I live in a small urban rowhouse with limited outdoor space. Thanks to a major renovation project I finally got my dream of a rooftop deck a little over a year ago. Last year was my first time attempting to garden up there and I'll be the first to admit I went a little bit nuts! Having a water source is absolutely critical. If there's no hose or spigot on the roof, watering will be a major pain in the @$$--and either way, the more plants, the more time watering so fewer plants in bigger pots make a big difference. Small pots will dry out far too quickly. Likewise, clay pots will dry out very quickly; use plastic pots to help minimize watering. Surprisingly, I didn't find much difference among the various potting soils I tried--plants did well in all of them, as long as I factored in (1) how wet or dry the plants wanted to be and (2) how quickly the particular mix drained. Lightweight soil mixes dry out very quickly, however. One thing that did surprise me was how much the water run-off stained our deck. One of the potting mixes (Gardener's Gold) was rather heavy and high in organic matter--great for the cannas and other tropicals but the water that ran out the bottom was dark brown and left stains. To minimize damage to a deck, perch the pots on "feet". One thing I didn't factor in was what to do when traveling; in early summer when the plants were small I could leave them for 2-3 days but by the end of summer even one day without watering would have been a disaster. Make friends with your plant-loving neighbors so they can water for you when you travel! Seek out sun, wind & drought resistant plants. On my ground-floor deck--as hot and sunny but not as windy--I grow many plants in containers, including herbs (mostly basil) in big pots with angelonia, a great combination that looks good right up until frost. Many grasses are suitable for exposed locations and on the rooftop deck, Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum' did particularly well. I was also very pleased with Gaura, which bloomed all summer. Although I didn't try any succulents, I expect sedums, portulacas and many others would do well. Cannas did surprisingly well, even once they became hopelessly potbound, but by late summer they required watering twice a day. Deep saucers to hold water helped a bit (but not as much as I hoped!). The good news was that drying out a bit didn't seem to hurt them much. Some plants loved the sun and heat but were difficult to keep watered properly--this included ornamental sweet potatoes and elephant ears. I had to keep cutting back the sweet potatoes so they wouldn't take over. Some plants did well but were ultimately so messy I won't grow them again. This included salvias and lantanas; hundreds of little flowers kept dropping all over the place and I had to keep sweeping them up. This year, I plan to grow fewer plants; I will grow the grasses and cannas again, but no lantanas or salvias (although I will miss the hummingbirds they attracted!). I will also grow plants mostly in their own pots--no more mixed containers because almost invariably, one plant would do better than the rest and crowd the other plants out. Finally, make sure you have (1) a place to sit and enjoy it, and (2) some kind of shade. These are little things but will make the rooftop so much more enjoyable. Here's a slide show documenting my rooftop deck and the plants I grew there in 2009, along with a few photos of my ground-level garden (as viewed from the deck) mixed in. Here is a link that might be useful: Rooftop deck slideshow

Why not start a market garden? I grow not only edibles but ornamentals for farmers market every year to support my seed and plant habits.....plus my yard looks good(sometimes)and I eat pretty darn good by the looks of me...LOL Peggy

Martin, I have smoked (exclusively) Cuban cigars since 1995, and I can say without doubt (and there is no bias coming from the "mystique" or taboo of Cuban cigars being "illegal") that their tobacco is definitely the best. If they could just keep good rollers making them it would be cigar utopia (since the "cigar boom" of the 90's Cuban cigars have been plagued with poor and/or inconsistent construction). However, when they get enough experience the rollers hop a boat and make their way to Nicarauga, Honduras or the Dominican Republic where they can earn more money. Anyway, I digress. They have been growing "Cuban seed" tobacco in these other countries for decades, and it still isn't as good. I believe the superior quality of Cuban tobacco is the result of a combination of climate, soil, and having grown the same strains of tobacco for decades or, in some cases, for millenia. I don't know what this has to do with DNA or much less, figs, but you mentioned something that is another of my passions, so there you go :)

I think we can let this thread die of natural causes. I disagree that these Black Currants are detested in the U.S. I would say that most Americans know little about them or their healthy qualities -- and most Europeans do. There's good reason, though, because the Black Currant bush/tree was forbidden to be planted in the U.S. for quite awhile because of a problem with our Pine trees. However, the plants that are available now do not cause diseases to our trees. The Black Currant was used in European countries -- Scandinavia and Britain especially -- for generations because it provides very high Vitamin C for countries that cannot grow citrus fruit. So the fruit was used to make syrups and beverages there. The flavor of Black Currants is not so common in the U.S. Obviously, no one really has any new recipes -- so I'll continue to do what I've done before. Thanks everyone. Kathy in Washington