…in shades from white to pink are popping and promising spring in the ba..
Category : gardens
…is something I started messing around with a few months ago (featuring a miniature landscape of tufa rocks and scavenged blocks covered with pieces of moss varieties gathered on daily walks) on the part of the roof where water stands after rains or plant-watering and in today’s morning light it is looking picturesque out my studio ..
…took place this morning in grand style with freshly cut dusty green leaved olive branches covering much of the ground after the garden crew had come through to trim each tree back into a classic hollow bowl-shape which allows more light into the center of the tree. (more on pruning and more on ..
…and their happy healthy plant residents enjoying this afternoon’s sun, are visible out the window as I shuffle around in my dim influenza delerium, at least encouraged to know that they are out and enjoying th..
…or ‘black cabbage’ (a loose-leaf Italian cabbage, or kale) has been on our plates almost every day this winter, and today will be no exception, as I harvest the lastest tangy dark leafy green bounty from the back garden where I help out Wednesday mornings when I can – and ‘cavalo’ is an extra expressive ..
…from the Roman rooftop garden is good – and though some are still looking small and scrappy after months in the ground, growing very slowly with the cool temperatures and little light available to them in the winter – others are looking more robust and ready to eat, and I am realizing that my extreme ..
…or nettles, are to be found all over the streets of Rome, coming up from any unattended space between stones, they sting (a fact I am sure every Roman child learns early on with a warning from a parent – since it is the first thing that all of my Italian friends say about them: ..
…were the impromptu focus of the day as I discovered the great abundance of gorgeous moss (the most exotic sort of vegetation to the eyes of an eleven year Angeleno), in all shades of green, growing all over everything during my daily exploratory walk to see what’s up in the back garden and upon returning ..
…or Vicia faba, are keeping my rooftop garden spring-like in the middle of a Roman winter – and since I have never grown them before, it is all new to me – like the fact that they are often used as a cover crop, excel at fixing nitrogen in the soil, grow to become 2-6 ..
…is good, they are devouring my kitchen scraps (about 3 pounds a week), turning it into sweet smelling fertile black-gold worm casting compost, and reproducing like crazy (lots of little babies) – all from the comfort of their plastic bin which feels like the essential heart of the Roman Rooftop Homestead, the highlight of each ..
…is the surprising legacy of the potato plants that were cut down by the one night of frost up on the roof last week – and as I am back in the happy business of gardening in the sun, moving dirt, emptying the pots of ill-fated wild transplants, moving salad starts into bigger flats, transplanting ..
…for the Roman Rooftop Homestead plants – returning from their warm holiday retreat in my makeshift window greenhouse – now that this city has returned to it’s Mediterranean-climate senses with night time temperatures back above..
…has been created in my East studio window this morning, providing a new winter retreat for my rooftop plant refugees as sub-freezing temperatures arrive in Rome evidenced by the ice forming in the Academy fountain out in the courtyard below….and hey, it just started to snow (which is only supposed to happen every 20 years?), ..
…after six weeks of rain is worth looking up for – where you can see the story of Roman ruins begin before your very eyes, leaves falling, accumulating, decomposing, with dust settling, becoming fertile soil for any floating or bird-deposited seed to ..
…is a simple little system I have going on the Roman rooftop garden (also known as Edible Estate #9: Rome, Italy) which involves collecting unwanted empty containers (from American Academy residents, who also happen to write their names on their bottles when they leave them in the communal kitchens, which adds a really cute personal ..
…announced a winning London housing estate community garden last month for the competiton inspired by Edible Estate Regional Prototype Garden #4: London, England, commissioned by Tate Modern in 2007; and with the 2012 Olympics coming up I also hope that my 2007 manifesto originally presented at the Turbine Hall on June 23rd, 2007, ‘Olympic Farming ..
…in Trastevere made me especially LA homesick when I entered their hothouse of succulents and cacti this morning. (..
…friends who are fellows at the Accademia Danimarca di Roma (housed in Danish design splendor in a 1967 structure designed by Kay Fisker near Villa Borghese) made me feel like I was also taking a little trip to Denmark today as eight of us packed into a VW van, donated by the former Queen of ..
…is beginning to pop up – obviously enjoying the alternating sunny and rainy weather we have been having – and creating brilliant contrasts between the raw wood crates containing the colorful graphic wrapped cartons with their shiny silver interiors holding the bright spring gre..
…is the cute, rustic, and homespun exception to my otherwise ‘trashy’ (in the best sense) garden of exclusively found, salvaged, and recycled goods with all of the plants growing in the random empty containers I have gathered around the Academy – but those potatoes are really looki..
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