San Francisco | Backyard Roots

I included two rooftop gardens in Backyard Roots and was curious about the downtown San Francisco rooftop garden at the Chronicle ever since I heard about it. When the chance came up to visit it I jumped. Editorial assistant Kim Gomes is also the gardener and she showed me around. It’s her “green sanctuary” she said, up above the hustle and bustle of the city below. It attracts a lot of birds including hummingbirds. They have two thriving hives despite the fact there is not a lot of greenery to be seen nearby. The plants get full sunlight and a lot of wind so they are watered with a drip irrigation system ten minutes a day. Pests are few and easier to control on an isolated rooftop, although Kim says she still can’t figure out how the snails made it up there.

The garden is a place to experiment with plants and growing methods. One of the latest is a potato growing bag called a Potato Planter bag that has drainage hoes and two flaps at the bottom to retrieve the potatoes. She adds compost to the plants weekly. The potatoes grow faster in the solar warmed grow bag and the bag is a great rooftop option especially if you don’t have much space. Harvest is easy and fast, just open the flap.

Another successful newcomer are the evergreen strawberries she’s planted this year. They are planted in containers all over the roof, but I loved the pallet planter. She said to make the planter she simply stapled landscaping material on 5 sides and then filled with dirt. After planting the strawberries and letting them get established she tilted the pallet up vertically. She did the same technique for a succulent garden. For step by step instructions for the pallet planter and other planter diy planter ideas check the SF Gate article she wrote here.

The Potato Planter Bag

Therese Oxford on the rooftop of Quince Restaurant in San Francisco where she keeps several hives.

Urban Zen beekeeping is is all about intention, Therese Oxford says. It’s about helping the bees; the workers, drones and the queen, and not just about harvesting honey. It’s about not using pesticides, antibiotics, sugar or even plastic in the hives. She believes the factory farming of bees is contributing to their destruction. Back in the nineties she first became very interested in them as she read about their plight. She later took classes at the Green Gulch Zen Center. “If bees don’t make it, we won’t make it,” she says. “Time for radical language! This is it! We have to get out of denial or we’re done.”

She started maintaining bee hives for restaurants in 2009 and now she maintains roof top hives for some of San Francisco’s top restaurants including Jardiniere, Quince, Cotogna, Nopa and Tony’s Pizza. She doesn’t do it for the money though, and she takes much less honey than the average beekeeper. She likes to leave enough for the bees to overwinter without having to feed them sugar or corn syrup. She also never uses miticides to treat mites. Her hives are “survivor” hives she says and she believes they are stronger without antibiotics or pesticides. Her unconventional methods seem to work. This year she lost no hives. Well, except one, to a mouse.

When I asked her if she thought more people should get into beekeeping she says no. “It’s too easy to kill bees, it’s a lot of work to keep bees alive. Instead, focus on making something green. Plant a garden, support a tree.” she says, “Make some food for bees and if you really want to get started in beekeeping, help a beekeeper.”

It’s swarm season and when I arrived to photograph Therese she was there collecting a swarm to put into a rooftop hive.

Backyard Roots

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Category Archives: San Francisco

San Francisco Chronicle’s Rooftop Garden

Zen Beekeeper Therese Oxford