Arguably the most famous roof gardens were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. Now, in the age of the skyscraper, buildings typically have large al fresco spaces on their rooftops. Open-air gardening plays an important role in reducing energy usage in buildings, lowering city temperatures, reducing surface water run-off and saving endangered plant species.
Create your own rooftop garden
- In South Africa our spaces are getting smaller and more and more people are turning to apartment living. Anyone with a terrace space or small balcony can enhance their environment by creating a garden area, and don’t forget that this space can be used for braaiing too...
Container planting
- Building raised flower beds may require professional advice on the strength of the roof structure, so rather plant in containers. Your local nursery will have a wide range of containers to choose from. You could also go green by using recycled objects such as; old plastic or stainless steel buckets, plumbing pipe, or for vegetables, a basket lined with plastic.
Choosing the right plants
- Many plant varieties are especially suited to container growing. In shallow containers, use plants with shallow root systems. In deeper containers, a combination of plants with different root depths is ideal so that they will not compete for the same space in the pots.
Lightweight flooring
- Lightweight flooring materials, that won’t disrupt the integrity of the structure, such as timber decking, gravel or Astroturf will work best on your terrace or balcony. If you would like to construct lightweight, shallow, raised beds use timer and place a thick layer of black gardening plastic (available at nurseries and garden centres) at the bottom of the beds with some drainage holes on the sides. Also place gravel on plastic sheets.
Create privacy
- Your rooftop garden should be private, so block out surrounding buildings that may overlook your garden. Use lightweight materials such as trellising or screens made from bamboo, reeds or any other lightweight wood.
Hide unattractive elements
- Mask less attractive objects such as electric boxes, air-conditioning units and water tanks by painting them a subtle colour, using screens or placing plants in front of them.
Interesting Fact:
- The first large roof garden in London was the one acre ornamental garden built on the roof of the department store Derry & Toms in Kensington in 1938. The store no longer exists, but the roof garden does. It’s now known as the Kensington Roof Garden and is owned by Richard Branson.
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