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Fire Escape Garden



Does anybody do any gardening in the city?  I am, and I'm surprised at how well the 
plants do in spite of the heavy exhaust in my neighborhood.  I live in downtown New 
York, and below my western window, huge trucks bang along at all hours of the day and 
night, sending toxic fumes up into the air.  The plants on the fire escape get sun only 
until two o' clock in the afternoon.  I thought the plants would die for sure, but 
they're doing well.  Most of the radishes aren't bulbing up, so I'm just looking at the 
flowers.  The sweet peas and parsley had a kind of yellow leaf condition, dying back and 
rotting, but after I cut off the yellow and cut back on watering, they strengthened and 
sent up new shoots.  My mini-tomato plants are toughing it out, climbing up slowly.  All 
in all, I'm very impressed.  I am a person with no previous gardening ability, and in 
the most unlikely place I have found a modest success.   
In fact, the most serious problem I've had has nothing to do with the pollution.  My 
next door neighbor's cat creeps over in the night and paws through my fresh seedlings, 
lolls around on top of my radishes.  I've found that a squirt gun works fairly well for 
discipline, but I always wake up to some new damage.  
Anyone else care to post their experiences with urban gardening?



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