I Plant My Organic Lettuce On The Roof /Terrace...In Cracker Containers!
Cracker-Containers
The cracker containers of Skyflakes ( manufactured in the Philippines) have been collected over the years and came from the Asia Shop in my district. I think I´ve collected around 30 boxes. I made a habit of not throwing them and thought that it would make a good pot for my lettuces which I plant each season...and the collecting paid off. The lettuces have grown in abundance and very healthy in this environment.
Slugs once devastated my plants in the backyard....
... and since then, I decided I would make the top terrace my container garden. We do not use its space tho because it is very hot in Summer. The good thing is, the plants are protected from gusty winds since the terrace is like a box surrounded by the 3 walls and the front is planted with conifers. The side of the roof where the gutter is located has a free space and is very good for the lettuce growing since the lettuces get the full sun.
The reason why I decided to plant not only lettuces but also other veggies on the top terrace is because of its unused space. Though small in size of 9 sqm.... I see to it that I maximize the whole area by planting various vegetables there.
The humble beginning of my lettuce...
The newbies are sold in all garden centers by the dozens at reasonable prices, one can choose which variety to grow, some are organically grown.
Sometimes, I use egg shells that is being processed thru the blender, make them very fine like powder and apply on the soil, it is rich in calcium and thus will feed the plant organically. Sometimes, I get horse manure in the neighboring farm as we are near the border of Lower Austria. But this is becoming rare as many tend to order this because of its proximity to the housing areas.
Eggshells as organic feed...
Do not throw your eggshells, they are good fertilizers for all plants. Wash them and dry , then pulverized using your blender. They are rich in nutrients for the plants particularly calcium for a robust growing.
We can only be sure that our salad greens are organic if we grow them ourselves. I never use pesticides or any other chemicals in my veggies. I eradicate aphids by making a concoction of baking soda and water... spray this on the leaves and the molds or other parasites will disappear.
And the nicest part of my container gardening is the harvest time. I just need to pick and get some leaves and we could eat fresh salad greens everyday! In making salads, I also harvest some container-grown cherry tomatoes and incorporated them just like in the salad below. More on my container-grown cherry tomatoes in one of my upcoming posts..
Have a great start of the coming week
and keep safe everyone!
All images in this post are mine
unless otherwise stated
and keep safe everyone!
All images in this post are mine
unless otherwise stated
Another Back to Simplicity of Nature......Spread Love......🤓 🤓 ✌️ 🤓 🤓
Indeed, the simple things are the ones that are great in real life.
What a great work my dear @mers. Ang galing mo tlaga sa pagtatanim.
I wanna do it here too.
Thank you @olivia08... Yeah, plant some in your backyard, I am sure your boss will love it.
Yes, but not like you jajaja
Loved this!
With my family we're starting to plant our food so this comes at a really good time.
Many thanks.. yes, that is a great idea being self-sufficient. Go for it!
Marvelous !
Thank you my dear! Hahaha, I love this wonkie having fun juggling your fruits and veggies!
This reminds me of a gardener in the city who started growing in containers on the roof of the building. So productive was he that he was able to sell to local restaurants. I don't remember what containers he used, except that they were a bit bigger than yours. He grew also grew completely organically.
I’m not usually very successful with containers. I struggle to keep on top of watering and we have a very dry climate.
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 21/28)
Thank you @tipu.
@minismallholding....That is a truly nice success story of that gardener.. and that is because he is passionate about what he is doing. I am container gardening because I have no choice and most important is I enjoy it. Thank you for visiting and leaving a lovely comment.
Awesome job on the organic urban gardening, @mers! You are using your space SOOOO WELL! I love the simple way you're using repurposed cracker tins and not needing to poison the slugs this way too.
Inspiring to MANY urban people, I think. 😊
Hahaha... gardening is one favorite chore I never get tired of.... I even garden with bare hands (no gloves)..the feeling is just amazing touching mother earth...But I must say, we are moving to a new flat and their the balcony is a bit bigger so I can do more container gardening.. I am sure it will be fun... Thanks for a lovely comment!
I'm a bare-hands-in-the-earth-don't-care-about-my-nails girl too. ❤️😆
Hahaha... welcome to the club! Thanks.
Oh hello @goldendawne...lovely to hear from you. Hope everything is ok at home , I was worried I didn´t see you on smoke. Thank you for including me in your curated list! Keep safe all the time!
nice work on this, great grow you've got.. ive done that before but with different bins, worked great!
Thank you so much, love reading your comments, well apreciated!
Please, stop using plastic.
Thank you.
Hi @luca1777... Thank you for stopping-by... These plastic containers are being repurpose each planting season. We are separating waste here in the country and people are disciplined enough to do that. We have proper bins when disposing plastic bottles as well as glass bottles. Btw, the plastics being thrown here are recycled so it is an ongoing process. Our problem is plastic in the ocean which affects the aquatic and marine life of all organism living there. So this must stop by educating the people and the government of each country must do actions and restrict throwing waste in the ocean.
And how does the plastic never reach the ocean?
If you not using/buying it from the start ;)
I know, not everything is available without plastic, but you can "work around" a lot of plastic solutions.
Only "..restrict throwing waste in the ocean."!?
It should be 100% forbidden, and punished as any other crime.
Big companies (if they gettin' caught throwing plastic in the ocean) only pay a fine...and then it's back to
business as usual...
So the power of the conscious consumer is to avoid any plastic from the start ;)
And go new ways...
Thanks!
Well, I for one use cloth bags I made myself when I go shopping... there are solutions for plastic packagings, am not 100% sure whether a soluble plastic bags that are environmental friendly really are environmental friendly... But it is always the politics of each governing state what prohibitions they implement for their country and its people...
What about you, how do you go about daily living without using plastics, what do you do with your food with plastic packagings? What suggestions to the world do you have in order to avoid using plastics?
Hi there ;)
So, in my Biological Supermarket they have paper bags (and also compost friendly plastic) for the veggies and fruits. Pasta Sauce and vegan spread for the bread e.g. i buy all in glass, keep a lot of them glasses, that i use later to refill with stuff like lentils, that i could not find without plastic.
Plus there are no-plastic online shops. I found an awesome dental floss made out of natural silk and bee wax.
My teeth never wanted to go back to the plastic version :p
Guten Abend!.... You are an environmental friendly and that is good so, you set good example in your surroundings and I hope your friends are following your ideas too! Thanks for commenting!
Thanks for your feed back.
Take care ;)