Is Urban Roof Garden Possible? By David H. Urmann At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

A roof garden is any garden situated on the roof a building. A flat or gently sloped roof transformed into a landscape environment.

These are grown plants atop structure that started during ancient times, about 2,500-3,000 years ago in Rome and Mesopotamia. It became popular in the 19th century. Here are some benefits of Roof Garden:

• Very attractive & decorative
• It can provide food & other useful plants
• It helps in controlling environment temperature (reduce heat loss during winter & heat gain in summer)
• It is considered as architectural enhancement and
• For recreational opportunities
• It promotes biodiversity; valuable inner city habitat and feeding stations especially for insects and birds.
• It controls flood
• It creates usable space for people

Hydroponics, the use nutrients solution in growing plants instead of soil and other alternative means can expand roof gardening. Wanting a roof garden for less space, square foot and living walls gardening are advisable. These use less space than traditional gardening. The square roof method is when the garden space are divided into beds that are accessible, each is divided in one square foot where different seeds are planted in each space to avoid crowding and thinning of plants. It’s beneficial since there is much less to be done, it conserves water, and it’s pesticide-free and very accessible. The living walls gardening or vertical gardening as sometimes called is either freestanding or part of the building that is partially covered. This is considered as experimental and new concept in roof gardening. A variety of this are active walls that kept behind glass and with the aid of a fan, the air circulates. It best suits in the heart of the cities since available vertical surfaces are being used. We can simply say its urban gardening.

We have to consider the roof itself when building one. The roof should be flat and accessible. Wet soil can weigh more than eighty pounds per square foot; your roof must be able to support this weight. Peat moss can also be use to ensure there will be sufficient soil. Make sure that roofs are also waterproof. In order to keep up, climate should also be taken into consideration. Urban areas are mostly shaded while if it’s in direst sunlight, plants will be withered. Think of what kind of garden you want to have before choosing the plants. Lastly, Plastic pots are definitely lighter than clay pots. By using light materials, it will reduce the strain on your roof. Fences and screen or net lawn can be use to protect the plants.

One of the most famous roof gardens is Queen Semiramis’ Gardens nailed in Babylon, one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. It’s famously known as the hanging garden of Babylon. It was towered hundreds of feet into the air. It surpasses in splendor any city in the known world. It was built around 600 B.C. and was destroyed by several earthquakes after second century B.C.

Another beautiful roof garden is the Kensington Roof Garden in London. It is the largest roof garden in Europe – are accessible from Derry Street, through a doorway marked "99 Kensington High Street". The garden has a restaurant, nightclub, and are nailed in 30 meters above street level with a panoramic view over west London. It is not very known because this is not a tourist attraction but open to public as restaurant and nightclub.

Above these, roof gardening encourage environmentally responsible practices like eliminating pesticides, eliminating molecular biology and composting different material which is the best form of any of fertilization.

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