A ROOFTOP OASIS

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It was difcult at the time to appreciate what all that soil and sweat would eventually yield. But at the end of the day, when I put in my first planting — three dozen onion sets in a plastic foam grape box — I already felt that simply having a garden was worth all of the work.

PLANTING

Almost any kind of vegetable will grow in a pot . . . but that doesn't mean it will thrive , or that it will produce bounteously. So when it came to deciding what to grow in my by-the-gallon garden, I took two factors into primary consideration: the space required — both above and below the soil — and the expected yield. I immediately ruled out pumpkins and similar sprawling vine crops, as well as root crops (such as daikon radishes) and other veggies that have extensive or deep root systems. And I also vetoed spare-hungry, low-yield crops such as corn. (I knew that a five-gallon bucket of corn wouldn't produce much of a harvest!) The value of the yield was a consideration, too. I can buy a 50-pound sack of potatoes for less than $3.00, so I figured it would be silly for me to grow spuds.

Just what did I plant, then, besides scallions? Well, my spring crops were red leaf lcttuce, Swiss chard, chives, radishes, kale, and collards. My summer plantings (which I was able to put in two weeks earlier than usual, thanks to the heat-holding roof) included cherry tomatoes, pickling cukes, green peppers, yellow squash, bush beans, and parsley. I also added marigolds, coleus, sweet woodruff, and oregano . . . simply because no garden is complete without the color of flowers and the fragrance of herbs.

I planted my seeds in a conventional manner, using traditional depth and spacing guidelines. The onions sets in the grape box, for instance, were planted on two-inch centers — common spacing for intensive scallion production. Lettuce, which also did well in grape boxes, was seeded directly in three rows about four inches apart and then heavily thinned throughout the season. The larger plants — tomatoes, peppers, collards, etc. — were purchased as seedlings; each got its own five-gallon tub from the first.

The melon crate that I lined with Mylar (to hold in both moisture and dirt) became a garden unto itself. It was by far the largest container I had (about 30 gallons), so I sowed three crops in it. In the back half, a row of pickling cukes, interplanted with some dill, climbed a space-saving trellis. And in the front was a double row of green beans. Although the box eventually looked pretty crowded, all of the plants stayed healthy throughout the summer.

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