catapult magazine

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discussion

roof gardening

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dan
May 05 2003
12:55 pm

I don’t have much time here, but I’m hoping to start a roof-top garden on my new apartment building this week. Does anyone have any experience with this?

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mrsanniep
May 05 2003
01:09 pm

I don’t have any suggestions regarding the actual gardening, but I could lend a few pointers as to how to keep other tenants from picking you clean …

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dan
May 05 2003
01:16 pm

tell tell!

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lcameron
Feb 21 2005
01:41 pm

I don’t have personal experience with rooftop gardens, but you may be able to find information at echonet.org/network. This website is hosted by ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization), a Christian non-profit organization that assists missionaries through agricultural development and research. They have conducted some research/experiements with rooftop gardening and have a few articles on the network (under Knowledge Bank, Topics, Rooftop gardening). Also, there is an article under Top Downloads: “Above Ground Gardens” that may be helpful. Perhaps there are other things on the site, too…

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lcameron
Feb 21 2005
02:05 pm

…of course, now it may be a bit late, since you posted your question two years ago!

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laryn
Feb 21 2005
05:52 pm

hey, spring is coming, so it’s good info to have. :)

there is a mountain equipment co-op store in winnipeg [i:6ff13e95fb](insert winnipeg-related mountain joke here)[/i:6ff13e95fb] that has a bit of a garden on the roof, and they have a composting toilet that they use to fertilize it.

i’ve always thought it would be cool to have a rooftop garden, especially with a big flat roof that you could go out on and sit in a lawn chair. i don’t know what you need to do in terms of reinforcement (for soil and water and vegetation) but if it’s not a huge garden, it might be okay.

we have a back yard for the first time in a long time, and we’re going to try the land-based version of the garden instead (not to mention that our roof is very steep).

lb

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eddie
Feb 21 2005
09:12 pm

I do.

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greatspirit
Feb 22 2005
03:06 pm

For those interested, the easiest way to do rooftop gardening is in old tires. Just throw a tire up on your roof, put in some soil and compost, plant your seeds and off you go. It’s great for apartments or those without access to a backyard. This very simple technique is promoted (by ECHO and others) in countries like Haiti (where I work) to avoid the plants being eaten by goats – who eat absolutely everything!

Matt

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eddie
Feb 26 2005
04:24 pm

depends what you want to grow daniel.i have all kinds of suggestions.

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dan
Feb 26 2005
05:18 pm

I never did do any roof-top gardening because the only way to get on the roof was a scary ladder. The thought of dragging tires up there freaked me out. Plus there was the problem of water: if there is a dry spell, how to get water up there?

I’ve since moved into another place with a flat roof, but this one doesn’t have a ladder. When things warm up I’ll have to check out the possibilities. Somehow I dont’ think my landlord, as nice as she is, will like the idea… I’m waiting to hear if I’ve received my plot in a community garden yet. If not, I may have to content myself with balcony gardening.