In our second week of tremendously hot weather and false promises from shallow, short rainstorms, the Rooftop Farm is certainly feeling the heat! Last year’s solid rains have never seemed further away.

New York City has some of the cleanest, tastiest drinking water in the country, so we’re doing our darndest here on the Farm to not use much of it to hose off our plants.  The priorities are the newly sown seeds, the recent transplants, and our root crops–which need water to swell their tap roots and not instead go to seed.  Crops on their own include the deep-rooted nightshades and cole crops, which, even as their leaves droop morosely, we’re hoping will draw upon the green roof membrane’s water reserves to make it through the next hot day.

As for your farmers? Annie & Co are wearing SPF 50, trying to keep the red neck from the rooftop at bay.