Lincoln Center Green Roof

 Wow, what a great space! Was able to stroll around Diller and Scofidio's new contoured grass-covered roof at Lincoln Center today after watching a complimentary open rehearsal of tonight's Mostly Mozart rehearsal at Avery Fisher Hall, courtesy of a temporary partnership between Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

From the Lincoln Center website:
Joining landscape and architecture, the gently contoured Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Lawn is an elevated, 7,203 square foot expanse of public green that slopes gracefully toward Paul Milstein Pool and Terrace. Technically described as a hyperbolic paraboloid, Illumination Lawn brings another dimension of visual interest to Hearst Plaza—its texture contrasting with the surrounding materials, and its unexpected shape setting off the linear quality of the buildings around it. Designed to provide a tranquil, verdant oasis for students, artists, and visitors, the green serves as a dynamic gathering space, as well as the roof of a pavilion housing a new destination restaurant, a film center, and offices. 

The geometry of the roof is derived using straight structural elements that are slightly rotated relative to one another. The result is an undulating rectangular surface with two high corners diagonally opposed from one another and two low corners on the opposite diagonal corners. The slopes range from flat to 18 degrees.

The grass... is held in place by a combination of geoweb and grass roots. The geoweb is a perforated polyethylene cellular mat that is stretched across the roof surface and attached to the building perimeter with stainless steel tendons. The geoweb cells are filled with growing media and then planted with sod. The roots from the sod will, over time, grow to interlock with the geoweb. The growing media varies across the surface of the roof but averages about 9" across the entire roof. It was selected for its resiliency to foot traffic and the fact that it is greener than other varieties during its dormant season.

Groovy. Too bad it was too hot and muggy to stand outside for more than 3 minutes. 
I'll have to come back when it's a bit cooler. Of course, that would mean I'm going to have to go north of 14th Street, ha ha.

Urban gardening 2010: Eggplants (June, July)

The eggplants were getting stout, and flowers started forming in late June. The first few photos are of the eggplants in the long trough.

Mid/late June

Late June

Eggplant blossom (Early July)

I had read that eggplants are really difficult to grow, and especially pollinate, and many people end up having to "hand-pollinate"... These have been our easiest crop to date! They were the last things to go in the dirt outside, but we've basically watered them when they're dry, and have left them alone. I guess we had some busy-bees because the next week, you could see the swollen fruit forming inside the flower "cap"!

Early/Mid July

The eggplant is peeping out! (Mid July)

Mid/late July

Late July

The eggplants were hanging out there a little too long! (Early August)

The type of eggplants we were growing were called "green apple eggplants"- which totally makes sense. They are the size of small apples, and are pale green. The only way to tell that they're done is to squeeze them slightly to see if they have any "give". Otherwise, they are super smooth and hard, kind of like an unripe tomato.

P sliced them up and pan seared them with some bacon fat and served them with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Yummy! Oops, ate them before I could take a picture! 

These last couple shots are of the eggplants in the terracotta pot.

Mid/late July

Late July

A perfect apple green eggplant! (Early August)

Urban gardening 2010: Watermelon

Paul's coworker had given him some tiny watermelon seedlings in mid June.

We threw them into a medium sized galvanized bucket, not expecting much. But once we put them in the dirt, they starting growing like crazy!

Late June

Early July

Mid July

Watermelon blossoms! (Mid/Late July)

Bumble bee on watermelon blossom (Mid/late July)

First watermelon! (Mid/late July)

 Late July

Late July

We weren't sure when the watermelon was ready for picking, but since it hadn't gotten any bigger in a week, we took our chances (it was about the size of a tennis ball). P cut the watermelon open, and much to our surprise, the inside was was almost completely rind (the white part). There was a little pink-ish center and even the seeds, still soft, were whitish/clear. It looked more like a super round cucumber than a watermelon! Tasted like one too...  

 

Watermelon (& green apple eggplants) in  early August

More watermelons! Hope these are sweeter.... (Early/mid August)

Hydroponics 101

Carlos and I took an introductory Hydroponics Workshop with Boswyck Farms, led by Lee Mandell, their Chief Hydroponicist.

A basic explanation of hydroponics (from their website):
The word hydroponics is derived from the Greek words, “hydro” meaning water and “ponos” meaning labor. In short hydroponics is the art of soil-less growing. Rather than dirt, plants grow in containers using alternate mediums such as clay, gravel, sand, vermiculite and coconut fiber. There is a constant water flow mixed with a nutrient solution to keep plants healthy and happy... 

Growing hydroponically is highly efficient and environmentally sustainable. It’s estimated that hydroponic systems use 70%-90% less water than conventional growing because the water is continually circulated through the systems. In addition the problems of run-off and soil erosion are non-existent. Growing hydroponically means that crops can be grown in smaller spaces–a great advantage and practicality in urban settings–while producing significant yields of fruits and vegetables.

Sign me up!

We learned a little about the history of hydroponics, the benefits of hydroponics versus traditional soil growing, and about the many different types of hydroponics systems (aeroponics, floor and drain, Nutrient Film Technology, etc. We even built our own simple drip system with a 5 gallon bucket! I'm trying out lettuce, both in the little spongey "plugs" as well as throwing them directly into the expanded clay balls ("hydroton"). 

 A NFT system (the nutrient water goes along the bottom of these tubes in a thin "film") and gets recirculated around and around.

 Me building my bucket (that's the strainer inside the bucket that holds the hydroton in)

 

 Lettuce seedlings! They are being grown in an inorganic sponge-like "plug".

  The lettuce roots are coming out of the sponge plug (no dirt involved), time to stick them in the drip system bucket!

 The 3 sponge plugs with lettuce seedlings in the bucket, surrounded by the hydroton

 

The drip system bucket

1. The nutrient-enriched water is in the bottom half of the bucket
2. A large strainer about half the depth of the bucket holds the hydroton (the growing medium) and the seedlings.
3. A plastic vertical tube extends from bottom of bucket to the top, capped with a plastic ring (with holes around the bottom)
4. A low energy use (2W)  air pump (not shown) pushes air through the clear plastic tube, which pushes the nutrient water up through the vertical tube and out the holes in the plastic ring.
5. The water continually drips onto the hydroton, which in turn keeps the seedlings wet, and excess water drips back down in the bucket, where it gets recirculated up again.
6. The blue tube on the outside shows the water level inside the bucket, so you know when to refill!


We'll see how it grows!

Urban gardening 2010: Peas (June and July)

This July was so different from last July.... Last year it was rainy and cool, this year it was HOT. HOT. HOT. HUMID. HOT. 14 days this month, it hit or surpassed 90 degrees! The cool weather peas barely languished and finally gave up.... At least we were able to have a few peas in our salads- although most of them we just ate when we were picking them.

Late June

Early July

I cut down all the old dried pea shoots and leaves and we were trying to figure out what to grow in that container.... and then, suddenly, NEW peas! I guess the weather cooled down enough for them to come back? Who knows... we'll let these go and see how they do. Randomly, morning glories also started to grow out of the pea planter, so they will be growing alongside the peas. I hope that they, along with the marigolds in the lower zucchini planter will be able to provide the peas a bit more shade.

Late July

Late July

Brooklyn chimneys

Reminds me a little of the rooftops from Mary Poppins

Urban gardening 2010: Squash (June and July)

The last time I posted about the squash, I was meddling with nature, and our first squash had just started forming... Here it is mid June, with the flower completely open.

The flower has fallen off, and the zucchini is definitely getting bigger.

The harvest! Zucchini, basil, thyme (Late June)

Brunch on the patio- zucchini herb frittata with local La Bagel Delight bagel

There were a ton of blossoms after that, but for some reason, they kept falling off. Perhaps there were too many plants in the planter, or the soil needed to be amended somehow, but all the little half-formed zucchini just rotted and fell off. Then July's temperatures hit, and it was all over. The squirrels ravaged the new leaves, and then started chomping on the stalks, and the wind just tore them apart.

Thrashed zucchini

We had to chop them all down to the soil and basically see if new leaves and flowers would form again. Disappointing, considering these are supposed to be the easiest thing to ever grow, and we only got ONE zucchini out of the whole lot! :(

Brooklyn day with Katy

Katy's in town from Sweden, and we finally got a whole day to hang out! We met up at the Brooklyn Museum off Eastern Parkway and wandered around the Mummy Chamber, the Dresses, Andy Warhol, and Kiki Smith exhibits. When the museum closed, we raced through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden before they closed.

Katy and Alexander Calder's Le Guichet in the Osborne Garden

Earlier this year, Lincoln Center paid tribute to Mayor Bloomberg at its annual spring gala by offering to move the work by Calder to any place in New York City of his choosing for 90 days. After a Citywide location search, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which is celebrating its centennial year, was selected!  Le Guichet was created by Alexander Calder—one of the mayor's favorite sculptors—in 1963 and was presented to the people of New York in 1965. It has been on view at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts until now. This is the first time it has been offered on loan.  Lucky us!

We also walked through the recently opened Herb Garden- hooray for urban agriculture! I was too excited I forgot to take any photos. It was the perfect time to visit since almost everything was in bloom/season.

Finally, stopped off at my house for a break on the patio, then picked up some sandwiches and drinks, and walked along the Brooklyn Promenade to Brooklyn Bridge Park! I was so happy to finally make it to one of the free Thursday night Movies with a View!

It was amazingly refreshing to have a break in the weather. We watched the sunset over the Hudson and the temperatures hovered around the mid-70s as Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window came on. It was perfectly comfortable compared to the hot mugginess of the last few weeks!

Like anything else free in the city, it was completely mobbed. You could barely see a few inches of grassy patches between all the picnic blankets! But things like this make me love New York.

Zoe's flowers

P found this olive oil can discarded in the trash, and took it home to plant some gorgeous cactus flowers to give to his coworker's daughter (her name is Zoe).