Green roof

I was starting to get worried that my entire rooftop garden was going to end up living in a third floor windowsill. While there’s been an awful lot of greenery popping up in indoor seed trays over the past few weeks, up until this morning I hadn’t actually seen anything pop through the soil in my 6 rooftop containers.

And then this morning I went out and found at least one tiny bit of green in every planter. I seeded three snow pea plants in each of the 18 and 20 inch pots. I’ve spotted signs that at least 6 plants have decided to climb there way up to sunlight. I’m not sure these planters can actually sustain as many plants as I’ve put in them, but I figured there’s a chance that not all the seeds will germinate, and I can cull some plants to make room for the faster growers.

I also noticed the first signs of green in the window boxes where I planted a few rows of spinach. Right now there’s not a whole lot going on in this area — just two tiny, tiny plants. But I suspect that one day I’ll blink and there’ll be a dozen full sized plants hanging out on the rooftop. Once these little guys get going, not much stops them.

The biggest challenge I’m facing right now is figuring out how best to harden off the bunching onions and garlic chives growing in my seed trays. They’re getting rather large and I think it’s time to put them in the dirt on the rooftop soon — but it’s pretty windy up on the roof, and every time I set the seed tray outside for a few hours, when I bring it back inside the plants have been blown over sideways. A few hours in the windowsill usually sets things straight again, but I might need to provide some sort of wind protection on the rooftop for plants that don’t have thick stems.