How to Set up a Small Useful Garden on the Rooftop

small useful garden on the rooftop

Living in the urban spaces limits a gardener from exploring their ideas when it comes to gardening. If you are planning to set up a garden at your home but are running out of space, you might want to consider setting up a small useful garden on the rooftop. Rooftop gardens make for an ideal way for you to expand your space and you can efficiently make use of the space that is usually not used. If you are wondering how to utilise space of rooftop as a garden, you can consider the following tips.

Things to consider before you set up the garden:

  1. The first step is to find out the regulations regarding the local ordinances for setting up a rooftop garden. It might happen that it would be prohibited or need extra treatment. You wouldn’t want to spend your time and money without knowing things beforehand.
  2. Involve an architecture or contractor as soon as possible. You would require them to tell you if the building you live in is safe for rooftop gardening or not.
  3. If your building has the capacity to structurally hold extra weight, you should consider the weight of your garden while you plan to design it. Avoid using more weight and pavers. Make use of potting soil and not the dirt from gardens.
  4. You must keep this is mind that your rooftop garden would be much windier than your usual garden. This means that you would need to use windbreaks while you design your rooftop garden. They would disrupt the flow of the wind and that is what you would actually need. You do not need the wind to stop flowing entirely.

Steps to set up your rooftop garden

  1. Start setting up your garden with a proper plan of how you want your garden to be, what things would you need to buy, what kind of plantations you would like to go for, etc. If you are planning to set up a small useful garden on the rooftop, you can consider planting a few fruits and vegetables.
  2. The next step is to contact your building engineer and consult with them if you can set up a garden on the rooftop of your building.
  3. Once you are done with consultation, check if you have an easy access for the transportation of the tools and materials you would need to transport them to the rooftop.
  4. Consider using sturdy, yet not so heavy materials for the plantations.
  5. Find out the proper water source that you would rely on for watering your plants. You would have to water them daily, especially in the hotter days. If you have access to automatic water system, it will serve great in reducing you time spent on watering.
  6. Make space for a small storage around your garden where you can keep all your tools and materials handy.
  7. And the last thing to consider is picking up the right kind of planting mediums. If you are planning on having rooftop beds and containers, you might want to consider going for potting soil. It would help in holding the water in a better manner and is might light is weight as well.

Setting up a rooftop garden is not that difficult as it seems if you consider the following things before planting. When you aware of these small, yet important things for the setup, you would be able to design and set it up in a much better way without having to worry about anything.