We have lived in our condo coming up on 4 years. Whenever my husband and I discuss this, we are always amazed at this number…4 years- that is the entire duration we spent in college. Needless to say, time has certainly flown by. Since we closed on our condo in September of 2006, we have had three seasons to enjoy our roof deck. The first summer, we had our wedding and since I was pretty much tied up planning that, having the wedding, and then going on our honeymoon, I did not get a chance to do much with the deck. The past two seasons, I have attempted to plant flowers and trees to make it the perfect city oasis. Something like this roof deck we went to in Madrid should suffice:
Our deck somehow never seems to turn out like this. Each year, the plants die off one by one in the harsh conditions (full sun, constant wind from the harbor), and I sadly begin to throw out each plant that I painstakingly carried up 4 flights of stairs. Two summers ago, I eagerly planted cherry tomatoes and hot peppers. Coming home from work each day, I would race up to the deck to water and admire my beautiful vegetable plants. A most perfect tomato or pepper would start growing and I would wait for it to reach the perfect size before picking it. When that day would arrive, I would go to the plant to find that the perfectly ripe tomato was gone….nowhere in sight. Because you know what birds like, perfect little morsels for food grown for them in their airspace….grrr! All I can say, is that I hope those birds got their payback when they ate my habanero peppers.
Last summer, after a particularly hot and dry August (when I happened to be at that above roof deck in Spain and not home watering my plants), even my tough as nails pine trees bit the dust. Which leads me to this summer…a summer where I don’t even have a pine tree to start with. However, I do have my chives. I planted these chives by seed about three seasons ago and they always come back to me early each spring. They are pretty much my only redeeming gardening skill.
Well, I am going to attempt it again this year. We went to the nursery this past weekend and bought some new pine trees and plants. I’ll post pictures this weekend with the results.
Do you have any urban/container gardening tips?
-m
Your post made me laugh. I am doing my first year of roof gardening and am packing some serious hate toward the birds as well, I came home the other day to find they had eaten BOTH of my first strawberries of the year. I haven’t figured out a strategy to stop them yet besides reigning hate on them in my head.
Grow oregano, thyme, bee balm, mint and lemon balm…they are as tough as nail, grow like crazy, smell great all season and will join your chives next spring! I’ve got some ribbon grass that is pretty ,loves the sun and comes back year after year but will take over the whole planter eventuraly. Netting draped over your fruits and veggies will hinder the birds in most gardens but you’ve got some serious sea birds to contend with so good luck.
-Aunt M
Thanks Aunt M! I will look for those at the farmer’s market this week…