Author Archives: batteryrooftopgarden

Hollywood Comes to the Roof

Posted on July 15, 2014

Well, not exactly Hollywood, but the sort of ultra-low-budget film project that will eventually displace a chunk of big-budget entertainment, as surely as green roofs and urban farms will replace part of our reliance on industrial agriculture. Award winning indie … Continue reading →

Posted in Berries, Blueberries, Guests | Leave a comment

Breaking Records

Posted on February 18, 2014

Just before the ground re-froze,  we harvested some sweet winter carrots and were rather amazed when this giant emerged from the relatively shallow soils of its rooftop bed: I’ve always been drawn much more to the qualitative than the quantitative, … Continue reading →

Posted in Carrots, Weather | 7 Comments

The Perfect Rooftop Fruit

Posted on December 3, 2013

Plants, like people, tend to get around.  A plant on my roof got its start in China about 2000 years ago, and by the 8th century AD found its way into Japan.   When it arrived in Nepal and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian Pears, Fruit, Pears | 4 Comments

We are family

Posted on October 15, 2013

Pop quiz: what do beets, spinach, quinoa and Swiss chard have in common? No, they are not all grown at Battery Rooftop Garden (no quinoa, yet).   Yes, they are all delicious, nutritious and ancient foods, but that’s not it either. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beets, Chard, Spinach, Vegetables | Leave a comment

How to eat

Posted on October 7, 2013

For omnivores like us, the choices are many, and growing every day:  Paleo, raw, pescatarian, macrobiotic, vegan, lacto ovo vegetarian, and many more.   Michael Pollan gives us a simple answer:  eat food, mostly plants, not too much. The dialog around … Continue reading →

Posted in Chefs, Cooking and Eating, Meals and Menus | 1 Comment

Tribute in Light

Posted on September 30, 2013

  It is rare for a memorial to be perfectly calibrated to the nature of the tragedy it marks.  The elegant Stone of Remembrance designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for the British World War I cemeteries is a notable example.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Design, Photos, Seen From the Battery Rooftop Garden | 3 Comments

Harvest Time on Wall Street

Posted on September 26, 2013

My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree Toward heaven still, And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill Beside it, and there may be two or three Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough. But I am done with … Continue reading →

Posted in Apples, Failures, Fruit | 1 Comment

Bugs

Posted on July 29, 2013

Between late May and late October 2012, Jeremy Law, a graduate student in the Ecology, Evolution & Environmental Biology Department at Columbia University, conducted a study of arthropod diversity at Battery Rooftop Garden.  Guests visiting during last summer noticed bowls … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity, Wildlife | 2 Comments

It’s about time

Posted on July 23, 2013

Mea culpa.   Your blogger has no good excuse for his long silence.   Here is an update in three parts:  fruit, vegetables and horticulture. 1.  Fruit Report What a difference a year makes.   The previously parsimonious Moonglow pear, offering … Continue reading →

Posted in Alpines in the Secret Garden, Apples, Biodiversity, Blueberries, European Pears, Malabar Spinach, Nectarines, Non-edible Bulbs, Non-edible Perennials, Peaches, Pears, Potatoes | 2 Comments

The Snow Storm

Posted on February 10, 2013

The National Weather Service and New York Times have authoritatively harrumphed that the recent winter storm does not in fact have a name, “Nemo” having been chosen for ratings purposes by those for whom weather is mere entertainment.   As gardeners, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cold Frame, Cooking and Eating, Kale, Photos, Seen From the Battery Rooftop Garden, Weather | 5 Comments