How To Design A Roof Garden? Roof gardens are the ultimate city gardens. They can be grand, or as simple as a cottage garden, they may just have a few containers, or harbor plants in great profusion, the best are extraordinary. But, roof gardens have their own set of problems.
The first and most important consideration, whether the roof garden is large or small, is the weight of the plants and containers. Full containers are fairly heavy and it is essential that the roof is strong enough to bear the load. It is sensible to have the load-bearing capacity of your roof checked by a structural engineer before starting work on creating your rooftop oasis.
A roof is also exposed and screens may need to be erected to provide both shelter and seclusion. Get professional help when doing this, for if screens and plants are not absolutely secure there is the risk that they might blow down in a high wind, possibly causing damage to property or injury to people below.
Roof gardens flooring and watering
A roof garden also requires flooring. It is a good idea to keep this as light as possible to avoid increasing the weight, wooden boards, light tiles and gravel are all worth considering. Finally almost the most important aspect of a roof garden is watering. Any roof garden must have an easily accessible supply of water and there is a strong case for installing an automatic watering system. At the least have an outside tap available. Be careful not to interfere with the roof drainage when installing flooring or containers.
The design of roof gardens
Large roof gardens should be planned as a series of rooms, each area contributing a different aspect. A kitchen roof garden might form one of these rooms. You can grow free-standing trees, and pyramid apples and plums can be grown without the need to train them against a wall.
Watch the details
Try to consider every detail of your roof garden. Conceal growbags, hiding them within specially constructed troughs and concentrate on cultivating the smaller plants for they are neater in habit (if you want to grow your own food, for example, a mini-potager of baby vegetables in matching containers is a good idea).
The roof garden can be divided by containers at different levels or with trellis or arches. Vines can even be trained to cover a pergola with a canopy of foliage.
