Orchid Study

Here are some shots of an orchid my folks got me.  I believe it's called phalaenopsis.

 It lives inside, which is a nice way to extend the Urban Porch Grange in doors.

Clinging Peas

Looks like the peas are taking to the trellis.

Growth!

Here's an update on the Grange.  Looks like it's time to harvest some spinach!



Only took a month.

Tomatoes, welcome to your new home! Known as EarthTrainer, its the latest and greatest in urban gardening lo-fi technology and its suppose to grow great tomatoes. The simple premise is a bottom up approach to watering your crops. Rather than watering from above the soil the EarthTrainer feeds the plants from below the surface thus training the roots to grow nice and deep. It also conserves a lot of water. Conventional ways of watering allow moisture to evaporate right back into the air.

Tomatoes prefer consistent and evenly moist soil. Soil that is too dry will stunt the plants growth. Too much water will cause the fruit with crack. Earth Trainer will keep the soil perfectly moist by wicking up only what the plants needs. The results - healthy and delicious tomatoes.

To read more on EarthTrainer:

http://www.earthtainer.org/

Time to Plant the Summer Crop

A visit home on Mothers Day got our garden in gear to start the Summer. Thanks Dad for the extra seedlings: tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and cukes. That will round off our Spring plantings: lettuce, spinach, snap peas, carrots and strawberries.

It was a busy day on the Grange!

We hit up Home Depot this evening to buy these plants a new home for the season, four planters. The tomatoes got the special treatment; a fancy grow box with a below soil reservoir. The peppers got lucky and they'll share that space with the tomatoes. Each eggplant got its own pot to grow in and a long tray will house the Cukes. Rachel and I got the seedlings settled into their new homes while Alex got busy building a trellis for the peas, already several inches tall, to start their climb.

To cap off the evening we got to taste the first strawberries of the season. Sweet Gams!

All the plants look very happy with their vast southern sunny exposure. The Grange looks like it will be a great place to garden this season.

Some Urban Farming Links (and a photo)

Here's an orchid photo I took at the New York Botanical Garden and two neat urban farming ideas from Lifehacker:

Filing Cabinet into a Rolling Container Garden

Wood Pallet Vertical Garden