Roof and Terrace Gardens: Unique Ideas for Urban Spaces

March 11, 2010

Gardening
Urban environments offer a huge number of advantages, like access to great restaurants, theaters, public libraries and other facilities that provide opportunities for enriching the human experience. One advantage they lack, however, is a lot of open green space?most city dwellers never get to experience growing their own vegetables or picking flowers from their own gardens.

An exception is people whose living quarters allow them to have a roof or terrace garden, which can provide great decorative benefit in addition to the opportunity to grow a portion of one?s food and increase the livability of the building by lowering heating and cooling costs.

Hydroponics and aeroponic garden systems that make it possible to grow plants that thrive in very little soil are a boon to urban dwellers living in buildings that cannot support the weight of a heavy soil-based garden on their roofs.

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Garden Tip...

It is a mistake to try to stimulate into growth, by the use of fertilizers, those plants which give every indication of being sickly or stunted; they will make such a plant sicker, if they do not kill it outright. If guano is used in potting soil, it should be in the proportion of one pound to every bushel of soil.
~ James Sheehan
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Container planting is also an extremely popular choice for roof gardens. Square foot gardening, a type of intensive gardening that uses garden beds that are accessible from every side, and vertical gardening (also called living walls) that uses plants that will climb on or otherwise adhere to the side of a building is yet another option.

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Garden Tip...

Always water your plants in winter time with lukewarm water, if you would have a profusion of flowers, and thrifty-growing plants. The water should be of the same temperature as the room or place where the plants are. There is no theory about it, it is a practical fact.
~ James Sheehan
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Some new buildings designed to make the smallest amount of environmental impact use ?green roofs? that are literally planted all over with grass and other plants to add mass that increases thermal lag time and aid in evaporative cooling, proving that rooftop vegetation isn’t just beautiful and environmentally friendly - it can save money as well. Green roofs also reduce the amount of storm water runoff, filter pollutants and heavy metals from rainwater and can increase habitat for birds, squirrels and other urban-dwelling animals.

However, before you head out to buy plants to grow on your roof, be aware that putting a large garden or adding extreme weight on top of your roof demands the combined talents of a landscape architect and a structural engineer in order to be sure that your new rooftop or terrace garden doesn?t cause the roof to fall on your head!

Once you have established the amount of weight your roof can safely afford to carry, you should carefully figure the weight of the containers, plants and soil you put on it to create your urban Eden. Beyond that, just about anything goes?grow tomatoes and strawberries, surround the seating area in your rooftop garden with living walls covered with moss and roses, or keep small trees and plants neatly contained in a patio-like setting. With rooftop gardens, the sky?s the limit!