61+ Degrees F Jan 29 2013 Chicago

It's 61 degrees currently, with 87% humidity. There's a chance we'll hit 67 this afternoon and get as much as three inches of rain.

The bizarre just keeps on coming.

Never in my life have I talked about weather as a matter of course. But when was weather like this? We broke a record today at 6:45 a.m., hitting 60 degrees. I awoke at 3 this morning to the sound of a brief driving rain (or, I thought wryly in my half-sleep, maybe given weather extremes it's raining frogs like in Magnolia).

Remember these, planted in the unheated greenhouse and covered with plastic on Jan 9, another extra-warm winter day? Well they sprouted.

I set them all out to get a good rain pounding, the action of the water spurring more to germinate. Then they'll return to the greenhouse in their plastic bags. It's all an experiment.

Downstairs, we uncovered the raised bed to find the rats had done a nice job aerating the soil, flipping all the cool-weather greens roots-up to die. I'd want to live under that plastic too if I were them, not to mention the organic buffet. Art still has his trap line set up around the yard, with cameras trained on the important parts. Maybe he should add a couple traps here.

With the coming rain I thought I'd try broadcasting some seed on top of that nicely roughed up terrain, with a layer of straw to follow tomorrow. Here's what I sowed.

Thursday's low is supposed to be 6 degrees F. That's closer to a real Chi winter. All bets are off on the gardening front though. Wondering if Bruce and I should start seedlings earlier for spring planting. Stay tuned.

Extending the Chicago growing season

Lots of good news from the roof on this grey Chicago day. First, our relationship survived assembling the birthday gift greenhouse. Even better, it's been an extraordinary tool for planting our bucket SIPs early in the growing season. These pictures are from the first ten days in April.

(Pause to thank Bruce for nurturing the cool-weather plant starts to robust health in time to get them in early.)


This view is from inside the rooftop greenhouse, where I planted our SIPs. Getting the organic fertilizer in a ring around the top of the soil and then the plastic over the top is challenging in any kind of wind. The greenhouse (or any shelter) lets you to accomplish planting without fighting a breeze.


Here, Mr H2 is madly making deckways all over the roof so we don't wear it out. I can't get him to come downstairs.


This is the new run of SIPs, already set up and planted (in the greenhouse) with cool-weather greens like collards, kale, broccoli, and spinach and then hardened off before moving outside. The plants look a little beat-up because they're just settling in.


'Champion' Collards in situ...


The big view--we've expanded a little each year.


But remember: growing organic food on your balcony or roof, in your yard or the vacant lot next door requires just a little initiative and a couple of buckets, totes, or an Earthbox. A sunny location is essential. Then just keep the water reservoir full. You won't believe how much high-quality food you can grow.

March 22 Seed Starts

The first wave of seedlings are the cold-weather varieties, listed here by proper name and, while you're checking, for sale to anyone in the Chicago area who wants to come by.

Bruce has done a superb job of nurturing these babies to robust young adulthood. Check 'em out: Russian white kale, mixed mustard, and (yeah, it's my favorite because of its name and kick-ass bite) wrinkled/crinkled/crumpled cress.
We even have rosemary starts (upper right) and understand this plant is difficult to grow from seed. It sits on the tray with lovage, sorrel, and colorful fetal chard.
These cold-weather lovers include broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and collards.

Look at the roots on these kale--long and healthy and more than ready to go into a two-bucket sub irrigated planter (SIP).
This year I'm lucky to be getting a very early start on planting. Mr H2 gifted me with a cool little greenhouse for my birthday, and I've been up there happily planting up the SIPs and letting them acclimate inside. A good thing too. Check out our March 29 on-site Chicago weather:
Won't be long before we can move the planted SIPs outside the greenhouse to flourish in the 35-55 degree temps.