Rooftop Gardens for City Dwellers

Looking for an interesting and fun project-start a rooftop garden! This is an easy project that will supply you with fresh food and a chance to reduce your carbon footprint.

Get Permission

If you live in a condo, co-op, or apartment building be sure to get permission prior to setting up your rooftop garden. Otherwise, you may find yourself having to trash your hard work when someone complains.

Check the Structure

While any roof in good shape can support a small garden, larger gardens require that you check the load capacity of the roof prior to creating your garden. Soil is heavy and so is the water it will retain.

Build the Garden

Rooftop gardens are essentially raised beds. Lay a sheet of plastic down to prevent damage to the roof and leaching of chemicals into your garden from the asphalt shingles. The best width for a rooftop garden bed is between 36 and 48 inches. This allows most people to reach across the bed without stepping into the soil. Use natural wood such as reclaimed cedar for the creation of the beds. Screw the wood together to form boxes. Place the boxes over the plastic sheeting and fill with garden soil and compost.

Water Sources

If there is no access to water on the roof, put up a few rain barrels to collect rain. It will take a while for them to fill up from rainfall alone. You may want to add water to them from another source from time to time. Your rooftop garden will dry out faster than a traditional garden, expect to water frequently in the summer.

Compost

Set up a small compost tumbler on the roof. Fill it with vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grinds, unbleached coffee filters and uncoated paper plates. A small bin should keep up with a small garden's compost requirement.

Plants

Add plants to the garden. Plants that have shallower root systems are best suited for rooftop gardens. Peas, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, small beets, radish, kohlrabi, greens, spinach, herbs and small pumpkins work well in a rooftop situation. One really great thing about a sunny rooftop is it is usually 1 full planting zone above what the USDA Hardiness Zone map shows for your area.

Bees

Adding a beehive or two is another way to add interest to your rooftop garden. The bees will pollinate your garden and any others they can find. An added bonus will be the honey they produce.

Rooftop gardening is one way to green up an urban area. Give it a try and see what types of fresh produce you can grow.

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