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Have to give up balcony garden (read: fire escape garden)
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Posted by bklynsue NY (My Page) on Thu, Jun 1, 06 at 0:30
| This is my first and probably last post here, sadly. I had a thriving garden going on my front-street facing fire escape, only just found out that we have take everything down! Hoped it would never happen, as I've had plants up there for 3 years, and this year the perennials were really taking off, but my landlord would get fined. So upset....don't know what to do! We moved all the small plants inside (lavender, mini rose bush, geranium, cat grass, rosemary and lemon thyme...will they even do well inside at all?) but I have no idea what to do with the large tubs (one with basil/chives/parsley, one full of seeds I planted--assortment of california poppies and daisies and the like, tomato plant, window box with daisies and zinnias, and one really long box that's bursting with blooms now of snapdragons, alyssum and begonias) Our apartment is really dark for the most part, except that we've got 3 windows that get tons of morning sun, and the back 3 windows get some afternoon sun. There's no more room in the actual window sills for anything...so sad to lose my other plants...ideas? Suggestions? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Have to give up balcony garden (read: fire escape garden)
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| Depending on how much time and $$ you want to devote to your gardening inside, it is do-able to a certain degree if you find an area that you can use to set up special lighting for them and include some sort of air circulation across the area (fan) and a way to control/increase the humidity (humidifier - although in summer, a lack of humidity both inside and out in the NE is not really an issue but is an issue in winter). You have some plants (lavender, rosemary, daisies, poppies, tomatoes) that need more light than the others, which can grow in part-sun/light. If you are really serious about maintaining those plants indoors year-round, I would recommend you browse through the Growing Under Lights Forum and see some of the ways people grow indoors. An example thread that is related to your situation can be found here. Wish you luck! I overwinter a number of high-light plants with a simple Home Depot worklight, which itself is expensive (electric) due to them being dual-500W. The heat generated by them (I use a fan across the area and have 2 humidfiers there) can be a bit of a drawback, but the plants I put under them prefer it (other overwintered plants go into my cool moist dark bedroom). However they can go out in late spring/summer/fall in good shape. If I had to do it all indoors, I'd probably set up a different lighting system. |
RE: Have to give up balcony garden (read: fire escape garden)
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| I have basil/chives/parsley/thyme all growing inside on a window sill. If you need to give away any gardening stuff try here:
http://freecycle.org/
it's a network of people giving away things they don't need to keep them out of landfills. (It's good for lots of other things besides gardening as well!) They have lots of groups in New York. As for your indoor gardening, Could you do a two tiered planted on your window sills, or on a wall that gets sun? Good luck with the transition! |
RE: Have to give up balcony garden (read: fire escape garden)
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- Posted by jimshy z7 Brooklyn, NY (My Page) on
Mon, Jun 5, 06 at 11:24
| Oh, that hurts! I only used our fire escape seasonally in our old apartment, so I didn't get busted, or maybe I was just lucky. :>( If your windows get good light, is there any room at all for a plant stand right in front of it? Finally, on windows that don't open onto the fire escape, is there a way to hang a window box off the sill, or even pound in a few nails? You do what ya gotta to garden! Jim |
RE: Have to give up balcony garden (read: fire escape garden)
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- Posted by lesya Queens, NY (My Page) on
Tue, Jul 28, 09 at 13:27
| I feel your pain! I've had to move my big box of vegetables indoors while the fire escape is being painted (on very short notice), with the result that my cherry tomato plant snapped, and zuchinni kind of collapsed (I had been using the fire escape rails as stakes). In general, after 2 days indoors my plants are not doing well. How can I keep them going for another week or so until the painting is done? Thank you! |
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