I’ve spent the last three days — yes, three days — picking out seeds. It’s time to resuscitate the garden (and, incidentally, this blog) from its snowy winter slumber, if at least only mentally for now. Yet while it’s still cold, there’s an unmistakable feeling of spring just in store, and the hens have even started [...]

I had no idea what had happened. But one day, my “ghost” eggplant (a pure white heirloom variety) had strokes of yellow on it. The next day, its entire surface was brighter than a canary. What? I’d been studying its progress ever since it was just a nub at the end of a stem. Eventually, [...]

Welcome to fall, and the start of some major downtime for the rooftop garden. We’re still getting tomatoes, peppers and leafy greens — and for some reason, strawberries still keep ripening on the vines — but much of the summery stuff like cucumbers and zucchini seem to have spat their last fruits for the season. [...]

Sometimes, one can fall into trap he or she smirkingly set. So it happened when I completely MIS-named my last Name That Plant plant! This Monday, I showed a photo of what I told folks soon after the guesses began was stevia; it was not. It was actually horseradish, which was right next to the [...]

It’s tall, it’s bushy and green, and if I gave away how it tastes, you might guess this one right away. So let’s see who can name that plant just by sight — it is edible, by the way. Speaking of naming that plant, on September 6th, I’ll be doing a lot of that for [...]

I’ve never grown nor have seen this plant being grown before. So this one was really fun to watch for me. It might not be the most difficult plant to name, but check out how huge and torpedo-like it is. (The flowers of the plant are also really pretty.) And the first person to comment [...]

It’s been exceptionally hot this summer, reaching ninety degrees for hazy stretches of days so often. So many of the plants aren’t enjoying all the heat, no matter how much watering they get. (It also hasn’t rained much; the rainwater harvesting bins have been tapped for weeks.) But some plants seem to thrive, and these [...]