I interviewed Zach on his rooftop farm on a blistering 90 degree+ day. It’s amazing what Zach is doing and what the potential is for rooftop seed farms and seed gardens. Follow is our interview. Note that it has been slightly edited for content. Any typos are entirely my fault. – Sean Kaminsky

My name is Zach Pickens I’m the founder of Rooftop Ready Seeds.

Rooftop Ready seeds is a seed company I started 3 years ago in an effort to offer New Yorkers a seed stock that is meant for their particular climate and their growing methods. So we grow seeds in containers on rooftops in this very unique climate that is NYC

What are some of the unique challenges to growing on a rooftop?

Growing on a roof can be very challenging between you know high winds extreme exposure to sunlight you know some of your plants can be exposed to sunlight 16 hours a day in the summer. So that’s really challenging you have to be very creative in how you arrange your plants.

And staking them really well you know and there are a lot of other challenges as well, like the urban heat island effect raises our aggregate temperatures almost 10 degrees in the summers.

And it’s a delicate balance when you live by so many people. You have to be very you know flexible and you kind of have to make sure that you’re not impeding on folks ability to live their lives well in the city.

Open Sesame And tell me how hot it is today?

It’s about 94 degrees today and to be honest like I’m getting used to it. So it’s not phasing me too much whether it should or not but yeah I mean there are no trees around here so if it’s hot and the sun’s out it’s just all, it’s all out you know.

Open Sesame: How concerned are you about GM contamination?

I am 0% concerned about contamination from genetically crops or anything. I think that’s like that’s one very big advantage to growing seed stock in the city is I don’t have I really don’t have to worry about Monsanto Corn blowing into my field. Laughs.

Open Sesame: Why is regionally adapted seed important?

Regionally adapted seeds are very important for healthy production and to ensure gardeners and farmers have the most success they can from their crops. You know really it’s an old story but it goes back to seeing what grows best you know growing a crop of whatever you know whatever you’re wanting to eat growing it out.

Then find the plants that have really thrived in that environment and letting them go to seed and planting those the next year because you know seeds germinate some seeds that are that are grown in different climates they don’t germinate here. They won’t even germinate.

Let alone grow healthy. Another big important part of regionally adapted seeds is disease and disease control where if you are selecting resistance to a certain disease, you want to make sure that you’re you know holding onto those and planting them year after year.

Because you might have seeds that come from across the country that can’t stand up to you know downy mildew that happens a lot in the north east. Or you know. Those type of things. And uh you want to make sure that you have stock that is ready for it.

Open Sesame: Do you think that climate change increases the urgency?

I mean I think that with climate change we’re doubly affected. Our environment is already so extreme that you know if our days get even warmer we’re going to be in some real trouble so I mean, yeah I think what I’m doing is can be beneficial in that regard

Having seeds that are ready for this climate now and hopefully can adapt to it later. We have to be really proactive about global climate change around here.

Open Sesame: How important is it to our food supply. 

I don’t think we totally know what’s possible yet. It’s just such a new movement. You know there are acres, hundreds of thousands of acres of rooftops in this city that could be used for gardens, you know if you’re going in a green roof medium that covers a roof, you’re offsetting thousands of gallons of rainwater that would be going into the sewage system.m And that’s saving a lot of environmental contamination of rivers when it comes to extreme storms you’re moderating the temperatures of buildings and reducing the amount of heating and cooling that needs to happen in that building. All of that  is very important.

Open Sesame What about our food system?

I think everybody is to blame you know in a lot of ways. People need to be cooking more, they need to know about their root ingredients that are involved in their meals and really I mean it just comes from. I think that really is the root of it though. Like knowing your food. And you know the best way to know your food is to grow it yourself and harvest it yourself and you know and for me I get a lot of enjoyment from that.

And I think I mean most other gardeners do to so I think that’s an added benefit of like yeah you know your food you know where it’s coming from, you know how to cook it and you get it. You have that that feeling like self empowerment. It’s major.

Open Sesame: What are some things that everyday people can do to help.

Save their own seeds. I mean a lot of what I try to do is teach people about seed saving as well so they can do it themselves. I mean some crops are really easy to save seeds from. It doesn’t take much work and in fact it takes a little bit of neglect (laughs) so it’s pretty easy and I think the more people that learn how to do that – it will be very beneficial

Open Sesame: Has the potential for roof tops gardens been fully exploited?

Not even close. We don’t even know the extent of it yet. I think that there are some really good people doing some really great projects right now and they are getting the city on board and you know other cities too and just getting policies in place that make it easier to start rooftop farms and gardens.

Through dept of buildings you know through department of environmental issues those are some of the things. We’re just getting started. I there are hundreds you know upon thousands of acres of rooftops in this city that could be used for farms and gardens. So I think really in the past couple of years there’s been a consciousness, you know a raised consciousness of the potential for rooftop farms.

Open Sesame: Why are you so passionate about seeds?

Seeds are the root of power when it comes to your food and you’ve got to eat to live, so you know if you know how to grow your own food and you know how to save seeds from those plants you have everything you need to sustain yourself. I don’t think there can be anything more powerful. Seeds are life.

Open Sesame :Tell me about partnership with Brooklyn Grange.

I’ve been working with Brooklyn Grange for the past 3 seasons now on a seed saving project whereby we’ll identify certain crops that they’re having a lot of success with and that they like and will let those crops go to seed or take them when the seeds are mature and I will do the processing of those seeds and packing as well. And then we will split them 50/50 so they get seed for they get seed for their farm that they don’t have to buy and then I get seed for Rooftop Ready. We also exchange seeds you know from my stock I give some of mine and they can grow out and they give some of theirs.

This year is actually the first year I have a bed this year’s the first year I have a bed on uh their farm in the Navy Yard where I’m growing 5 different pepper varieties for seed. It’s just getting better and better every year.

Open Sesame: What inspired you to start?

I started Rooftop Ready seeds in 2010 as a way of offering NYC gardeners access to a seed stock that was meant to be grown in their environment. Not only was it grown and adapted to this environment but includes seed varieties that make sense for containers and shallow root planting medium.

It’s a combination of those two thing, and you know at the end of the day my biggest motivation in everything that I do in urban ag is really trying to help more people do it better. So what better way than than having people you know grow plants that are that are meant for this environment and will thrive in this environment.