Food for Thought: Rooftop Edible Garden

By Alexa Sinatra

Food for Thought is a blog series all about Phipps sustainability efforts surrounding food! From the Edible Garden to Phipps Culinary Arts courses, there is so much to learn about the ways Phipps dishes out sustainable food practices.

Phipps Rooftop Edible Garden is a dynamic outdoor demonstration space that provides fresh produce for Café Phipps and serves as a site of hands-on learning for a variety of our children's camps and youth programs. Here, guests can find inspiration for their home gardening pursuits as they examine the herbs, fruits and vegetables being grown! In this blog, we talked with Display Horticulturist Laken Burns to learn more about the Edible Garden and helpful tips for gardening at home.

The Edible Garden is bountiful with an array of crops that differ depending on the season! Laken says, “In the cool seasons like spring and fall, we grow cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, collard greens, beets, carrots, peas, turnips, radishes, spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower. In summer, we grow warm season crops, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, green beans, zucchini and summer squash, tomatillos, melons, and cucumbers.” This is in addition to the plethora or herbs, garlic, ginger and cardoons. She notes that the Edible Garden is not just home to edible plants, but also to flowers which are important for attracting pollinators and beneficial insects that are critical for successful growing!

The Edible Garden is a major help to everything food-related that takes place at Phipps! Laken shares, “Almost all produce harvested from the Edible Garden is used on-site, whether in the cafe, the catering kitchens, or the Botany Hall kitchen for cooking classes.” This year, over 1,000 pounds of produce has been harvested and used on the menu for Café Phipps and catered events. Laken says that being the horticulturist for the Edible Garden involves “watering, sowing, planting, weeding, staking, pruning, harvesting, planning, ordering seeds, talking to guests and communicating with the various kitchens on site to meet their needs and ensure the use of the produce.”

For home gardening pursuits, the Edible Garden is a great example of the endless possibilities there are when it comes to growing your own food in Pittsburgh! If you’re interested in starting a garden at home, Laken says, “I’d recommend paying attention to your space. How much sun do you get? How often are you able to water? What’s the soil like? These factors will guide your gardening.” She says that radishes, spinach and kale are good options to start out with in cool months while grape tomatoes, zucchini and green beans are great for summer months. For beginner herb growing, she recommends rosemary and sage, both excellent additions to countless recipes!

A few tips for harvesting season:

• Tomatoes can ripen on your countertop, so if frost is approaching, bring in those green giants!
•  Use gardening sleeves to protect your arms from scrapes or irritating leaves.
•  It’s tempting to let a zucchini, or an eggplant get huge, but the flavor and texture is often better when they’re harvested at a younger stage.
• Get creative with your storage and preservation! You can dry or freeze herbs, make broth with vegetable scraps, or extend shelf life through canning or pickling.

Whether you’re interested in growing your own edibles at home or simply want to enjoy the freshly harvested produce at Café Phipps, the Rooftop Edible Garden is a wonderful space to explore on your next visit!