fire escape garden

Phase One of my fire escape garden has begun!

I discovered my passion for gardening a few summers ago. I was spending time at my mom and dad's house in the countryside, and had a lot of leisure time on my hands. My mom encouraged me to start helping out in her large garden. She had flower beds, herbs and a lovely organic veggie garden. Since I didn't know anyone in the neighborhood and had too much free time, I took up my mom's offer -- and found out how much I loved being around plants. It was incredibly zen to pull up weeds, water seedlings and harvest fresh peppers and tomatoes. I quickly realized that I had a proverbial green thumb. Almost everything I took care of grew into hardy, healthy plants.

Fast forward to life in the city. I kept a few plants around in my room, but was sad that I couldn't have an outdoor garden. I began to miss sticking my hands in some dirt and dribbling water down my sleeves as I tended to my plants. When I moved into my new apartment I was thrilled to have a room with an easily accessible fire escape. (Mom was not so happy, however, but that's another story.) My new room was small and badly painted, but hey! It had outdoor access, more or less.

In the rush and hassle of moving last summer, I never got around to starting a garden. Now that I've been settled in at my current digs for roughly a year, I have more time to begin my summer gardening project.

I invested in some plants today, and am rather thrilled to begin a new chapter in my life: Urban Gardener! My fire escape planting has, among other things, aloe, basil, cilantro, ivy, lavender, peppermint, rosemary and three other plants I had previously. (I have no idea what they are, but they have survived hell and back and have perked up considerably since being outside.)

Here are some photos of my new garden and the view from my window:

The actual garden -- still under construction.

The boys enjoying some fresh air and sunshine.

The boys, part 2.

I still need to put my new plants in better pots. I'll do that in the next few days or so. At some point I may have to move my little babies to the roof, which would kind of suck but ensure that I can install an air conditioner in my window.

Pictorial updates of my gardening ventures will be posted here. Hopefully the green kiddies won't die. Urban gardening is more difficult than rural or suburban gardening, at least in my experience. You have less room, more pollution and a smaller range of plant types to work with. There's also the wind factor to think about, since it's blustery four stories above the ground and pots tend to get knocked over.

Keep your fingers crossed for my garden. However, I'm pretty sure that it will turn out very nice -- and my friends will benefit from having some fresh herbs to add to their cooking.