Metro Cheapo» Gardening

A Step-by-Step Guide for Growing a Fire Escape Garden: Step 5

Metro Cheapo — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:45:01 +0000

A fire escape garden green pepper.

In the last step in our quest to grow a fire escape garden, the seedlings were beginning to grow robust and leafy — a little too big for their organic container gardening britches. I was looking forward to hardening off, the mysterious-sounding process where gardeners get their plants ready [...]

Organic Container Gardening Saves You Serious Cash

Metro Cheapo — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 20:22:36 +0000

If you think organic container gardening wouldn’t save you much grocery money (and even if it did, you don’t have the space), think again.

According to a Bankrate article, a tomato plant can save you more than $50. As we recall, it was just a few months ago that a freakishly cold winter in the South [...]

A Step-by-Step Guide for Growing a Fire Escape Garden: Step 4

Metro Cheapo — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 01:59:20 +0000

Getting there!

In our last fire escape garden episode, my arugula, Swiss chard, bell pepper, basil and parsley seedlings were thriving in their egg carton seed trays, basking in the glow of their full-spectrum T5 grow light on top of the fridge. And now, the next step in Metro Cheapo’s organic container gardening series:

Step [...]

A Step-by-Step Guide for Growing a Fire Escape Garden: Step 3

Metro Cheapo — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:28:20 +0000

My pepper seedlings look JUST LIKE THIS!

It’s mid-March, and my carefully-coddled seeds have sprouted into spunky little shoots in their egg cartons. In addition to giving them daily pep talks, here are a few tips for keeping your seedling happy beyond the sprouting stage.

Step 3: Taking Care of Seedlings

According to Yankee Magazine’s hints, I [...]

NY Times: Legal Apiaries Are the Bees Knees

Metro Cheapo — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:53:02 +0000

Mmm...nectar...

Today’s New York Times article, “Bees in the City? New York May Let the Hives Come Out of Hiding” had me buzzing with excitement (ha!). After years of undercover apiaries and surreptitious pollination, beekeeping in Gotham may finally become legal on Tuesday, March 16 depending on a vote by the NYC Department of Health [...]