Getting Our Hands Dirty

April 13, 2010

Molly de Aguiar, Program Associate

We’re only weeks away from getting our hands in the dirt and planting our rooftop garden—we’ve already cleaned it up and have starter plants of lettuces, dill and radishes in our kitchen. We’re also working with the Freylinghuysen Arboretum to source native and local plants and to help us plan for three seasons of planting.

Cleaning up the garden for 2010

We took advantage of the warm weather last week to clean up our planters.

Lovely Lavendar and Chives

Our lavender and chives are thriving already.

Strawberries doing well already in 2010

And so are our strawberries!

Compost bin for garden

This compost bin is a very happy addition to our gardening arsenal. We have a smaller compost bin in our staff kitchen which we empty into our rooftop bin frequently. In addition to our food scraps, the Dodge Foundation uses compostable plates, cups and napkins which we can tear up and stick in our bin.

Green Roof mid April 2010

Right now, the rest of our green roof is growing beautifully. The color of the sedum is spectacular.

Close up of Green Roof

Close Up 2 of Green Roof

I’ll share more pictures as this year’s garden grows. In the meantime, if you want to take a look at last year’s garden and green roof photos, you can find them on Flickr.

While we’re on the topic of green roofs and gardens, below is an interesting video from the Guardian on green roofs in Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK which I saw on Twitter via our friends at grist. (Follow grist on Twitter).

Green Roofs of Sheffield

Here’s a clever idea for small space gardening from Re-nest using recycled soda bottles:

Small space vertical garden with recycled soda bottles

From CRAFT, you might find these best easy garden tips helpful:

garden goodness by CRAFT Rose in Bloom by CRAFT

And The Crochet Dude helps you plant your garden in an easy grid:

Garden Grid by the Crochet Dude

Excited to get your hands in the dirt? What are you planting this year?

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