day one. what to buy?

for my first purchase.. flower seeds? maybe kind of out of left field for some of you.. well at this point as those who are reading are people i know personally then you might not be surprised.

a little backround on this purchase.. and please don't be fooled by the listed price. they were marked down at the k-mart. $1.99 was really $1.19. with tax? a buck29 leaving 35 cents in the kitty.

a little more backround.

so i live in the lower east side of new york city.. same apartment for 5 years. its been a good deal. right across from the projects on the pitt so the rent is not skyrocketing (like everywhere else around here) and the apartment is kind of a rockin place to live.

basically its a six floor walk up and we are on the top floor. the apartment is 3 bedrooms.. the rooms are small... there is no real living room but we have a really nice roof deck and for the most part no one from the building comes up on the roof. our deck is "semi private", so we share it with the immediate neighbors but they are the same neighbors i have had for years. in the years i have lived here the roomates come and go but the neighbor is still there. its the kind of situation many people in nyc wish they had, but never could find. i found it by accident and i love it. great neighborhood. great place to live.

so back to the roof deck. with all that space and all that sunshine its the perfect place to build a nice roof deck garden. we started last year with some planters and a whole lot of dirt (all purchased by my neighbor) and this year its being taken to the nth power. we have tons of plants and vegetables. 40 something pepper plants. 11 tomato plants, 4 cucumbers.. herbs out the wazoo. basically everything you need for a salad or salsa except for the onion (pain to grow up there i tell you). i did a lot of research and so this year we will have so much of a harvest we will be giving most of it away to friends i think, but i like to tend to my plants. jen, the lady, says they are my babies and my mom says that gardening is in our peasant blood so i really don't have a choice in the whole thing.

I liken myself to my "far far" (swedish for father's father) who was always puttering around in his garden. its good and this year i want to make the roof a nice green spot, hopefully viewable from google earth, 70 feet up in the les.

back to those moon flowers.

we planted a bunch of morning glories on the fence and some snapragons and some dusty millers and etc. against the fence that make our roof private but i wanted to make a canopy of flowering vines that goes overhead to really bring the green home. hence the moon flowers. at a maximum length of 15 feet they will be perfect for an overhanging area of green.

a big plus?

their flowers only open at night which will be nice in the evening. and will be a nice addition to movies on the roof.

i planted the seeds a few hours ago in some pots and dirt we had leftover. hopefully no crazy acrobatic squirrels will dig the seeds up.

i have already planted a few moon flowers i started them in my house this winter... they didn't do so good. i hope these do better.. you do too.

and so for my first stab at stimulating the economy.. one day at a time.. i purchased 18 moon flower seeds which will provide shade, ambiance and enjoyment for months to come. at first frost they will keel over and i will have to rip them down. but for now it is a buck29 well spent.

600 dollars at the start.
a buck29 spent.
598.71 left to go.

the kitty stands at 35 cents.

maximum spending tomorrow..

a buck99

i can spend that extra tomorrow.

you can't stop me.