They’re breaking new ground at Six Penn Kitchen. And all of it has to be carted in and hauled up to the roof for Downtown Pittsburgh’s first ever restaurant roof garden. Executive Chef Chris Jackson has a bee in his toque (red ballcap) about growing his own vegetables and herbs. When he saw that his building has a rubbery roof with drains, water and electric connections, the idea was, you might say, firmly planted. Besides that, the most open and available part of that roof is bathed in sun throughout the mornings into early afternoons, ideal for growing.

Last summer, the restaurant installed a party deck – a couple of cabanas, a few open seats, a mini-bar, some shrubbery – on part of the roof. They’re adding a grill this year. Chef’s garden is behind the wall, on the opposite end.

An elevator serves both sections. Thank Saint Fiacre! The patron of gardeners must have seen the kitchen/garden detail coming with tons of sand, pounds and more pounds of topsoil, bags of perlite, sacks of valuable bat guano and 63 buckets to be filled with the mixture. Compost from the kitchen is to be added as it accumulates. Already in place are three slatted platforms, each 28 feet long by three feet wide. The layout calls for buckets in two rows, while the third platform holds troughs full of lettuces and herbs and other small plants. Maybe there will be some delicious nasturtiums and tasty wildflowers.

Planting began with one of the kitchen crew who has a grow-light and an itch to get going. He’s nurtured red and green oakleaf and Bibb lettuces, lemon grass, tatsoi and a few flowers. From those first sprouts, plans are blossoming. A local supplier of heirloom seeds works with Chefs to provide a range of heirloom tomatoes, including Besser, Big Red, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, German Pink ,Green Zebra, Pink and Yellow Brandywines, Stupice, Tigerella, Toto Trifle African, Pineapple Bi-color and Transparent Yellow. While choosing varieties, Chef Chris has visions of BLTs made with house-smoked bacon, Six Penn’s own bread, freshly picked lettuce and these tomatoes.

Another major category is peppers. So far, there are ten hot varieties, including Thomas Jefferson Red Cayenne, Thai, Ancho, a couple of Habaneros, El Chaco, Jalapeno, Scotch Bonnet, Serrano and Tabasco . And four sweet kinds: California Wonder, Sweet Chocolate, Tequila Sunrise, Orange Sun. They get Chef thinking about some twists on salsas for the house-made sausage.

When seeds for a couple of black squashes go into the ground, along with all the herbs, 18 of them, he can’t get vegetable ragouts off his mind. And pickled vegetables. About those herbs, next time you’re at the restaurant, please ask how the lemon catnip is being used. And since you’re asking, inquire about the five luscious melons, including a White Crenshaw, growing up there on the roof. And the pineapples.

The last vegetables slated for early seeding are the baby organic lettuces, more of the red and green oakleaf varieties, red and green romaine, frissee and Boston Bibb.

Beyond the influences that Chef expects the garden to have on his current menu, he says his most pleasure will come the day a customer comes in with an envelope of seeds, hands it to him and asks, “Could you grow this next year?”