Small Roof Garden Design Ideas – Designing a residential roof garden is a collaborative process. Start by consulting with a landscaper, reviewing your building modification agreement, and understanding the restrictions on outdoor living space on your property. Creating a beautiful roof garden is a comprehensive undertaking – depending on the complexity of the project, it can involve designers, structural engineers and architects, as well as various contractors such as roofers, carpenters, gardeners, electricians and plumbers. Building a roof garden has countless advantages!
A landscape design plan for a roof garden or terrace garden should take into account your needs and aspirations, analyze the challenges of the site and create programming based on the users and their lifestyles. As with all garden plans, this one must address the area from an aesthetic, architectural, functional, horticultural and sustainability point of view.
Small Roof Garden Design Ideas
Understand the weight restrictions for your roof or deck, as this will affect which items you choose and how you install them in your outdoor landscape. The load capacity is how much weight your roof structure can handle. Each roof has a maximum pounds per square foot that determines how much load it can handle. **
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Your building management company, architect, developer or structural engineer may tell you what the load capacity of your roof is. It is usually found on building plans in the load schedule. If this information is not available, you may request the services of an engineer and/or roofing contractor who can perform an inspection to determine this information. Once you have this information, you can determine what is possible in terms of the limitations of your roof garden design.
Roof garden railings must be 42 inches high in New York. Different local laws may apply in other cities and towns.
The roof surface of the building must be protected, otherwise it can be damaged along with the waterproof seal. Stone or porcelain pavers can be placed on the pedestals above the existing roof, forming a protective surface for the roof and a recreational “deck” for residential use. Trex (a composite material) or wood flooring (which is considered combustible) can also be used, but in NYC local laws only allow up to 20% of the roof surface to be combustible.
Pay attention to the fire safety regulations. Here in New York, electric and gas grills with dedicated wiring are allowed on the patio. However, special fire protection rules apply to the placement of these objects in the space. Propane is not allowed
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Roof gardens have been around for hundreds of years. Intensive green roofs or terraces are mainly found in luxury condominiums or condominiums. They have deep soil, irrigation systems, and a wider variety of plants and habitats. With little or no protection from the sun, roof gardens are usually designed for leisure and recreational activities, as well as providing outdoor living space for building occupants.
The extensive green roof has a few centimeters deep, unirrigated, little or no irrigable planting medium, tolerates plant-stressing conditions well, is suitable for covering large areas, — maintains drought-tolerant sprouts (succulent plants on the roof) or perennials that have shallow roots and little water is used. The variety of plants on these roofs is kept low to make maintenance easier and to ensure that all plants have similar moisture requirements. In dry times, these roofs can turn brown, only to be resurfaced with rain. They are attractive, functional and promote efficiency.
Access to the roof garden – the logistics of bringing materials into a large roof, small roof garden or terrace or balcony need to be carefully considered. What are the limiting dimensions of the many doors, elevators and walkways and staircases that lead from the front door of the building to the outside via a freight elevator? Common spaces and interior spaces must be protected during the construction phase. Ideally, the material can be transported conveniently, but if necessary, there are situations where the material can be lifted onto the roof deck with a crane.
We recommend the use of light plants for a roof deck or terrace. Plants must be made of fiberglass (or similar structures) and aluminum. Terracotta and plastic planters are not a good investment as they freeze and thaw and do not hold up well to the elements. Wood is an organic material and if it is full of soil, it will rot.
Amber Freda Nyc Garden Design
Containers (plants or pots) should have excellent drainage, suitable planting medium and drainage holes. The tank should be raised above the surface an inch or two to allow water to drain and protect the surface it sits on and allow air to flow between the bottom of the tank and the surface.
Many residential roof gardens and terrace gardens exist in full sunlight; therefore, consideration should be given to plants that typically grow in full sun. Similarly, if a taller building shades your patio, consider plants that are part of the sun. As always, pay attention to the amount and quality of light the plant receives. Plants that typically grow in full sun and are dried by strong winds do well on a roof – think plants that live in the mountains, on the coast, or on open plains. Therein lies the horticultural axiom… “Right plant, right place.”
For the safety and responsibility of you, the building and the surrounding community, any roof or deck structure must be attached to the building. Wind load, loading (weight) and connection details must be approved by the building management and reviewed by a structural engineer and architect. Building and zoning regulations must be taken into account. The roofing must be waterproof after installation.
Wind is a critical element to consider when designing an urban roof garden. To prevent furniture from blowing away in high winds, many buildings require property owners to secure it with concrete cover or store it when not in use. In addition to winter storms, regular seasonal gusts can be extreme on an urban roof deck.
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All terrace gardens and roof gardens have some level of rooftop landscaping, as in all traditional and manicured gardens. To be truly successful, it is essential to choose the right plants, apply fertilizer if necessary, mulch to reduce evaporation during the spring-summer-autumn period, and create a fuller mulch layer for the winter freeze-thaw cycles. Practicing good horticultural practices or cultural control minimizes plant damage, disease and pests. Regular pruning and division of perennials is recommended, as plants can crowd in their plants. Pavers and site furniture should be cleaned regularly, drains and surfaces should be cleaned.
The most reliable irrigation method is to set up an automatic drip irrigation system. It is not practical to assume that using watering cans and/or hoses will be successful. Installing an irrigation system – the wisest solution is a seasonally adjustable drip irrigation system. (This assumes the existence of an outside faucet.) The system should be equipped with a backflow device and removed in late fall before the lines can freeze.
The growing medium of rooftop gardening is not the same as houseplants, traditional urban gardens or small suburban gardens. Conventional soil is heavy and compacts tightly after repeated rains, reducing water retention and aeration for plant roots. The soil of the terrace planter must be light, as keeping the weight to a minimum is extremely important. Peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, pine bark can be some or all of the mix ingredients to keep the mix light. Containers should be covered with landscape fabric and/or screens to prevent erosion of growing medium and clogging of roof drains.
Depending on the plant material selected, plants will have different needs. For plants that like to forage (eg roses) or value organic matter in the soil, remember to keep your plants constantly watered; so the soil comes out regularly. For this reason, fertilizer and organic matter (compost) must be added regularly in order to compensate properly. A roof garden is a garden on the roof of a building. In addition to decorative benefits, canopies can provide food, temperature regulation, hydrologic benefits, architectural enhancements, habitats or corridors, recreational opportunities, and even ecological benefits on a large scale. The practice of growing food on the roof of a building is sometimes called rooftop farming. Rooftop farming is usually done with a green roof, hydroponic, aeroponic or air dynaponic systems or container gardens.
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1. Before you start, see if it is possible to have a garden on the roof. Make sure the regulations allow it, and if you have a freehold – make sure it allows you to build it. You don’t want to spend a lot of time and money preparing your roof garden/patio, only to find out that it’s not allowed. Also make sure the roof can support the weight of the garden on the roof.
2. Work out a convenient way to access the roof. You