The Apartment Farm

Finally, I’ve gotten things underway. It’s modest this year, with an impending move looming in July (right in the middle of the growing season!) but I’ve got a few things working. I decided to focus on growing the things we value the most at their freshest – tomatoes and lettuce.

I’m growing two types of lettuce – Tennis Ball, the tiny baseball-sized butterhead type and Lollo Rosso – a 6-8 inch frilly dark green lettuce veined in burgundy. I didn’t get a good germination rate though – only about ten percent. I suppose that’s to be expected, using two-year old seed, but it does mean I’ll have to reseed it this week. 

I considered growing two types of tomatoes but settled on one due to space constraints. Originally I wanted to grow both Amish Paste and Silvery Fir Tree, but I opted for the Silvery Fir Tree as it’s a variety suited to growing in hanging baskets. I’ve got six growing in the greenhouse flat, and they’ve just put out their second set of leaves, so they’re ready to transplant. I need to get a few hanging baskets though, since I’d prefer to pot them up to their permanent homes.

The herbs I still have are lemon verbana – which I thought I killed until I watered it on a fluke and it exploded in new growth, parsley, and rosemary and a faltering oregano as well as a bay tree. The bay tree is beautiful – it’s putting out a ton of new growth this year so far, and desperately needs to be potted up. An evening project for sure this week. I’d also like to get some more flowers in the apartment. I like the old-school blooms – African violets (which I have failed at keeping alive despite the fact that they are apparently “foolproof”), scented geraniums, miniature roses, and forced bulbs. But the beautification plants will wait until after the dreaded move.