I'm proud to live in a place that's accomplished this:
Monday, October 19, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
More On Potatoes
It's still a mystery why my potato box experiment was a failure. Fellow blogger H2 came over with her new flipcam on the day I took the box apart--in search of my advertised 100 lbs of tubers--to shoot this short video.
As the clip ends, we're heading to the roof to see how my SIPs planted with sunchokes, aka Jerusalem artichokes, did. A preview of what we found can be seen in this picture.
I'll post that clip next.
[Updated 11,04.09. I'm not the only one who can't get them to grow in boxes. Rob, at One Straw, had the same poor results.]
As the clip ends, we're heading to the roof to see how my SIPs planted with sunchokes, aka Jerusalem artichokes, did. A preview of what we found can be seen in this picture.
I'll post that clip next.
[Updated 11,04.09. I'm not the only one who can't get them to grow in boxes. Rob, at One Straw, had the same poor results.]
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Man Humbled By Potato
Without giving it much thought, this spring I decided to try growing potatoes in a box after reading a story in the Seattle Times.
It didn't work. From an initial planting of three pounds of seed potatoes I harvested one and a half pounds of potatoes. That's right, I went backwards. A far cry from the 100 lbs(!) or more mentioned in the article.
After swallowing my pride and setting aside the feeling that I was a fool for wanting to Believe, I came up with a few thoughts on why it didn't work.
The first might be that I planted the wrong variety, i.e. not late season, of potato. Inca Gold are a mid season potato; I've read that you should avoid early season varieties because they only set up one bunch of potatoes. While excavating the potato box, that seems to be what happened in my case. All the vines grew 12-16 inches, set up one cluster of potatoes, then no more. That's still only a partial explanation. I should have a lot more than 1.5 lbs from one "set" of potatoes.
One clue that things weren't going well was a dearth of flowers on the tops of the finished vines. Flowers are a sign that the tubers are setting up, I only remember seeing a couple in mid-August.
It was very cold this summer in Chicago this year, though I don't think that's the answer. I found a couple of slugs inside the potato box, but the potatoes, and vines, didn't look gnawed on. The plants looked healthy, suggesting they had enough water and fertilizer. I've grown tomatoes successfully on the same spot--in the ground, not in a vertical tower--in the past, so I think it gets enough sun. With so many variables, it's hard to know what went wrong.
Honestly, I'm at a loss. I was hoping to at least be able to figure out what happened. Maybe some of our readers will have a clue.
I plan on reusing the soil, a mixture of coir, peat, and vermiculite, in my several of my rooftop SIPs next year.
I'm not sure if I'll try growing potatoes in a box again. I'd like to try something more conventional, like growing them in containers.
It didn't work. From an initial planting of three pounds of seed potatoes I harvested one and a half pounds of potatoes. That's right, I went backwards. A far cry from the 100 lbs(!) or more mentioned in the article.
After swallowing my pride and setting aside the feeling that I was a fool for wanting to Believe, I came up with a few thoughts on why it didn't work.
The first might be that I planted the wrong variety, i.e. not late season, of potato. Inca Gold are a mid season potato; I've read that you should avoid early season varieties because they only set up one bunch of potatoes. While excavating the potato box, that seems to be what happened in my case. All the vines grew 12-16 inches, set up one cluster of potatoes, then no more. That's still only a partial explanation. I should have a lot more than 1.5 lbs from one "set" of potatoes.
One clue that things weren't going well was a dearth of flowers on the tops of the finished vines. Flowers are a sign that the tubers are setting up, I only remember seeing a couple in mid-August.
It was very cold this summer in Chicago this year, though I don't think that's the answer. I found a couple of slugs inside the potato box, but the potatoes, and vines, didn't look gnawed on. The plants looked healthy, suggesting they had enough water and fertilizer. I've grown tomatoes successfully on the same spot--in the ground, not in a vertical tower--in the past, so I think it gets enough sun. With so many variables, it's hard to know what went wrong.
Honestly, I'm at a loss. I was hoping to at least be able to figure out what happened. Maybe some of our readers will have a clue.
I plan on reusing the soil, a mixture of coir, peat, and vermiculite, in my several of my rooftop SIPs next year.
I'm not sure if I'll try growing potatoes in a box again. I'd like to try something more conventional, like growing them in containers.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Baby I’m Amazed: Growing Food in Sub-Irrigated Planters (SIPs)
Three growing seasons after we started using sub-irrigated planters (SIPs), I’m still astonished by how much food they produce. Because we harvest a lot of what we eat every day during peak season--sometimes five pounds at a time--the extent of the abundance can be obscured. Today I decided to pick just about everything from the roof. Here’s the haul (minus tomatoes):
The chocolate peppers (some still green) are from a single 5-gal bucket set.
We aren’t the only ones using the sub-irrigation method to grow exceptional food. Many online friends are sparking the connection between people and what they eat, some with SIPs, some without. Bob Hyland at Inside Urban Green is a major force in spreading the SIP gospel throughout Brooklyn and on the NY-docked Waterpod.
El at Fast Grow the Weeds gardens in the ground and just plain inspires me. Her post on shell beans prompted me to crack open one of our scarlet runner beans. A shocking pink surprise awaited me.
Chicago’s own Nance Klehm at Spontaneous Vegetation teaches foraging and hosts lots of classes on making traditional foods, drinks, and balms in her Living Kitchen series. GRG pal Martha Bayne volunteers at Chicago’s Pacific Garden Mission, where Nance teaches residents about the cycles of nature.
LA’s Erik and Kelly at Homegrown Evolution keep us apprised of urban homestead projects from humanure to home brewing. We like their spirit.
Co-blogger Bruce showed me how to make horchata from a melon that went thump on the roof before it was ripe: just get rid of the rind and whiz all the rest, seeds included, in a blender with a squeeze of line. Yum. Thanks, Bruce!
The kids at Global Buckets are all over the SIP concept. Their theme? Two buckets on a mission to reduce malnutrition. I'm raising my horchata to that.
Growing can be playful too. Our scarlet runner beans made some serious progress up the twine-wrapped PVC arches this summer and are still going strong. The Rooftop Garden Project in Montreal gave us the idea. Check out this video of their city-wide project. Why can't Chicago do that?
I'd encourage you to take the time to browse these helpful and inspirational sites. Here are a few more worth looking at:
Not Dabbling in Normal
GardenWeb Container Gardening
Yahoo Edible Container Gardening Group
If you decide to try SIP growing, know that we've had extraordinarily positive feedback from people who've tried it. Start with one. Then show someone else how to do it.
The chocolate peppers (some still green) are from a single 5-gal bucket set.
We aren’t the only ones using the sub-irrigation method to grow exceptional food. Many online friends are sparking the connection between people and what they eat, some with SIPs, some without. Bob Hyland at Inside Urban Green is a major force in spreading the SIP gospel throughout Brooklyn and on the NY-docked Waterpod.El at Fast Grow the Weeds gardens in the ground and just plain inspires me. Her post on shell beans prompted me to crack open one of our scarlet runner beans. A shocking pink surprise awaited me.
Chicago’s own Nance Klehm at Spontaneous Vegetation teaches foraging and hosts lots of classes on making traditional foods, drinks, and balms in her Living Kitchen series. GRG pal Martha Bayne volunteers at Chicago’s Pacific Garden Mission, where Nance teaches residents about the cycles of nature.
LA’s Erik and Kelly at Homegrown Evolution keep us apprised of urban homestead projects from humanure to home brewing. We like their spirit.
Co-blogger Bruce showed me how to make horchata from a melon that went thump on the roof before it was ripe: just get rid of the rind and whiz all the rest, seeds included, in a blender with a squeeze of line. Yum. Thanks, Bruce!
The kids at Global Buckets are all over the SIP concept. Their theme? Two buckets on a mission to reduce malnutrition. I'm raising my horchata to that.
Growing can be playful too. Our scarlet runner beans made some serious progress up the twine-wrapped PVC arches this summer and are still going strong. The Rooftop Garden Project in Montreal gave us the idea. Check out this video of their city-wide project. Why can't Chicago do that?
I'd encourage you to take the time to browse these helpful and inspirational sites. Here are a few more worth looking at:
Not Dabbling in Normal
GardenWeb Container Gardening
Yahoo Edible Container Gardening Group
If you decide to try SIP growing, know that we've had extraordinarily positive feedback from people who've tried it. Start with one. Then show someone else how to do it.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Rooftop Caponata
This caponata is an essential part of our food supply, especially now when tomatoes, eggplant, and olives are emerging in force on the roof farm.
(Just kidding about the olives, but I couldn't live without them.)
With a tough growing summer here in Chicago--cool and rainy with a few spurts of heat--our plants were mostly confused. The early greens kept on producing happily in their element. The tomatoes got a funk that drove down production to about half of last year.
And the cucurbits--melons, squash, and cukes--are rife with powdery mildew. Check out this photo of the Mystery Greek Squash whose seeds we were delighted to receive from our pal Erik at Homegrown Evolution. Erik says he had two of the best squash he's ever eaten before his succumbed.
It's good for gardeners to share the glory and the gloom.
Top view
(happy little mystery squash)
Bottom view
(making its way upward with alarming speed)
So back to the caponata, for which we used tomatoes of all types (in shorter supply but very sweet this year) and the pingtung and udumalepet eggplant. I'm sold on these smaller varieties. For weeks I've been slicing them in half and laying them into a little oil in a cast iron pan, covering and cooking over medium heat for barely 5 minutes. They soften beautifully, ready to be chopped and added to soba noodles or brown rice.
Cast your eye back up to the top photo: just dice the eggplant and brown them in a little oil for this recipe. Raisins, olives (we subbed kalamata), capers, and balsamic vinegar come together to create a flavor profile that works on top of crackers with a smear of goat cheese, as a flavoring for your favorite grain, or alongside meats.
Play with the sweet-sour balance if it doesn't seem right to you. But above all, try one of the small eggplants in your SIP next year.
(Just kidding about the olives, but I couldn't live without them.)
With a tough growing summer here in Chicago--cool and rainy with a few spurts of heat--our plants were mostly confused. The early greens kept on producing happily in their element. The tomatoes got a funk that drove down production to about half of last year.
And the cucurbits--melons, squash, and cukes--are rife with powdery mildew. Check out this photo of the Mystery Greek Squash whose seeds we were delighted to receive from our pal Erik at Homegrown Evolution. Erik says he had two of the best squash he's ever eaten before his succumbed.
It's good for gardeners to share the glory and the gloom.
Top view
(happy little mystery squash)
Bottom view
(making its way upward with alarming speed)
So back to the caponata, for which we used tomatoes of all types (in shorter supply but very sweet this year) and the pingtung and udumalepet eggplant. I'm sold on these smaller varieties. For weeks I've been slicing them in half and laying them into a little oil in a cast iron pan, covering and cooking over medium heat for barely 5 minutes. They soften beautifully, ready to be chopped and added to soba noodles or brown rice.For the caponata, using smaller eggplants
eliminates the salting, draining, and squeezing the larger varieties require.
eliminates the salting, draining, and squeezing the larger varieties require.
Cast your eye back up to the top photo: just dice the eggplant and brown them in a little oil for this recipe. Raisins, olives (we subbed kalamata), capers, and balsamic vinegar come together to create a flavor profile that works on top of crackers with a smear of goat cheese, as a flavoring for your favorite grain, or alongside meats.
Play with the sweet-sour balance if it doesn't seem right to you. But above all, try one of the small eggplants in your SIP next year.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Potato Box Update
Back in May, I planted 3 pounds of Inca Gold seed potatoes in a 3' x 3' x 3' cedar box on a strip of land next to my garage.
As the seed potatoes sprouted and sent up vines, I added a new board to each side and covered almost all the new growth with fertilized potting mix. In a couple months the vines were all the way to the top. The idea, cribbed from an article in the Seattle Times, was that tubers would sprout along the entire length of each (covered) vine to fill up the entire box with up to 100 pounds (!) of new potatoes.
After I took off the bottom board on one side, I stuck my hand in about 5" looking for potatoes. All I found was a peanut, probably left by a squirrel when there wasn't much dirt in the box.
I'm going to let them grow a little more and then pull the whole thing apart in mid September in search of my 100 pounds of potatoes.
Stay tuned.
[Update 10.6.09, Potato Harvest results]
As the seed potatoes sprouted and sent up vines, I added a new board to each side and covered almost all the new growth with fertilized potting mix. In a couple months the vines were all the way to the top. The idea, cribbed from an article in the Seattle Times, was that tubers would sprout along the entire length of each (covered) vine to fill up the entire box with up to 100 pounds (!) of new potatoes.
Ordinarily potatoes are planted in the ground and produce tubers at the ends of the roots. Here's what a potato plant looks like in normal growing conditions:By continually covering the growing vine with soil, I'm turning the green vine into a very long tap root. Off of the entire length of that root, the plant will produce tubers.
If you're looking for instructions on growing potatoes in smaller containers, Love Apple Farm has a good tutorial.
This pic, taken August 14th, shows plenty of healthy vines climbing out of the box. A good sign.
They started setting up flowers around the 1st of August. Since these first blooms I haven't seen many more. That doesn't seem right.
Two weeks later, it's time to check for new potatoes, at least according to this link.
"You may begin to harvest your potatoes 2 to 3-weeks after the plants have finished flowering. At this time you will only find small "baby" potatoes if you were to dig up a plant. Potatoes can be harvested any time after this, by gently loosening the soil, reaching under the plant, and removing the largest tubers, leaving the smaller ones to continue growing. If you want late potatoes for storage, wait 2-3 weeks after the foliage dies back."
They said baby potatoes, nothing about peanuts.
After I took off the bottom board on one side, I stuck my hand in about 5" looking for potatoes. All I found was a peanut, probably left by a squirrel when there wasn't much dirt in the box.
I'm going to let them grow a little more and then pull the whole thing apart in mid September in search of my 100 pounds of potatoes.
Stay tuned.
[Update 10.6.09, Potato Harvest results]
Saturday, August 22, 2009
The Magic of Plants
As I showed in last post, my rooftop garden has been a so-so proposition this year. When mold, mildew, wilt and blight show up my interest in gardening drops.
I haven't read Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire, but I found this lecture he gave in support of the book a bit of tonic for my bruised (garden) ego.
The complexity of plants--rice has up to 50,000 genes, humans have roughly 25,000--is another one of those things that I never paid much attention to. The connection between plant evolution and human culture, in particular how plants are intertwined with memory and consciousness, is fascinating.
Unhealthy tomato plants don't seem so important anymore.
And it might be time to read the book.
I haven't read Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire, but I found this lecture he gave in support of the book a bit of tonic for my bruised (garden) ego.
The complexity of plants--rice has up to 50,000 genes, humans have roughly 25,000--is another one of those things that I never paid much attention to. The connection between plant evolution and human culture, in particular how plants are intertwined with memory and consciousness, is fascinating.
Unhealthy tomato plants don't seem so important anymore.
And it might be time to read the book.
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