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| Rooftop Gardening: The Sky is the Limit |
Rooftop Herb Gardening: The Sky is the Limit
Maybe you had a rough winter (like my garden did). The dark, dismal, short days of little sunlight coupled with the stress of the holiday season, the relentless slew of activities has left you withered and in need of an extra dose of sunshine.When I walked upstairs today to tend to our rooftop garden I noticed I wasn't the only one that had gotten a little withered in the last couple of months.Our rooftop plants are in need of water, fertilizer and the extra light that the longer hours of spring and summer sunshine afford us.
Bliss Readers, it is time to get your garden growing again!My garden happens to be fifty feet in the air on the roof of the Wall Street Lofts in downtown Daytona Beach.Therefore, I have had to adapt to doing a lot of container gardener.One of my favorite parts of our rooftop garden is our herb garden.If is so rewarding to grow herbs because you can eat them-yum yum!
Here is one of my favorite 'recipes' for gardening.Feel free to do this on your roof, your patio or right in your back yard.
Pick out your favorite herbs.What ever you do, make sure that you get some basil.I am going to give you a great recipe next month that needs lots of basil, so get it going!Buy a couple of cinder blocks.Allow a hole for each herb.Not only are cinder blocks affordable and fun, but they are good for your herbs.Most commonly grown herbs need slightly alkaline soil; the blocks constantly leach lime into the soil, helping maintain the soil alkalinity at the proper level.Lay down a few bricks (the kind with little holes in them). Place the cinder blocks on top of the bricks.Before you put soil in, place some peat moss in the holes.That way the dirt doesn't 'fall' out.Fill each hole half way with soil. When you buy your soil, ask the people at the nursery for a soil mixture that is suitable for growing herbs (one that drains well). Also, pick up some good fertilizer while you are there.Plant you herbs!Fill the rest of the hole with soil.Water. Fertilize.Spend time every day or two checking in on your herbs.When they get going you can start picking them and using them.They like this.Visit my Urban Homemaker blog at www.BeDowntownDaytona.com to get more tips.What ever you do, don't be scared that you will screw this herb garden thing up.Worse case, a couple of the herbs won't make it-big deal.Make a note to yourself and try again next time.Experiment-the sky is the limit.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Urban Home Maker is the superhero and role model of Kelly White.Kelly White is the co-owner of The Jack White Land Company, a Real Estate Brokerage Firm specializing in Downtown and Historic Neighborhoods. She is working diligently to develop, market and sell Downtown Daytona Beach, all while perfecting her chocolate chip cookie recipe. You can reach her at kw@BeDowntownDaytona.com.
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