Rooftop Garden at UofT

Once more, blogTO.com has delightful news. This time, it's about a student-run rooftop garden at the university. They even have a beehive on the roof to polinate the plants!

Even better, they give tours:

Interested in visiting the Sky Garden? Bi-monthly tours start at 5:00 p.m. in the main lobby of the Galbraith Building located at 35 St. George Street. RSVP to urbanagriculturesociety@gmail.com to reserve your spot or view the tour schedule here.

Click this post's subject link for the full article.

My Granola Life

I'm still learning from the whole bike-commuting experience. For example, I've discovered I hate being out in the rain when I'm not prepared (i.e. dancing, or splashing in puddles, or hiking) even more than I thought I did. I'm also re-discovering the meaning (the real meaning) of the terms "cardio" and "muscle-tone." Unsurprisingly, I'm happier about the second than the first.

In other news, I'm living more like a granola* every day. Although I've always been interested in living cheaply, reducing my carbon footprint, et cetera, I'm not sure I ever imagined I would be biking everywhere (not even taking public transportation as a usual, quotidian thing) and going to the farmer's market (where, for the first time at a farmer's market, I bought yogurt. And eggs. And smoked whitefish^, among other things) and composting and recycling and baking my own bread, making my own spaghetti sauce and pizzas and smoothies and not buying clothes things.** It's kind of fun, really. I feel more self-sufficient than ever. I haven't started planting vegetables and herbs, yet, but that's also on the list of things to do. I'm thinking tomatoes and basil to start... I'll discover whether or not my thumb is green. In the past, I've had very inconsistent success with gardening.




*I use this term with utmost respect, affection and admiration.


^Usually I just go for the veggies. The yogurt is excellent, as is the fish. Next on the list is good chicken. Free range and organic chicken, like the eggs.


**Okay, this last one has nothing to do with personal preferences. If I had my druthers, I'd still be buying pretty clothes things. It's just not in the cards at this point in my life. Sigh.

Earth Day Reprise

Contrary to my earlier, premature post, I did end up doing something Earth Day-related last Wednesday. One of my favorite educational programs at the museum is Victory Gardens (see this post for more details)

Last year on Earth Day I helped children make their own victory gardens, which really was a lot of fun. This year, I had other work to do, but I did manage to take a quick break to make one of my own (if anyone remembers my pumpkin and other vegetable garden experiment, that started out as a victory garden). This time, the seed options were more limited, but I chose alfalfa sprouts, which I consider to be very yummy on sandwiches and in salads. It's currently residing in the bottom half of a regular, small water bottle. I planted them last Wednesday, and already today I think I might need to get a bigger holder for them! I have so many little sprouts they pushed up a pile of dirt. I'd love to have a sprout garden, so I could just cut out sprouts and put them in my lunchtime sandwiches/salads .... Well, I'm quite pleased at any rate. Especially that Earth Day didn't pass completely unobserved by me.

Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum

On the last day of November (happy belated Advent!), I went shopping at Merrifield Garden Center, one of the most exciting places to shop for plants and such. I had earlier in November been introduced to a living Christmas tree, personally, which transformed a vague interest in living trees into determination to have one. I think the clincher was that one can start them small and keep them in a small pot until one is ready to grow it, which makes it ideal for a single young person living on her own. Although a bit heavy, it is remarkably easy to transport (a little easier than this). There are plenty of advantages to live Christmas trees, to which I'm happy to add the above, and main, reason that I chose one this year.

So I have my Christmas tree for the next three decades, which is one thing I won't have to worry about during future holiday seasons. I have a little bit of Christmas at my apartment, and when the season is over, I'll have a house companion. Kind of like a cat, but much easier to take care of. And free of allergens.

After buying my new Christmas tannenbaum, I had to find decorations for it. Which proved to be harder than I thought, given that this tree is almost two feet tall. Putting normal-sized ornaments on this tree would have been like wearing earrings the size of baseballs. Uncomfortable, and unbalanced. So I eventually ended up at Target, on the advice of a friend, and fortunately they had several sets of ball ornaments cheap. Also, I picked up some mini candy canes while I was there. The candy canes complete the decorations. Definitely they add a certain pizazz to my little tree. Also I now have a bunch of candy for the holidays. Especially satisfying since I missed out on Halloween candy this year...

The only thing missing is a star for the crown.

Environmental Do-Gooding

I planted my first tree today! Got up before the sun, made my way to DC to work with Casey Trees, an organization that helps restore the urban tree canopy. Good thing they had coffee, and even though I arrived early, I didn't have to wait long for a hot cup. Styrofoam-ish, but what can you do. I hope eventually the improvements I make by helping to plant trees outweighs the styrofoam cups I've used. Though next time I may bring my own mug.

Our tree was perfect. Well, nearly. Straight, but with a slightly crooked trunk, nearly deep enough in the ground. We had to deal with massive root systems left behind by ground cover and an earlier generation of trees. Lifted out a root-and-dirt carpet about 5 inches deep at one point. The trees our team planted were sugar gum, which I'd never heard of before, but they're quite pretty with star-shaped leaves and closely resemble the maples that we were replacing.

I learned how to use a pick-ax. Not sure I'm entirely comfortable with them, but they're not difficult. Just want to be careful not to puncture anyone. Could cause a nasty wound.

Got dirty and looked like a vagabond on the Metro ride home, and didn't feel the cold for at least an hour, we were working so hard. That's the first time in a long time I've had a chance to play in the dirt. All for a charitable cause, too. Can it get any better?

In the end, I can't write enough positive things about this new experience. Furthermore, I'm proud of having accomplished something as unique as planting a tree. What a great and productive way to spend a Saturday morning. Probably this is something I'll do more than just the once.

Before I sign off, a nod to Tyler Sloan, who tonight scored his first NHL goal while playing for the Caps in Dallas. Let's Go Caps!

News Bulletin

Good news! The allergies I ranted about in my last post have mostly subsided. I don't want to jinx anything (cross your fingers and no, I'm not superstitious), but they have been at a very manageable level for the past few days. It appears that the change in allergy meds worked.

In other good news, I finally put up a shelf in my room. Very excited, because now I have a place for some of my extra books and my oxygen, clean-air producing houseplants. Which are all thriving, so far. Now, about my pumpkin... that might be a different story. I write "might" because I've been neglecting it yet again, and don't have any idea how it's faring. :(

Tomorrow I'm going to see the Capitals play the Vancouver Canucks!!

Lastly, I recently took one step closer to playing a greater role in saving the planet by signing up to volunteer in the area! Some weekend in the near future I look forward to helping clean up the Anacostia river. Among other things.

That's about it for this broadcast, check back later for more.

Dear Diary: I am a horrid gardener

Dear Diary,

I spent the week catsitting at my mom's house (I miss the kittens already), living a life of luxury with a car, a giant house (as compared to my shoebox apartment) all to myself... the WHOLE time I was there, I comPLETEly forgot to check on my vegetable garden. Read: I have no idea if I'm growing a pumpkin that needs to be protected from ravaging racoons, or rabbits, or opossums... (which reminds me, I was in a museum in Sweden once, where opossums were considered a rare rodent creature in the creepy dark nighttime/underground section, whose main habitat is a small area located in and around northern Virginia).

I guess that's not entirely true, because I did spray it with fungus-killer last weekend. No new fruits then, so maybe there still aren't any. Finally saw the beautiful orange pumpkin flower when it was open. It's large, star-shaped, and about two shades lighter in color than the pumpkins themselves. My tomato plant, when I sprayed them all to kill the mold, was encroaching on my bell pepper plant, but hopefully hasn't overtaken it yet. Speaking of which, I'm sure they all need weeding, too. Bah.

Well, I did get back to my apartment last night to find all of my house plants thriving, a little bit taller and a little bit crookeder than they appeared when I left, which means they got enough sun and didn't miss being watered. So I won't complain about having a black thumb. Not yet, at any rate. But I won't claim it's green, either.

Yours truly,
a forgetful gardener

The Trials And Tragedies of Growing a Vegetable Garden: Story of a Pumpkin

This year, at the Navy Museum, I participated in a children's program on Earth Day, whose purpose was to create "victory gardens" (click the link for Wikipedia's definition). Victory gardens began during World War II, as efforts to reduce pressure on the public food supply. Families were asked to create their own vegetable, fruit and herb gardens so canned and other goods could be sent overseas to the sailors and soldiers fighting in the war.

Out of all the seeds we had available, I decided to grow a pumpkin. Though I must admit, I decided in part because I expected it to fail. Ironically, it succeeded beyond my expectations, and to make a long story short, I now have a pumpkin plant growing in my backyard. Along with tomatoes and bell peppers, but that's another story.

Before long, I noticed my pumpkin had a disease called powdery mildew. Not fun stuff. Spreads fast, and according to the gentleman who helped us at the garden center, also always in the air. So I'm growing this mini-vegetable garden, which reduces my dependence on packaging and emissions while increasing oxygen production and other good natural things, while at the same time, produces free produce for me to enjoy! (Hopefully, eventually we'll get that far).

Also, at the store today I was shown a chemical spray to help get rid of the mildew. Fortunately the gentleman I mentioned above happened by just about the same time I asked what damages the product might have on the environment, and he pointed me toward a brand called Safer, whose active ingredient is sulphur, which also gets rid of the mildew, and is organic! Yay!

So now I'm fixing the mildew problem, I need to get started on rodents. Something ate my only pumpkin. Yes, I had a pumpkin, it was bigger than a softball but smaller than a basketball, and I came home one evening, and it was gone. This was only two days after I discovered it, mind. So the next project is a fence of some kind. I think we're going to re-use the bamboo we're trying to get rid of, as stakes, and wrap some wire mesh around it. But if any knowledgeable gardeners happen to read this, I would appreciate suggestions of better methods.

So far, I think the bell peppers and tomatoes are doing alright. Gardening is harder work than I thought! Turns out it's not just digging, planting and weeding.