• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to footer navigation
  • Skip to header navigation
  • Skip to privacy navigation
  • Skip to recipes navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Blog
  • Contact

Brooklyn Farm Girl

Cooking And Gardening in NYC

PopularStewed Tomatoes
let's be friends
join my free recipe club!
  • New? Start Here
  • recipes
    • Course
      • Breakfast
      • Desserts
      • Dinner
      • Drinks
      • Side Dishes
      • Snacks
    • Type
      • 30 Minute Meals
      • Breads
      • Brownies & Bars
      • Cakes
      • Casseroles
      • Cheesy
      • Cookies
      • Dips
      • Donuts
      • Holidays
      • Kid Friendly
      • Mac and Cheese
      • Muffins
      • Pasta
      • Pizza
      • Potluck
      • Salads
      • Smoothies
      • Sneaky Vegetables
      • Soups
      • Vegan
      • Vegetarian
    • Meat
      • Beef
      • Chicken
      • Pork
      • Seafood
      • Turkey
    • Method
      • Baked
      • Canning
      • Drying & Storing
      • Freezing
      • Instant Pot
      • Roasted
      • Slow Cooker
      • Stovetop
    • Season
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Fall
      • Winter
  • Vegetable Index
  • Urban Gardening
    • Let’s Harvest
    • Tutorials
    • Seed Calendar
    • Compost in Brooklyn
  • About Me
    • About Pamela
    • Our Garden
  • Life & motherhood
    • Journal
    • Motherhood
    • Our Upstate Adventure
    • Cats, Cats, Cats
    • Crafts
  • Videos
  • PopularStewed Tomatoes
Home » Gardening » Garden Tutorials

Spring Garden Cleanup Step 1

By: Pamela Reed
Posted:3/23/14
Updated:4/12/23

On Saturday last week it was nearly 60 degrees so knowing it was going to get cold again later that week we knew we had to make our way to the garden and take advantage of the temperature to make it a Spring garden clean up day.  Gardening cleanup usually takes a few days, and usually it’s here or there as “warm” days show up occasionally.  When they do, you have to take advantage of them!  Even though it was 60 degrees, it was extremely windy on the roof (very windy! I chased lids and plastic across the roof multiple times while yelling at them to “stop” but they never listen.) so I had still had to wear a winter coat and hat! One of these days I’ll be able to ditch the coat…

Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_1
(By the way, how awesome is it to have a World Trade Center and NYC skyline view in your garden?)

So on to the first day of garden clean up. Today we had a few goals:
1.  Clean up the 3 4×4 wooden boxes.  We were worried they were going to be frozen and unable to shovel but thankfully they weren’t.  We wanted to take all the soil out, replace the sponges underneath, cover the insides with plastic, turn the soil and add compost. I’ll talk about all that below.  DONE.
2.  Clean up multiple containers that had plants in it that needed to be yanked out.  Also in these containers the plastic on top needed to be removed.  DONE.
3.  Take off the greenhouses, clean out the plants, get some harvest. NOT DONE, TOO WINDY.
4.  Clean up a neighbor’s garden who tried, failed, and then moved out… all while leaving their garden and trash on the roof. Don’t be that person. I will cuss you under my breath while I pull all your trash across the roof. I will also be extremely upset when said trash breaks open and I have to clean it up half way across the roof.    DONE.

Here’s the before:
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15

Here’s the after.    Small visible changes, but yet big jobs that had to be done.
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_16

We have 3 4×4 boxes that we grow peas, beans, carrots and spinach in.    We started with these boxes many years ago before we started using sub irrigated containers, let’s say they were a learning process.  These boxes use potting soil, but we need to replenish them every single year to get them healthy.  Also to be completely honest the containers kick the boxes butts in terms of better growing because they do such a better job at locking in the moisture, while these boxes tend to dry out.  We have grown corn in them in the past and the results were always a bit lackluster due to the soil drying out in the hot months of July and August.  To attempt to improve the growth in these boxes we decided to line them with plastic to help the moisture.   To do this though, we need to get to the bottom of the boxes.. one at a time.
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_4

While the boxes were empty this was a great time to also change the sponges that we put under the boxes.  These protect the building’s roof so the boxes don’t leave marks or damage it. These are just basic sponges, I think they’re $4 for 3 at Home Depot.
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_2

Then we lined the boxes with plastic.  We cut out a few strips and staple it to the boxes side.  The plastic is loose as water can still get through the bottom to drain accordingly.  It sure gets hot on the roof so I’m really hoping this plastic helps these boxes.
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_6

Then we fill each box half way with the soil.   We don’t use soil for any of our containers, instead they are filled with potting mix, but since we have accumulated so much soil due to these 3 boxes we have to use it… because where else are we going to put this soil?  
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_7

To make it better than just regular ol soil, then we put a nice healthy layer of compost on top that was breaking down all winter.  Look at this beautiful brown compost!  Can I just tell you how great it smells (honestly)?  So Earthy.  
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_8

It’s also pretty awesome to see the steam come off of compost when you dump it out.   The sight of steam rising from a compost pile sure  makes me a happy girl.  It’s the small things in life… 🙂
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_13

Then we continue to fill each box to the near top with soil.   After we finish one, then it’s on to the next one.   If you’re doing this on a roof or some place you might not want to get that dirty, you’ll need some containers to shovel the soil into while emptying out.   
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_14

All boxes ready to go! Almost time for those sugar snap peas to get planted!
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_15

 The other big job we had was removing some of the old kale and broccoli plants from these 4 containers here.  These containers will be used for new veggies in the Spring so their old plants were pulled out.   It’s hard work.  I almost threw my back out about 8 times. 
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_9

It’s pretty amazing to see the roots on these kale plants when pulled up.  Container gardening is awesome!
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_5

What else is awesome and super wild? Some of the kale plants had new kale growth at the bottom. Somehow the plants made it through this winter and still wanted to stick around for Spring!
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_3

Here’s some container suggestions too since I’ve received some comments asking what type of containers we use.   One big recommendation is to pay the extra 1 or 2 bucks to get stronger containers.  These are often labeled “Tough” or “Strong” or “Roughneck”.   Why?  Winter is brutal and if you have super cheap plastic containers, they are going to crack at first touch.  I’m talking you are going to lightly touch the handle and it will fall apart.  These tough ones last season after season, so definitely invest in some sturdy ones as it will save you money quickly!
This is one of the Roughneck variety that comes in multiple sizes, we have 2 different sized ones depending on how many plants we grow.  
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_10

And this is one of the Tough ones.  Sometimes during Winter you can even find these on sale for 7 bucks.  I love these ones because they come with yellow lids that the containers can actually sit in.  Then during the winter if you don’t use them, you can just use the lid to close them up.  These hold up so well.
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_11

This is a cheap container as you can tell as the handle just broke off completely.
Spring Garden Cleanup March 15_12

Have you started to get ready for Spring or are you still covered in Snow?
What’s next on your Garden calendar?

Similar Recipes

  • Strawberries Showing Signs of Spring
  • Strawberries Showing Signs of Spring
  • Spring Onion Planting
  • Strawberries Showing Signs of Spring

Reader Interactions

join the free recipe club

Receive My Favorite Recipes Straight To Your Inbox!

Thank you for subscribing!

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

I love hearing from you! Submit your question or recipe review here. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Made this? Rate this recipe:




  1. kimmythevegan says

    April 3, 2014 at 6:01 pm

    Wow – you guys are making great progress. Spring is just around the corner too =)
    Love the cute little kale trying to hang on ;p

    Reply
  2. Sharon @ Farm Fresh Family says

    March 26, 2014 at 12:56 am

    Looking awesome! Hooray for resilient kale!

    Reply
  3. Shashi @ http://runninsrilankan.com says

    March 25, 2014 at 3:08 pm

    You guys are such an inspiration with your gardening and growing adventures! Kale is such a persistent plant! I have seeds for beets, cauliflower, tomatoes, squash, germinating – not planted yet. Cannot wait to see yalls produce this year!

    Reply
  4. Kelly says

    March 25, 2014 at 2:05 pm

    It’s so inspiring and amazing to see everything you grow in your garden – I can’t wait to see how everything grows 🙂

    Reply
  5. Chris @ Shared Appetite says

    March 24, 2014 at 12:20 pm

    Can’t wait to see your garden updates throughout the spring/summer! This post makes me very happy. We’re selling our house so I won’t get the opportunity this year to get out into my garden, so I’ll be living vicariously through you!

    Reply
  6. Monica says

    March 24, 2014 at 9:39 am

    What dedication and serious project of love. I can just picture all the wonderful things to spring out of this garden in no time at all. Can’t wait to see!

    Reply
  7. Karen (Back Road Journal) says

    March 24, 2014 at 8:50 am

    I would like to try growing some of my tomatoes this year using your sub irrigation container method. I would love it if you might be able to do a post on how you made yours. Would you just grow one tomato plant in each container?

    Reply
  8. Katie says

    March 24, 2014 at 8:15 am

    Awesome post! I was wondering about how you guys do all this stuff. I don’t have the problem of my containers outside drying out as much, since it isn’t so windy, but I bet the plastic will be a great solution. What a pain to have to do that, but it will be worth it in the end! Have you thought about just using peat moss and vermiculite mixed in with the soil that you already have? I’ve had good luck with that kind of mix before. Of course….then you wouldn’t use the compost. Hmm….

    Still covered in snow here. LOTS of snow.

    Reply
  9. Tandy | Lavender and Lime says

    March 23, 2014 at 11:58 pm

    It is fall here, the temperature over the weekend around 75. But today it is raining and closer to 68. I planted a seed bomb next to my kale and cauliflower. Thanks for showing us what you’ve been up to in your garden 🙂

    Reply
  10. marcie says

    March 23, 2014 at 10:11 pm

    Your so lucky to have a garden! That’s a dream of mine…right now my dog would either dig it up or eat everything, so all in good time. 🙂

    Reply
  11. Mary Frances` says

    March 23, 2014 at 9:33 pm

    Thanks for all the time you put into writing these posts! They are SO fun to read and I learn so much!

    Reply
  12. Sarah&Arkadi says

    March 23, 2014 at 9:00 pm

    This is a great project Pamela ! You made me want to do another small garden project in our shared backyard space this year! Thanks for the tips !

    Reply
  13. Lindsey @ American Heritage Cooking says

    March 23, 2014 at 8:35 pm

    I am so beyond jealous of your rooftop garden! I have no garden. Whiiiich, come to think of it, is probably best because I killed my basil plant in a record 3 days. Also digging (ha! no pun intended) your garden view!!!

    Reply
  14. Laura @ Lauras Baking Talent says

    March 23, 2014 at 7:50 pm

    Love the pictures! We are going to start a small garden this year..but are still working through all the plans. I planted some insides today … since I fear it will be awhile since anything is safe outside.

    Reply
  15. Consuelo @ Honey & Figs says

    March 23, 2014 at 6:13 pm

    Your garden is incredible! I can’t wait to see all that you’ll be growing this year!

    Reply
  16. cheri says

    March 23, 2014 at 6:12 pm

    So very interesting, gardening on the roof top, with views of the city in the background. And you have green houses as well. I am so impressed. Would love to see how your garden and greenhouse progress during the summer.

    Reply
  17. Debra says

    March 23, 2014 at 6:04 pm

    I need/have to do this soon myself sooooooon!

    Reply
  18. Ashley | Spoonful of Flavor says

    March 23, 2014 at 5:31 pm

    I’m always amazed at your garden. Can’t wait to see how everything does this year!

    Reply
  19. Sues says

    March 23, 2014 at 4:29 pm

    I love these photos!! Everything looks so fab and I bet you cannot wait for actual spring weather! 🙂

    Reply
  20. ela@GrayApron says

    March 23, 2014 at 12:43 pm

    I love this, Pamela! Playing with dirt on top of a roof. I filled with admiration for your projects. 🙂 ela

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

welcome!

Hi! I'm Pamela, an artist Mom who shares family recipes. My farm is a 1,000 sq ft apartment in NYC. Let's make dinner together.

Read More

join the free
recipe club!

Receive My Favorite Recipes Straight to Your Inbox!

Thank you for subscribing!

TOP POSTS

Half Sour Pickles

The Best Stewed Tomatoes Ever

Unstuffed Bell Pepper Casserole with Ground Beef

Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

Recipe Index
Vegetable Index
Follow On Facebook
Follow On Instagram
Free Recipe Club

fresh this week view all

How to Store Blueberries

Irish Potato Candy (Pennsylvania Dutch)

Stuffed Peppers with Ground Beef

Peanut Butter Protein Cookies

As Featured On
free recipe club!
Get weekly recipes, videos, and gardening tips to your inbox!
join the club!
EST. 2013
let's be friends
  • Recipe Index
  • Veggie Index
  • Urban Gardening
  • Web Stories
Back To Top
© 2023 - All Rights Reserved
  • Privacy Policy & Terms
Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled

join the recipe club!

Receive My Favorite Recipes Straight to Your Inbox!

Thank you for subscribing!

0 shares