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"Yeah, he could be connected with his feminine side!" I laughed. After a
somewhat fortuitous find of left over paint tucked away under my sink
and thus my cobbledtogether - from - free - wood planters got a
makeover. Fortunately, my husband has been pretty accepting of the as it
took just a number of weeks and life to the roof was thriving.
We
have had, and keep to have, an endless reserve of salad leaves. We
loved radishes every lunch-time for just two weeks and I would most
surely be planting more radishes too if I did not need to use their
previous space to thin out my lettuces. Space is undoubtedly at a
premium in my own garden and I'm attempting to sort out how much I can
practically fit on the roof.
At 61ft, of which about 11 ft is
deck, I am left with 50ft of length. However, as I may have trouble
convincing the rest of the household that we do not need space for boxes
of sand and playthings, firewood or bicycles, combined with the very
fact that I'm not exactly sure how much is too much when trying to
navigate the waterways, I think we'll call it 30ft at most. Prior to
going in the hunt for more free wood, there is certainly another pallet
on the roof looking ready for a freshenup and my plan is really to make
that a home for my kitchen herbs, which are housed temporarily in an old
cardboard box lined with plastic.
The impressive thing is that
freebies keep coming my way, largely from those who've saw me looking
after my roof garden. Only yesterday I was offered two tarragon infants
from the fellow boater. Note to self (and boat other gardeners): be
aware that on the roof of a boat, a garden has no shelter. I was a
little gutted as I had so lovingly tended them indoors and had only just
set them on to the roof prepared to plant out.
Some major successes have to date been:
Radishes
- wow, I didn't expect growing such whoppers in a little space! I
believe they are most certainly deserving of a new planter all to
themselves.
Crisp Mint Looseleaf Lettuce - These have already been
a run-away success offering a yummy and infinite stockpile of hardy
leaves perfect for growing in a little space open to each of of the
elements.
Particular my Alyssum Snow Carpet flowers have been
attracting a lot of bee focus lately, and in the array of wild flower
seeds I've sprinkled within the corners of each planter and that could
certainly only be a good thing.
But needless to say there has been a few failures, also:
Rocket
- I have had only the tiniest of increase and I am unable to imagine
there will ever be any such thing worth eating. Hints anyone?
Landcress
- started great, but the moment I began picking it turned red and now
appears well, a little unexpected... I'm guessing I allow it to 'bolt'.
In
addition to these successes and failures I am also growing Claytonia
(Miners Lettuce or Cold weather Purslane), Bianca Riccia da Taglio
(Salad Endive) and Bronze Arrowhead Oakleaf lettuce, which have all so
far been quite successful. Perhaps this is right down to my carefully
prepared Regenerative Leadership Institute natural earth, who knows?
The
most amazing thing has become the speed at which my tiny roof garden
has flourished and offered food to us, verifying to me that even with
limited space, growing a number of your own personal is an entirely
worthwhile exercise. If you think that a bag of salad leaves at the
supermarket can really cost you GBP1.50 it seems silly to not grow your
own and I definitely believe that we shall have enough to last the whole
summer at this speed.
There is certainly of course just one
problem and that is, I'm now hooked and wishing I had a great deal more
space to be able to grow more. As much like I love lettuce leaves, I'd
sincerely like to expand my repertoire, but I think that presents a
problem and my planters are shallow.
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