Rooftop Gardens

Green roofs have an isolating effect, helping reduce the amount of energy needed to heat a building in winter and cool it in summer.

They also retain rainwater, thus helping reduce problems with runoff, while favouring biodiversity and giving birds a place to nest in the urban jungle, ecologists say.

If you enjoy gardening but find yourself limited by space, rooftop gardening can provide an excellent alternative, especially for city dwellers

Reasons to Rooftop Garden

• Increase access to private outdoor green space-at home or at work-within the urban environment

• Support urban food production

• Promote individual, community, and cultural diversity

• Improve air quality and reduce CO2 emissions

• Delay stormwater runoff

• Increase habitat for birds

• Insulate buildings

• Increase the value of buildings for owners and tenants alike

• Create job opportunities in the field of research, design, construction, landscaping/gardening, health, and food production

It is indeed an awesome idea to develop edible seasonal plants on the rooftop using fruitful knowledge regarding vegetable and edible flora rooftop gardening on even less than a feet’s soil. This will not only give you pleasure of growing your own veggies and fruits but can also lay foundation of a profitable family business

Creating a Rooftop Garden Design

Nearly any type of roof can accommodate a rooftop garden. However, it’s important that you have a licensed professional check out the structural capacity of the building beforehand in order to assess whether or not the roof is stable enough to support the additional weight of a rooftop garden. This will ultimately determine the type of rooftop garden design specific to your situation. Typically, rooftop gardens can be constructed one of two ways.

Rooftop gardens not only provide a unique way for urbanite gardeners to do what they love most, but can also save on energy since rooftop plants supply buildings with additional insulation and shade. Furthermore, rooftop gardens can absorb rainfall, reducing runoff.

Rooftop Container Garden

Since weight issues can oftentimes be a factor in choosing appropriate containers for a rooftop garden, lightweight containers, such as these, are excellent choices. Fiberglass or wooden planters can also be used. Lining the bottoms of containers with a lightweight material, such as peat or sphagnum moss, is another good idea. Rooftop container gardens are extremely versatile too. Plants can easily be rearranged or relocated to different areas, especially during winter when they can be moved indoors.

Green Roof Garden

The other, more complex, rooftop garden construction involves covering the entire roof, or the majority of it, with soil and plants. Referred to as a ‘green roof,’ this type of rooftop garden uses layers to provide insulation, drainage, and a growing medium for plants. Since this type of construction is more difficult to create, the assistance of qualified professionals is often required. However, there are many suitable resources available for constructing your own ‘green roof’ system.

The first layer of the green roof is applied directly to the roof and is intended to guard against leaks as well as provide insulation.

The next layer contains lightweight material, such as gravel, for drainage with a filtering mat positioned on top. This allows water to soak through while keeping the soil in place.

The final layer includes both the growing medium and plants. Regardless of the type of rooftop garden design, growing mediums should always consist of lightweight soil or compost. The soil application should also maintain a depth that will not only sufficiently anchor plants but support the weight capacity of the roof as well since wet soil can get quite heavy.

Plants to grow on your rooftop garden

Herbs

Lettuces

Bush Beans

Pole Beans

Snow Peas

Bok Choy

Kale

Spinach

Zuchinni

Cherry Tomatoes

Mustard Greens

Tomatoes

Ornamental Squash

Chard

Carrots

Peppers

Collards

Melons

Broccoli

Strawberries

Cucmbers

Vines

Tip: To grow vegetables that require more soil depth without committing to larger roof loads, use deeper containers in strategic spots (over your roof beam or posts). Always check with your structural engineer on any roof-load issues.

France

In March 2015 France passed a new law declaring that rooftops on new buildings built in commercial zones, must either be partially covered in plants or solar panels.II

The law approved by parliament was more limited in scope than initial calls by French environmental activists to make green roofs that cover the entire surface mandatory on all new buildings.

The law was also made less onerous for businesses by requiring only part of the roof to be covered with plants, and giving them the choice of installing solar panels to generate electricity instead.

Green roofs are popular in New York, Monaco, Germany and Australia, and Canada’s city of Toronto adopted a by-law in 2009 mandating them in industrial and residential buildings.

#greenroofs #rooftopgardens #ecoaudit #greenconsultant