Living in the city has a lot of perks, but one thing surely we all miss every once in a while is nature. Fortunately there’s an easy solution for all you green-thumbs out there: create your own rooftop garden as your urban escape. Don’t worry, if you start small and build your way up one step at a time such project is absolutely feasible even for a newbie gardener. Let us guide you through the process:
Start Small – The Succulents
Succulents are a great choice as it comes to planning your DIY rooftop garden project. In their majority they require little maintenance, they could create fascinating texture designs, and many species are sturdy enough to endure the winter cold.
Succulents will help you easily create a vast green carpet on your rooftop for they tend to spread widely if given a chance. Succulents are known to thrive on scarce soil and water, so they are pretty low maintenance plants. However, they love warm weather and sunshine.
Think of the Jade Plant or the Lucky Tree as some call it. It is a fine-looking succulent that you could prune as bonsai when it grows a bit. In the winter it flowers - its branches get heavy with delicate white blooms.
When going for succulents you should keep in mind that some of them like Echeveria are not tolerant to winter frost. Thus you should be able to cover them or take them inside, if necessary.
My personal favorite would be Haworthia – these succulent looks really elegant with pointy leaves and white delicate spikes. You could dedicate a planter to each Haworthia or you could let them live a life of their own in raised beds, where they could quickly shape up overlapping colonies.
Spice It Up – The Herbs
Planting herbs is such a rewarding experience – you get the zen feeling of keeping in touch with nature and you end up with your own fresh spices to add to your salad dressings and homemade meals.
Can you see the mint, parsley, oregano, cilantro pots bursting into think scented greenery? Thyme and dill, and the best of them all – lavender, can you really resist the temptation of dedicating a couple of containers for them?
Just like succulents herbs are pretty much self-growers. An exception would be that on occasions a week or two after planting the seeds you might need to thin your herbs, but that’s about all the involvement required on your part.
Go Greener – The Veggies
You are looking for organic veggies to add to your healthy diet? Grow them yourself then! Cherry tomatoes could be grown in pots, just as cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli and lettuce. Container vegetable gardening is just as fun as the real gardening, and it’s much easier if you are a novice in this game. Carrots, radishes, peas – you can grow it all on your rooftop.
If your rooftop temperatures are high, consider adding organic mulch to the surface of your containers in order to slow down the water evaporation.
Add hanging baskets to your rooftop exterior where you could grow strawberries – a fruity touch to your garden in the midst of the vegetable kingdom would add a refreshing touch to it. Consider introducing even more colors to your garden by planting peppers. They love heat, so don’t worry about exposing them to direct sunlight.
Color It Up – The Flowers
The first thing that comes to mind you say: “garden” usually is blooming colorful flowers, right? You cannot forget about those, turn your urban escape corner into a mesmerizing oasis of wild climbing roses. Let a sea of colorful petunias cascade down from a number of hanging baskets. Are you looking for a fairytale rooftop landscape, by all means grow tulips – there is an awful lot of hues to choose from, be brave and allow yourself to go for contrasting colors for a more dramatic look.
Daffodils on the other hand will give a more serene feel to your rooftop garden, which would be a nice change after the energizing tulips-rich view.
Liven It Up – The Birds, Bees and Butterflies
And you can’t have flora without fauna, right – they both go hand in hand. Welcome natural musical background by inviting birds in your rooftop garden. Take time to add a few bird feeders. If you add a decorative fountain they’d love it and there’s a great chance that they’ll use it for taking refreshing baths. Is there anything more relaxing and endearing than watching singing birds playing in rippling water?
The humming bees will also follow bird’s lead if you have planted flowers in your garden. Butterflies would prefer to rest on flowers that are protected from windy weather, so make sure you dedicate a spot for them in your garden as well.
Does it sound like a fascinating project already? There surely is a lot to be done, but who says you need to hurry? Pace yourself, add a planter at a time. In the end your efforts will be rewarded and you’ll feel proud having your morning coffee or tea in the peaceful green heaven you’ve created at your rooftop!
