Square foot gardening on a roof top

Hello,

I'm a total newbie in gardening. I used to live in a small apartment in the downtown of a big city, Madrid. Now I've moved to a semi-detached house in a small town near Madrid and that house has a Green Roof, so I decided to grow my own food on my rooftop.

When I introduced myself in the "welcome mat" section I recieved a nice welcome but many people asked me to show some pictures of my green roof and my SFG. As I'm just starting I have just one bed with some seeds but no plants on my rooftop and another one in the front yard, but I have planned to cover my roof with raise beds. Here you have those pictures:



That's my neighbour's green roof, same as my one.



And that's my first raise bed, I have storaged some old palets to build a compost bin (I've alredy made one with a water container of 200 lt.) and some lumber recovered from construction sites to build more beds.



And this is my plan for the future, the green grids are the raise beds, the orange area is the staire case, the grey are the roof tiles and the brown color is the existing "green roof" that is covered with some kind of moss, now it's dry but it will turn to a soft and green moss in winter:


I hope I will reach the goal

That looks a briliant way to go .

How deep is the covering of the green roof ?
Is it absorbent stones or sand that should grow mosses and grasses naturally or are you expected to decide what you want to do with the roof and go ahead so long as it is not too much weight?

plantoid wrote:
How deep is the covering of the green roof ?
Is it absorbent stones or sand that should grow mosses and grasses naturally or are you expected to decide what you want to do with the roof and go ahead so long as it is not too much weight?

Over the waterproof sheet we have a layer of draining tiles named "losa filtron" in spanish, just like this one http://www.impersegre.com/es/index.php?id=servicios&var=n
that's 6-7 cm over that we have another layer made of the same tiles in the grey areas and sand with moss in the rest of the roof, same deep. Originally it has planted moss and some other plants, but the house has been unused since it was build for a period of 5 years, so the moss and the other plants are ruined, I'm trying to recover the moss or maybe I will grow lawn. I'm placing the beds over the first layer of draining tiles and I'll have moss on both sides of the beds so you can work comfortably kneeled down over the moss.

The draining tiles are made of two layers, one hard for the top that is made of celular concrete and the bottom layer made of polystyrene. They are very light but they weigh much more than the Mel's Mix, so weight will not be a problem for the structure, at all. All I have to do is using root-barrier sheet below the Mel's mix to avoid roots damage the waterproof sheet.

Wow, I have never een anything like it! This is such a fantastic way to garden it looks like! Have fun what a great design!

What a great gardening adventure! Can't wait to see some green up there!

GG

Is your neighbor interested in growing on his roof as well? Maybe you can offer to lend him your book and encourage a full roof of greenery. Are you planning any pots of trees or other shading plants like maybe grape vines? And a seating area to just chill out and watch the plants grow while having a glass of good Spanish wine. I can't wait to see what all you eventually manage.

Kay

Wow, that's so cool! I didn't know they had such buildings, where you could grow a lawn on the roof Almost makes me want to move to a big city!

Actually, this reminds me of a story that's probably not at all related, but maybe it'll make someone laugh. My husband has an old family friend who used to live in a lower apartment. One day she noticed the ceiling was leaking brown liquid. She called the landlord and they both went upstairs to see what on earth was leaking into her apartment. Turns out the people upstairs had hauled in topsoil and were growing a lawn on the floor!

littlesapphire wrote:Wow, that's so cool! I didn't know they had such buildings, where you could grow a lawn on the roof Almost makes me want to move to a big city!

Actually, this reminds me of a story that's probably not at all related, but maybe it'll make someone laugh. My husband has an old family friend who used to live in a lower apartment. One day she noticed the ceiling was leaking brown liquid. She called the landlord and they both went upstairs to see what on earth was leaking into her apartment. Turns out the people upstairs had hauled in topsoil and were growing a lawn on the floor!

OMgosh! I'd be furious if I were the landlord! What were they thinking?? LOL. thanks for the laugh

Very nice! You have about 70 square meters of usable (~750 sf).

On thought you may wish to consider, keep a comfortable sitting area by the stairs with a nice table and chairs positioning walking paths through the raised beds and leaving a narrower path (2 foot) along the outer edge for viewing. You should be able to do a nice low-water plant that's walkable like baby's tears or another. A good resource is http://www.stepables.com/


Will you have ability to set up an irrigation system? Do you have a faucet you'll be able to step up a timer on?

I noticed the other building all appear to be multistory. Is the rooftop garden only available to the top floor tenant?

Wow, is the entire rooftop yours to garden?

Good luck with your rooftop garden transformation!

My plan is having 15 equivalent 4x4 sq beds on the roof.

That is so cool!

Can't what to see what you grow up there.

Eveytime I see houses with flat roofs now I imagine how many sfg beds could I get up there. Especially if there is very little yard area.

Kay