The Death of Smith & Hawken Reminds Me Of My Youth

There's been some webiverse ado about the death of Smith & Hawken. Like all good funerals, you get to sharing your memories. My first rooftop gardening job, I was 24 years old, a bit cocky that I knew about this field. It was my first day, dropped on the terra-cotta tiled roof of the client we called "The Masterson's", near park, East Side -can't remember exactly where, family of actress Mary Stuart Masterson, whose garden we later built. 

My boss left me on that roof to construct Smith & Hawken teak furniture. I assembled the furniture and waited for his return. In those days, as there were no cell phones, when we needed to communicate, we needed to hit the street to find a working pay phone -often enough a good part of our day, next to finding parking. When he returned, I was told the furniture was the wrong model. I'd have to disassemble the furniture, put it back in boxes. Ugh. The job got better, but was always incredibly physical work. There's a lot of glory in the visage of roof gardens, but not much said about how much work goes into it, 'cept here at 66squarefeet. 

If I told you we had to carry 3" caliper trees to the roof of a 5-floor walkup, that probably wouldn't mean much. But I think carrying 200 40lb bags of potting soil up 5 flights of stairs carries some weight. Back then we didn't use (was it the frugality of our boss?) those convenient hoists I see being used all the time now to lift gypsum board into apartment buildings. When we were building a deck, each piece of everything needed to be hauled up. Often there was no freight elevator, but if there was, it was often in some ridiculously distant corner of the building. When we got to the apartment, they always seemed to have a white carpet! But no matter, shoes off, masonite down, paper down, everything taped, dirt, trees and plants carried through. 

A bulk of our summer business was maintenance -showing up to fix something, sweeping, watering, deadheading, painting, lots of electrical, cleaning fountain slime and whatever else. I found this aspect the most boring, but much easier than hauling the garden to the roof! 

New York was at the tail end of 6 years of recession when I began doing this work. I started at $8 and hour, boldly making it to $10 by August of that year. New York was a different place back then, I lived alone in Williamsburg, right near the subway.  I could survive on 10 bucks an hour, pay my college loans, save some even, although not without taking extra jobs and working lots of overtime. But even with all that, I still managed to find time to paint at night, hang out, whatever. There was NOTHING to do in Williamsburg then! Wealth was very concentrated in certain neighborhoods of Manhattan. I could buy fresh baked Italian bread at Sparacino's Bakery (been many things since it closed) for 75 cents. How things have changed in 15 years. So thanks 'death of Smith & Hawken' for sending me down memory lane. 

Savage Beginnings



I was going through some old photo CDs and I found these photos from the first year of the front yard garden in 2004. I had planted these maximilian sunflowers that I had dragged all the way from New Mexico -four years prior. They grew to 14 feet tall! Where does the tree begin and the sunflower end?

I planted cosmos sulphureus, and they got pretty damn big too. There were insects singing in there that I had never heard in the city -probably because I had threw in some plants from a garden in Maine. It was lovely in its wildness, but awful too.


There was a black-eyed-susan vine that had cute flowers but spread like a monster. The chain-link fence was still up, and overall things looked pretty ratty and wild.


The Boltonia I still grow, but no more B.E.S. vine, no more cosmos, no more Plume Poppy (you see it in the back left -one plant from Maine that became so many), no more of most of the plants I started with. Despite how it looked, I still was in love with it and the process of change over the years. I still have the maxamillian sunflowers, but I learned how to keep them shorter when I came around to understanding that they were asters. In my neighbor's garden, 'B' she goes by, I watched how she clipped back asters to keep their height under control.

I hear a rumour that my landlord will remove his remaining telephone poles from the other side of the house. If he does, and no one stakes a claim, I'll have doubled my 75 square feet to 150 in one fell swoop. I wonder if that new side will look like these photos do, when the front yard garden was new.

Possible Tornado Tonight



See the green area next to the yellow area? That indicates rotating winds at a low level. I may be the first to report it, but we'll hear tomorrow if it hit Westchester and Nassau counties. A week ago or so my wife's flight was canceled due to stormy evening weather, but I am still hearing planes landing at La Guardia despite windy weather and a strong storm in the area.


The little hook on the bottom left of the top thunderstorm cell is also indicative of tornadic activity.

*UPDATE*
A News12 report saying big damage, possible tornado.

*UPDATE II*
NWS says not a tornado despite mesocyclonic signature, but straight line winds upwards of 100mph.


Proud To Be Your Neighbor



First of all, I found this to be both hilarious and effective -I mean if I had a dog I certainly would respond to Obama's authoritative affirmation.

The other day I was in the side yard watering vegetables. A tall, young man walking a tiny dog was crossing at the opposite corner. Out of nowhere I hear "You gonna pick that up?" yelled down the sidewalk. I look and see my diminutive neighbor, who I just met the other night over garden conversation, walking his big dog. Caught-in-the-act! Finally, someone is caught. And I was pleased that it was another dog owner that spotted him. The tall guy shrugs, no baggy man. My neighbor gives him a bag and a little bit of shit to go along with it. I was so proud.

The Chopper

This past week I moved my wife up to a residency program in "upstate" NY. We went grocery shopping at a place that chops prices. In order to participate in the chopping, we needed to wait on the line for both lottery tickets and the chopping card. It was a long line in this economically depressed area. So I began reading all the hanging signs with neighborly faces, women always, stating how much they chop off their grocery bill by shopping at the chopper. It started to make me feel uncomfortable -all this chopping. The goal in america seems to be to spend as little as possible on food. I know, I grew up this way. My father did the grocery shopping (or was that chopping?), and probably wouldn't let my mother because she would be extravagant in some way or another. He would clip coupons, go to double coupon stores, the whole nine yards of saving on food.

Anyway, the signs made me wish we were saving somewhere other than food. The attitude seems to suggest that calories mattered most, no matter what form. Get those calories cheap! What if the advertising, the zeitgeist of american food shopping was different? Can I tell you, I participated in the chopping zone! Oh, dear, get this one -its cheaper. Chop-chop! Let's chop those prices! I stepped into that environment and I became a chopoholic.

Back in NYC, I have stores that I go to because they are less expensive. A place called Golden Farms (they're all called 'farms' around my neighborhood) has the lowest price on Organic Valley milk (3.79 1/2gal) and Peace (whatever its called) cereals (2.99/box). I think they sell them close to cost just to bring in the customers! But I won't buy meats or much veggies there. I go to a variety of butchers or grocers depending on what I need. The farmer's market has the best vegetables in season, but the prices are much higher. I buy there anyway (Cortelyou farmers are less expensive than Grand Army farmers, but I am so eager by Saturday I go to Grand Army). I spend way more time shopping for food in NYC than I suppose I would if I lived in the suburbs or rurals.

When I was on residency, I found food in Wilton, CT to be really expensive, but completely ordinary. Was it because I had only one choice, one store? I hate food cards, where they sell your info as a trade for a deal on sliced mushrooms once every few weeks (like the chopper). In upstate and western NY, things are hard, it's been a bad economy for 30 years. But there are still many family farms across NY state. I hope they are producing more than corn and soy. If people are willing to spend more on food, locally grown can be a reality in season. If the lowest price is all that matters, then it's unlikely it will come from those farms. It would be unethical to have those upstate farmers producing for a NYC market, while those who live around them still buy frozen or shipped "fresh" from name-a-place. It will be up to the retailers to make the push for local, more expensive food in their stores, although I suppose there will always be a market for cheap food and those who will sell it.

Chop chop.

The Drink

Today was the first day I needed to water the vegetables in the pots and planters. I'm no fan of the schlep -90 feet of sidewalk to the spigot of water, usually blocked by a car parked in the driveway. So I was happy with the rain for that sake, but truth is the yew tree was blocking much of the rain from getting to the tomatoes and then there's the tomato leaves, sending precious drops off to the side. Next year, I'm going to pass on all those tasty varieties and get drought tolerant varieties. But all things need water, right? This morning, I splashed water onto the stepping stones and no sooner this creature came on down. At first I didn't understand.


Last week I saw a carpenter bee rest on the yew tree for quite a while. I needed to investigate that too. It had just rained hard and there were drops of rain caught in the needle axils (?). He was lapping it up. I'm always amazed (why?) when I see insects stop to drink. Maybe its because they seem so self-sufficient, why stop to drink. Or maybe its because the water drop is so big to the body of the insect, but then so are we small to the lake or river. Whatever the reason, it makes me think of the preciousness of the resource. I splash water, butterfly there to drink. If I had not, would it have gone thirsty?


Click on it to see its crazy eyes.

What's For Dinner?



I have an Italian American mother who doesn't like much -but tomato sauce, pasta (family says macaroni for all shapes) cheese, and meat. So, no surprise I tend to cook this way. But after leaving home, you start eating other people's food and growing your taste. Unlike Ma, and whatever Batali says about real Italians liking mushy broccoli, I like broccoli sauteed firm with garlic and drizzled with a good olive oil, salt and pepper. I chose bread instead of pasta cause it was hot enough in the apartment without a steam engine going. Fairway in Red Hook (across from my wife's studio on Van Brunt) was having a crazy deal on fresh mozzarella (3.99/lb). I bought three -froze two. A can of LaValle san marzanos I had stored from some crazy deal they had on those a few months ago. Basil -garden. Fairway again, they had a deal on filet mignon (4.99/lb) in one of those wet-age bags that I do not prefer -but still a deal for this meal. I cut it up and froze some. Sliced the rest 3/8ths thick, covered it in breadcrumbs and fried it up in xv olive oil, lightly browned. Then into the dish with the sauce and cheese. Its very hard for me to cook for one, which I'm doing all summer. Fortunately I'm learning that leftovers are good. My mom always told us we needed to finish the pot (that meant the rest of the pasta) insisting we'd be hungry and this left an indelible urge to eat everything.

On Thanksgiving we used to eat an 8-inch thick lasagna at 1pm, then move onto the turkey at 7pm! The turkey was stuffed with something we call gaunza (spelling? who knows, never written). Check out the recipe here at WNYC. But, add romano cheese to the recipe, because I forgot to add that. Funny story -I met Ruth Reichl at a residency program the same year I talked with her on the air about that stuffing recipe. She couldn't recall -how embarassing.

Now I am going to go on and on about food. This past week I moved my wife up to a residency program in "upstate" NY. We went grocery shopping at a place that chops prices. In order to participate in the chopping, we needed to wait on the line for both lottery tickets and the chopping card. It was a long line in this economically depressed area. So I began reading all the hanging signs with neighborly faces, women always, stating how much they chop off their grocery bill by shopping at the chopper. It started to make me feel uncomfortable -all this chopping. The goal in america seems to be to spend as little as possible on food. I know, I grew up this way. My father did the grocery shopping (or was that chopping?), and probably wouldn't let my mother because she would be extravagant in some way or another. He would clip coupons, go to double coupon stores, the whole nine yards of saving on food.

Anyway, the signs made me wish we were saving somewhere other than food. The attitude seems to suggest that calories mattered most, no matter what form. Get those calories cheap! What if the advertising, the zeitgeist of american food shopping was different? Can I tell you, I participated in the chopping zone! Oh, dear, get this one -its cheaper. Chop-chop! Let's chop those prices! I stepped into that environment and I became a chopoholic.

Back in NYC, I have stores that I go to because they are less expensive. A place called Golden Farms (they're all called 'farms' around my neighborhood) has the lowest price on Organic Valley milk (3.79 1/2gal) and Peace (whatever its called) cereals (2.99/box). I think they sell them close to cost just to bring in the customers! But I won't buy meats or much veggies there. I go to a variety of butchers or grocers depending on what I need. The farmer's market has the best vegetables in season, but the prices are much higher. I buy there anyway (Cortelyou farmers are less expensive than Grand Army farmers, but I am so eager by Saturday I go to Grand Army). I spend way more time shopping for food in NYC than I suppose I would if I lived in the suburbs or rurals.

When I was on residency, I found food in Wilton, CT to be really expensive, but completely ordinary. Was it because I had only one choice, one store? I hate food cards, where they sell your info as a trade for a deal on sliced mushrooms once every few weeks (like the chopper). In upstate and western NY, things are hard, it's been a bad economy for 30 years. But there are still many family farms across NY state. I hope they are producing more than corn and soy. If people are willing to spend more on food, locally grown can be a reality in season. If the lowest price is all that matters, then it's unlikely it will come from those farms. It would be unethical to have those upstate farmers producing for a NYC market, while those who live around them still buy frozen or shipped "fresh" from name-a-place. It will be up to the retailers to make the push for local, more expensive food in their stores, although I suppose there will always be a market for cheap food and those who will sell it.

Chop chop.

Creature Comforts



The aphids are still holding court on the old broccoli. Afraid to move it or cut it down now -I don't have an aphid problem anywhere else.


Standoff? No, Staring contest? In love?...


Just a few bees, but working hard on these alliums. To see the blur of the wings, click on it.


The alliums have many patrons.


Mantis mint.

I should mention that I saw a monarch butterfly flitting around the garden last Wednesday. No photo.



Fourth Fireworks


This part of the front yard garden is doing well right now. The sun is really strong here, and the sidewalk and wall surrounding the garden nearly white. The hot colors stand out, which I like, though I can't say that I planned anything about it-just seemed to work out this way.


Grandma's rose is having its second flush of bloom, delightfully scented and no blackspot despite so much moisture.


The alliums have just peaked and the insects love em.


A day lily after all, so this one licking the fence will be gone tomorrow.


I got these from a garden going under the bulldozer and know not what they are called. I like them quite a bit, but the camera is troubled by their color.


This is the mystery lily.


I vaguely remember planting it -a free bulb with my lily order? I've never seen it bloom.


On the order of more common flowers, the Coreopsis or tickseed. This is the original.


After dividing it a few times over the years, this taller, all yellow, and larger-flowered Coreopsis is now predominant. Did it grow from seed?


The New Brooklyn Bridge Park...

...should be called Governor's Island.



The park is free, the ferry is free.


It's an island surrounded by the cooling breezes of NY Harbor which, I might add give you all the easy feeling of being at the beach, minus getting in.


It partly belongs to the National Park Service with rangers and everything, including historic forts.

It's a historical landscape, with a 92-acre National Historic Landmark District and New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission Historic District.


There are acres of lawns -in the sun and under huge trees. Because the island has been underused, the grass is quite nice, even under the trees.


Many of the big trees are labeled (who did that?).


There are historic homes you can simply walk into, doors are open.


You can bike around it.


You can walk around it.


There are no dogs -so no poop, relax in the grass without giving it a thought. Walk in the grass with your shoes off.
  • You can get as close as possible to the Statue of Lib without actually going to its island.
  • There are NO CARS.
  • There are lots of birds to see
  • It's quiet in the mornings, very peaceful.

What does it need?

Lose the helicopters. Constant helicopters. This has been a plague on our ears since the middle nineties and has gotten worse every year. Governor's gets tons of low-flying helicopters overhead. Lose em!


More real bathrooms, less porta potties with excellent real estate.


Ferry service from Brooklyn all the time, not just on event days!!

  • Bring in the cooks from Red Hook soccer fields to add to the jerk chicken food stand (tasty, inexpensive) in the Nolan Park area and you may just get a foodie crowd.
  • Get busy with revamping the facilities for even more things to do. To keep up with what's going on, the island has a blog.
  • Set up a kayaking/canoeing dock if there isn't one already. The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is on it -City of Water Day.
  • Have it open to the public more often: Governors Island will be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May 30th through October 11th. On Friday, the Island is open from 10 AM to 5 PM; on Saturdays and Sundays, the Island is open from 10 AM to 7 PM.

NYC bought this parkland for a dollar. Imagine if we built a simple water's edge promenade on the Brooklyn waterfront, forget the piers, the real estate development, all the trouble and used some of that dedicated BBP $350 million for hourly ferry access, 7 days a week, and other recreational support services on Governor's Island, which is just yards away from Brooklyn.
Who needs Brooklyn Bridge Park underneath the the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, when this first class park is just another few feet away. Wouldn't that be a better return on our initial dollar investment?

For a Lawnless World -Miniature Golf



Its fun for the kids, fun for couples, fun for families, fun for friends -so get on down to Governor's Island. There was a boom of miniature golf courses in my neck of the woods when I was around the age of 12. Five years later, they were all closed. But on Governor's Island, you can miniature golf to your heart's content for free (donations accepted) on artist designed courses.


It proved to be very popular.


My wife and another artist designed this one.


Its called Hole Zero. My wife is inside the derrick doing maintenance.


I am biased, of course, but many people said Hole Zero was their favorite.

Denizens Of The Compost Pile

The other day, before a heavy rain, I was out sweeping. A neighbor from the corner came by, a neighbor I have never met (its like that on this corner), and told me she is having a problem with some bugs, can I come and look. It was at this moment it began to rain. She had an umbrella. I said, okay without mentioning the rain because, well, I wanted to break the corner spell. Soaking now, she shows me her plants (never once covers me with her umbrella) and I see no bugs -everything looks quite good. Then she points out the culprits -pill bugs. I tell her there is nothing we can do about those, they barely bother plants anyway -just nip at young emerging seedlings from time to time. I tell her to collar the seedlings with something and I then move on to a drier place. But, it worked -now we wave.


These are the pill bugs (sow bug, armadillo bug, roly poly, doodle bug, wood louse).


They live happily in my compost pile, in wood piles, damp places -like under stones.


They require moisture and eat detritus and decaying plants.


I have none on my living plants, but lots in my compost pile a foot away.

This episode reminds me of a story from grad school. A professor who considered herself quite the gardener was having problems with pill bugs. She invited me over to check it out, but I felt -testing me. When I got there, no pill bugs could be found. She sent me to her compost bin. I've got my hands in her compost bin, looking for pill bugs when I realize her bin is filled with black widow spiders. Yow! Sorry, can't help. Pill bugs don't hurt anyhow, good luck.



Caught in the act. Wouldn't it be something to fly and have sex?


Slug enjoying the corner of the tomato planter. No harm done.

How Do I Support Thee, Let Me Count The Ways


Last year I got to trellising the tomatoes too late. This year, the same. But because of all the cloudy weather, the tomatoes have not grown fast, allowing me to rig up my trellis easily.

I went with last year's system. It worked, cheap, simple. Attach bamboo pole to the exterior of the wood planter with copper-plated pipe brackets (15 cents each at corner hardware).



I added "X" cross-members to the vertical poles. The junction of these "X"s will hold up the main stem. Everything simply tied with jute twine. New bamboo poles are painted green, the old are gray. The green rubs off on your hands rather easily; wishing they'd just leave 'em the color they are. You can see in the photo, below on left, my other method using netting.


Below are a couple of views of my trellis system that I prefer to use when I am planting in the ground, in longer rows. I line up the wooden stakes, in this case 1 x 2 pine, spacing evenly. Then slide the 2 or 3 inch square netting over the wooden stakes. The netting may be taught or loose depending on the regularity of the stake spacing. Then I use a staple gun to secure any loose anchor points. I add three or four layers, making sure they are level and evenly spaced. I only use this method when the tomatoes are young, so that they can grow through the netting, as it can be tricky to weave a tall plant through. However, you must teach new growth where to go for this method to work. If you do, it works great.

Terrible photo, but here is the one young tomato I'm growing with this method. I haven't anchored the netting to the stakes yet.


Below are two photos of a similar method used by my friends. They surrounded each tomato with four stakes and attached a more flexible netting. I would eliminate the extra two stakes in the middle and simply run the net the length of the row. Having converted to this method after years of gawd-awful cone-shaped metal tomato cages (you know the kind), they report that its doing quite well.


And that concludes this year's love apple support report.