Category: Roof Garden

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Landscaping your gardens – front, back, side, and roof – with vegetables

 

I guess, because ThisGardenLady was born and raised on a farm, to me there is nothing more beautiful than seeing farms, gardens or orchards.  And I guess, because I was a poor child, I like to see value in what I raise. Don’t misunderstand, I think that a lawn is pretty and a peaceful sight. But I like to see added “bang for my buck.”  And what can be better than seeing plants grow and then getting food from them?

I know that there are towns or housing developments where you have to have a front yard that looks like every body else’s front yard. That is the law in some places. I know that neighbors have to be kept happy.  There are some neighbors who want to see a similar front yard as theirs and are intolerant especially when someone landscapes a little bit differently. Some of these people call the police or take people to court for these differences.  I believe in peaceful coexistence and would never encourage any fights, even over front yards or gardens.

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Green Roofs: How to Start One

a desert grows in brooklyn by vfraiche

TheGardenLady received this question from Peggy.

I am doing a story on rooftop gardens in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, sort of a how-to piece.  Would you be able to assist me with information on how to start one/if there are licenses to apply for/if Brooklyn rooftop gardens are different from others in the city?

Green roofs are the way of the future. They are being created around the world. Wikipedia speaks of the various types of roof gardens with photos of these gardens around the world.

A Green Roof and Solar Panels in Brooklyn by Kieran K. Meadows

There are many rooftop gardens in New York and Brooklyn that I have read about in newspaper articles.  See here and here.   Even Zabars in Manhattan raises salad on their rooftops – in greenhouses. You should contact these gardens with your questions, especially the educational director of the New York Botanical Gardens.

I do not have any knowledge about the laws for installing the rooftop gardens in Brooklyn nor what licenses are needed. I think one should have an engineer involved. I would check with the Chamber of Commerce or a local roofing company to ask about licensing requirements.  See here.

By going online to various Agricultural Schools in this country you can find excellent information on how to build a greenroof. Rutgers has good information on green roofs.

Swarthmore College was one of the first rooftop garden that I had seen. I believe that they used Furbish Company to install their roofs.  The Furbish Company seems to be a leader in roof gardens on the east cost. I attended a lecture they had given and was impressed with their knowledge. Contact both of these places.

Another good source to go to is a website called greenroofs.  On this site American Hydrotech is offering a free waterproofing and roofing handbook that you might be eligible to get. And they have an excellent database of green roof projects.  See here.

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Creating a Roof Garden in NYC

Terrace Roof Garden Img_1126a by Lanterna
Terrace Roof Garden Img_1126a by Lanterna

TheGardenLady received this question from Michelle.

I live in NYC, and would love to plant flowers and herbs outside my apt. Outside our kitchen window is a blacktop roof. I’ve tried to grow basil and parsley, but they never stay moist enough–sun is too strong. But, I would like to build something bigger to include many flowers and herbs. What would you suggest?

What a lovely idea to use the roof for a garden. However, in your case, living in NYC, one has to be concerned about the weight of plants on an old roof. Your landlord might object. If you think the landlord does not object, TheGardenLady recommends using light weight things for planting.

Plastic pots weigh less and don’t dry out as easily as clay pots or aren’t as heavy as ceramic pots.  Also, if you will be watering the plants, you have to be sure that the water will run off and not seep into the roof – down into someone else’s apartment. You don’t want plants that need a lot of watering.

rooftop garden by bondidwhat
rooftop garden by bondidwhat

Attempting to grow herbs is a good idea because herbs do love sun. Most herbs come from the Mediterranean area where they get lots of sun which is needed for the herbs to have strong herbal flavors. But growing in a field is different than growing on a roof. TheGardenLady imagines that it is probably due to the blacktop roof that your herbs are drying out too quickly. Getting all that heat from the sun plus the heat from the black bottom under the pots might create too intense a heat and cause the small amount of soil in the pot to dry out too quickly.

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