Green Roof and Garden Update early May 2014

Yesterday was a big day for us up on Ye Ole Green Roofe.  A reporter named Kena Vernon from News 12 Brooklyn came and did a story on the project.  She was a very nice lady, and as long as you don't get your internet through Verizon (due to some weird corporate war), you can see the story they aired at this link.

Since my last update (in early April), I bought and hauled a bunch of potting soil up to the roof and filled some of the fabric pots (from a company called Root Pouch) we're going to use this year.  It feels very weird to be paying for dirt, but in the Big City, dirt isn't actually dirt cheap.  Besides, you can't use just regular dirt for container gardening - it's moisture retention is all wrong, and it gets too compact for the plants to develop good roots.

Anyway, here's a wide shot so you can see both how green the sedum are getting as well as where I put some of the pots.  I put big ones (15 gallon) for pumpkins and squashes next to the sitting area.

And there are two different sizes of smaller pots (7 and 10 gallon) on the parapet wall.

The potting soil came from a big pallet of bags of soil at Kings County Nursery.  Big chunks of the bags were still frozen from the Winter when I brought them home.

 Every time I bring a bunch of heavy stuff up the ladder to the roof, I remember the 55 pounds per square foot of green roof load for which we're approved, and I think, "This is the last heavy stuff I'm going to bring up there."  I wonder when that's going to be true?

A picture of dirt in pots isn't all that exciting, but when you contrast my neighbor's black asphalt roof on the left with our green roof on the right, you can sort of imagine a better world, which is very exciting indeed.

I've had a revelation about the stump stools: They're uncomfortable.  I'm going to repurpose them into firewood and make some chairs that are lighter-weight and actually pleasant to sit upon.  Until then, the stump stools also make uncomfortable sawhorses.  What on earth would I be sawing up there, you might ask?  Well, I've finally started putting the wooden handrails on the tops of the metal railings.  I'll write about that in a separate post.

As for the back yard, we've got daffodils.

And these little purple flowers have started blooming all over our "lawn".  They're a native violet. Some people will tell you they're a type of pansy.  I'll tell YOU who is a type of pansy...

Speaking of natives, this type of plant is called "May Apple".  They're rhyozomatic, and they produce a little edible fruit, from which I'm told one can make a nice custard.  

Although they're called May Apples, apparently their fruit won't be ready until July.  You can see the green bud for the flower that will turn into the fruit between these two leaves:

Also in the native, rhyozomatic, and edible category, we've got a couple of ramps coming up!  I got some more from Good Eggs this week, so we'll chop the rooty ends off and plant them as well.  Maybe in a few years, we'll have enough of our own ramps growing to make a whole meal's worth!  Such goals!

Is it weird to be so excited about ramps that I'm including two pictures?

For pure native decoration, we've got two colors of "Bleeding Hearts" blooming.

We've also got Peaches McNugget - our feral cat, sitting on the chair.  Ignore the dead body under the tarp in the background.  That's actually our christmas tree waiting to be burned in the fire pit, and I wanted to keep it dry...  You'll also notice a ton of dandelion flowers in the yard.  I don't bother weeding anymore.

And the blossoms on the honeycrisp apple tree turned white and opened up.  Here's my cue to practice non-attachment to things.  If I'm not careful, the squirrels will eat our apples, and I'll have murderous thoughts about the squirrels.

Speaking of pansies, here's a couple of beauties: