Try this link

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Gard..

Sorry but that link brings me right back to the home page of this forum. ??

I think she should try it! If I was doing it, I'd protect the roof with heavy plastic so the water doesn't leak into someone's apartment, but most plants love full sun.

There are moisture meters at garden centers that will help her control the moisture in the containers. She should get one of those so she doesn't over or under water.
Suzi

I have friends who are considering this.
Structurally, you must consider the weight of the wet containers, as well as the drainage route.
The color and temperature of the containers must be considered, too.

Josh

Prairie,

There are very successful rooftop gardeners on this board [but not me]. One has posted amazing photos of his rooftop garden. He had 70 habanero plants one year. Flat roof on an apartment building in Chicago--just like hundreds of thousands of buildings here. If you search for rooftop container gardening, you'll get some useful threads.

Me, I like to keep my feet on the ground. Good luck.

red_chucks

Great suggestion for a moisture meter, Suzi. I always wondered if those things work?

Yes, Josh, I was wondering about the weight issue. It is the top of an apart*ment building, that was actually turned into a deck. There are a few h*omes with those in her neck of the woods. Flat roofs and railings with room for tables and ch*airs and barbecues. So I expect that it is expected to hold some weight and I doubt that she will get carried away with a lot of containers, just a few. But her landlord is in the building, so she will check with her.

What did you mean about the color and temperature of the container? I assume you mean don't use a dark color? Temperature, I assume they are going to bake with no shade all day. There are no surrounding structures that shade it at all.

I will check it out, thanks red_chucks.

Veggies and herbs love the sun! Light-colored containers are probably best, and definitely use a lightweight soil - lots of perlite. They do make self-watering pots, so that may be the way to go.

If the rooftop deck is legal - permitted and inspected - then weight issues should not be a problem.

Prairiemoon2,

I live in Chicago (top floor of a three flat) and have a similar rooftop deck as the one that you are describing. I have 25 large containers with a wide variety of plants (in a large variety of sizes). There are three key issues for your freind to keep in mind.

1. Water: If the rooftop deck receives full sun the plants will require water daily and usually twice a day during the middle of the summer. I used to spend an hour in the morning and an hour after work watering. It started to consume my life. Last year I set up an automatic watering system. It cost approximately $200 and was very easy to set up. That is assuming that their is a spigot on the roof. If there is no spigot then the reality is that watering via a can is probably going to be too time consuming.

2. Sun: To some extent this goes hand in hand with water needs. It gets hot on rooftop receiving full sun. All the plants will need to be "full sun" varieties. If the plants get dry and begin to wilt the afternoon wind/sun will do some major damage.

3. Wind: Taller plants (and smaller containers) can very easily get blown over when it's windy. I have anchored the larger containers to the deck but you need to be careful to choose the placement of your pots with the wind in mind.

As "natschultz" stated the weight of the containers shouldn't be an issue assuming the deck is structurally sound. I'll post some pictures tonight when I get home from work. I've been growing on my deck for about 5 years. I've learned a lot from making mistakes over those five years. I would be happy to answer any rooftop planting questions for your friend.

Take care, Pat

Hi again...

Yes, it is a legal deck that holds two tables and chairs, and a gas grill at the moment, and has a railing all around it, so I assume a few pots couldn't be a problem. It is my daughter who has the roof deck and the landlady lives in the building so it will be easy to check this out.

Patrick, you've given me a lot to think about. I had already suggested to my daughter that she would have to count on watering every day. That didn't appeal to her very much. She has a pretty busy lifestyle. I had forgotten that there is no spigot on the roof so that would mean dragging water up three sets of stairs to water anything. So I guess she won't be growing an entire veggie gar*den up there. [g] Since I do have a vegetable gar*den, she would be happier getting her veggies here. What she would like to do is have a couple of containers. She cooks and would like to have a steady convenient supply of herbs and I thought that might not be too difficult to do. One large container, maybe a self watering container. I also thought she could do another container with sedums and catcus or the like and that might be a little more forgiving with some mulch to keep it moist. Both of which would be low growing and wouldn't present a problem with wind. I guess a tripod with string beans would be out?

So that about sums it up. It sounds like you have a wonderful situation where you are. I am amazed that you found a roof with a spigot on it. How lucky is that?!! The watering system you installed sounds perfect and I really don't know how you would have done it otherwise. I would love to see photos, it sounds like some serious gar*dening going on up on that roof.

pm2

Prairiemoon2,

I completely understand your daughter's concerns about hauling water up three fights of stairs. I would point her to this forum and have do a search on self watering containers. I don't have any experience with them but quite a few people can offer assistance. If she can get a hose on the roof here are some pictures of what she can do.

Take care, Pat

Here is a link that might be useful: Deck Pictures

Patrick, GORGEOUS pictures...It looks completely relaxing! So jealous!

Oh, I just noticed the additional posts. Wow Patrick!! What a wonderful little hidden gar*den you have there. Those Castor Bean Plants are so huge and tropical looking and I've never seen Cleome used that way. I love that little sitting area you have there. The pots of white flowers are perfect. They're in full sun aren't they? What are they? You've done a great job with it and I have to agree with star stuff, it looks so inviting and relaxing. I can't wait to send these photos to my daughter. She will get a kick out of them. Thanks for posting them!!

Yes, self watering containers are going to be her best bet. Thanks again.

pm2

Oh, it's beautiful! Where is the Jacuzzi?

I live in a small urban rowhouse with limited outdoor space. Thanks to a major renovation project I finally got my dream of a rooftop deck a little over a year ago. Last year was my first time attempting to garden up there and I'll be the first to admit I went a little bit nuts!

Having a water source is absolutely critical. If there's no hose or spigot on the roof, watering will be a major pain in the @$$--and either way, the more plants, the more time watering so fewer plants in bigger pots make a big difference. Small pots will dry out far too quickly. Likewise, clay pots will dry out very quickly; use plastic pots to help minimize watering.

Surprisingly, I didn't find much difference among the various potting soils I tried--plants did well in all of them, as long as I factored in (1) how wet or dry the plants wanted to be and (2) how quickly the particular mix drained. Lightweight soil mixes dry out very quickly, however. One thing that did surprise me was how much the water run-off stained our deck. One of the potting mixes (Gardener's Gold) was rather heavy and high in organic matter--great for the cannas and other tropicals but the water that ran out the bottom was dark brown and left stains. To minimize damage to a deck, perch the pots on "feet".

One thing I didn't factor in was what to do when traveling; in early summer when the plants were small I could leave them for 2-3 days but by the end of summer even one day without watering would have been a disaster. Make friends with your plant-loving neighbors so they can water for you when you travel!

Seek out sun, wind & drought resistant plants. On my ground-floor deck--as hot and sunny but not as windy--I grow many plants in containers, including herbs (mostly basil) in big pots with angelonia, a great combination that looks good right up until frost. Many grasses are suitable for exposed locations and on the rooftop deck, Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum' did particularly well. I was also very pleased with Gaura, which bloomed all summer. Although I didn't try any succulents, I expect sedums, portulacas and many others would do well.

Cannas did surprisingly well, even once they became hopelessly potbound, but by late summer they required watering twice a day. Deep saucers to hold water helped a bit (but not as much as I hoped!). The good news was that drying out a bit didn't seem to hurt them much.

Some plants loved the sun and heat but were difficult to keep watered properly--this included ornamental sweet potatoes and elephant ears. I had to keep cutting back the sweet potatoes so they wouldn't take over. Some plants did well but were ultimately so messy I won't grow them again. This included salvias and lantanas; hundreds of little flowers kept dropping all over the place and I had to keep sweeping them up.

This year, I plan to grow fewer plants; I will grow the grasses and cannas again, but no lantanas or salvias (although I will miss the hummingbirds they attracted!). I will also grow plants mostly in their own pots--no more mixed containers because almost invariably, one plant would do better than the rest and crowd the other plants out.

Finally, make sure you have (1) a place to sit and enjoy it, and (2) some kind of shade. These are little things but will make the rooftop so much more enjoyable.

Here's a slide show documenting my rooftop deck and the plants I grew there in 2009, along with a few photos of my ground-level garden (as viewed from the deck) mixed in.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rooftop deck slideshow

BTW when viewing the slideshow, go to the top and click on "Show info" to see slide captions.

You may want to have a look at this blog.

Donna H.

Here is a link that might be useful: Green Roof Growers

PM2 - The white flowers are a mix of Baby Duck Petunias (seeds from Burpee) and Verbena - Snowy River (seeds from Thompson & Morgan). They both grow well in full sun and need pruning every couple of weeks to keep them under control.

Desertdance - I would kill for a hot tub up there. The problem is that when it crashes through the roof it will land in my bedroom...I'll have to stick with a hot bath for now.

Take care, Pat

I'm sorry, I saw your post on Friday, John, but my weekend just got away from me. Another great roof gar*den, Wow! Great photos! I can imagine how much pleasure you must get out of that! You and Patrick must be the envy of your neighborhood!! I bet you both have people lining up to volunteer to water for you. [g]

You've made some great suggestions John. Larger plastic pots, with single variety of pl*ants. Nice to know not to worry about type of s*oil. I would not have thought about the runoff from the pots staining the deck. I had not thought of grasses either, great idea and I have two small divisions of Pennisetum 'Hamelin' I can give her.

Watering every day is the biggest issue, especially without a rooftop spigot. I am definitely going to suggest self watering containers for her.

Wow, that huge Ban*ana Tree! What do you do with it in the winter? Is that a second ban*ana tree planted in the ground? I see Verbena bonariensis on the roof, nice with the gr*asses. The petunias did well for you. Your c*at seems to love the deck.

Thanks very much, John!

Patrick, thanks for the name of the pl*ants you used. What a cute name, 'Baby Duck'. I would like to grow those just for the name alone. [g] I will pass that along.

Well, everyone has to have something to wish for right? Someday you might want to move to somewhere that has a yard and then your gar*den can have a jacuzzi in it. :-)

Donna, I haven't got time this morning to check out your link but I'll be back tomorrow morning. Thanks!

From my experience, all the full sun loving plants LOVED it, but not so my crawling in and out of my windows..lol

I have plumeria and tomatoes that loved the hot roof top..

But, the downside of this was that my rook poped leaks all over the place. I had to have the whole roof replaced...

Mike..:-)