all my own greens for salads and juicing, without having to go to the market so often!" I spent a lot of time picking out the perfect plants to buy and take home to nurture, and spoke to many people at the market who ensured me that yes, I could grow these plants in my apartment with very minimal effort.

I decided on romaine lettuce, swiss chard, and celeriac root. These came in packs of 6 each, leaving me with 18 little plants to find a home for in the apartment!

The balcony ended up being the perfect spot- the only little problem was that I could not plant each one 30 inches apart like the instructions tab told me to do. Whoever wrote that little tab must be crazy- 30 INCHES apart?! This is NYC! Who has room for that? (hehe)

So, I decided to plant them more like 3 inches apart in makeshift pots including dresser drawers and ceramic bowls I made in a ceramics class a few years ago.

Here's what happened after about a 5 week growth period:

 See all those tall green things? Those are romaine! I think what happened is they were trying so hard to adapt, and instead growing into a head of romaine as intended, they grow into twisting and turney and tall plants!

One is growing straight up, and the others are growing like a crazy roller coaster:

This incredible Romaine is actually growing down, then back up!

Swiss Chard

Happy Plants

My beautiful garden! I'm a proud Mama.

By the end of summer, I'll harvest all the plants and make a yummy salad. But until then, I'm having fun watching them grow in all kinds of crazy ways. This is a garden, NYC-style!