trying the hyperlink again

Here is a link that might be useful: Rooftop and Self-Watering garden projects

If you go to the EarthTainer.org website, and click on the In the News and Photos Tabs, you will see a project I helped a group with in rooftop gardening. Believe it or not, water is a precious commodity in Haiti, and the system I helped them design does not waste a drop of water:

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Here is a link that might be useful: EarthTainer in Haiti Project

Very nice - I've had the same thought about what a good missions / helps trip would look like, and building this type of thing is what I've been thinking about. I'm convinced that people can pretty simply meet most of their caloric requirements in a few thousand cubic feet of growing space.

My thought is with the Earthtainer... look at all the sidewalls that are sort of unnecessary (extra expense) in a larger system like you've photographed. Isn't there some sort of modular, snap-together, or rigid plastic system that could be built? It would probably be the same dimensions as a raised bed - 4 to 6' wide sheets that can be or are perforated and cut, but could support the weight of the soil horizon with a little help from the wicks.

Sam's had a ludicrously priced raised bed system on sale this spring, but the one thing I did like was the perforated plastic bottom they had in it. Wish they had just been selling that.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sam's club raised bed (not the

chem,

Certainly, one could scale up the EarthTainer metrics on a grander scale. On another Forum, someone built a large wooden box and used a rubber pond liner to make a waterproof containment system. One needs a uniform wicking system to make it work, but experimentation is half the fun of getting it right!

Raybo

This is kind of interesting but I have a few questions. Did you calculate the additional load that all that water and soil add to the roof and compare that to what the structure is rated for? Will you leave that garden up there over the winter since, when it snows, that could become a significant added load on the roof structure. What was the exact formula did you use for your potting mix?

It will be interesting to see how that squash will grow up there since it doesn't appear they have much cubic feet of space to grow roots. Squash are rather large plants.

I've been rooftop gardening for many years now and am looking into ways to make it easier. Changing out the potting mix in the containers has become a complete PITA every May. I'm considering trying out earthtainers next year but doesn't the mix in those have to be rebuilt every year also?

Anyway, I have it a lot easier since my rooftops are flat. I have albums for each year of my rooftop garden in the link below. I didn't take any pics in 2008 because I was too lazy. My 2009 garden is up and planted so I'll get pics of that in a few months.

Here is a link that might be useful: My green roof albums

Nice pictures, very extensive setup you have there. I guess I'm going more for a raised-bed scale type of setup, only on a slanted roof, along with being self-collecting and self-watering.

Load - I've played around with it as I've proceeded. I have 3 water berms, which hold at least 5 gallons each. The mix is only 4-6 inches deep, at most 2-3 lbs per 12 cu " . If you think of it as a cubic foot being a 5 gallon pail there is probably a gallon of water and 1.5 gallons of mix at most per cubic foot. So I don't think I'm at even 20 lbs per sq. ft of roof in use, and I'm using about 2/3 (25 sq ft)of each side of the roof.

I don't really know what this roof is rated for, but it has 2x4' trusses every 2 feet under 3/8" OSB ... seems pretty sturdy ... from what I read, most garages are rated for 25-30+ lbs, but I'm trying to get up to speed on how to caluclate loads more accurately.

Squash Growth - Yeah, I got a little wild, but wanted to make sure I got my money's worth. I'd estimate each pair of plants has about a gallon of space. They're doing fine so far. Got a good rain a few days ago, and they are showing good growth. The top berm dries right up, the bottom one doesn't seem to, at least not yet. Too early to tell if the system is wicking. As wicks, I have halves of gallon jugs cutting up through an aeration bench of flexible plastic on one side, 1/2 inch wire on the other.

Mix - there's nothing terribly exact. I'm trying to do it on the cheap. One side is mostly leaf compost and a horse bedding / manure mix. The other side is both of those and a lot of double shredded pine in there, too. I threw a few pounds of Milorganite (CRF) around.

I can see with all your smaller containers that change out is an issue. This year, I guess I'd be happy to see everything hang together and produce a decent crop. I can't see going with perlite, peat moss and some of the fancier things on something of this scale right off until I have a better understanding of the "gritty mix" or such sytems and their applicability.

In just toying with leaf compost only last year, everything (some tomatoes and beets) was ok for a few weeks, but then went yellow, I assume for lack of N, if not a lot of other things. I have some tomatoes, canteloupe, sweet corn, and pole beans on the east side.

I'm trying this out for a few reasons. One, there are some real practical advantages to getting things up away from pests. Also, I think 20 foot squash vines might be more manageable up there than on the ground. We'll see in they need extensions or trellising. In general I think we may need to do things like this to remain a free society, frankly. I'm thoroughly perturbed by the Malthusians , and this is my statement against such ideas. I also looking into integrating a fish pond into this sort of thing as an aquaponics setup. Looking for better, lighter, sturidier materials.

Any suggestions, especially with fertilizer regimen, and possibly wind and sun screening are welcome.

Updating the rooftop self-collecting, self-watering system. Again, the one side of the shed has about 50 acorn and butternut squash on it. Those are photographed. Squash are doing better than I expected actually. Wind and scorching sun have not been a factor to growth, though it has been windy. Some mitigation of the sun in this location under a tree.

The other side is now in corn, beans, squash, canteloupe, and a couple of tomatoes.

mea - not sure if you're still reading. You asked about changing the soil mix every year. There is a bit of difference of opinion on that. No question that most people on this forum say yes. But, the folks at EarthBox say they are up to 7 years using the same soil mix in their special made self watering planters.

Me? I can see why it makes sense to change it, but I've gone three years without and I've changed it annually. I can't say I noticed a big difference. Now, I wasn't comparing my yields, so it's completely non-scientific. And, I'm using their system, not what you're using.

That's just my experience FWIW.

Updating the blog with July 4th pictures of the rooftop , (theoretically) self-watering , self-collecting unit... except it hasn't rained in 2 weeks, but we can deal with that with the watering wand.

We have included the first few pictures of squash fruits. Some acorn and butternut fruits several inches long have taken off as of today 7/15. Some vines approaching 10 feet long. The hill / undergrowth area in the planter got away from me a bit and tangled somewhat, but I've managed to direct most of the growth to the edges.

There are six rows of probably 50-60 plants in this 35 sq. ft "hill." I try to keep the plants from wilting too much. Making sure everything gets as much sun as needed and supporting some of the vines and fruit will both need a little tweaking. I finally got around to nailing some pallets together and making a platform to work on around the roof.

I also have corn, tomatoes, canteloupe, pole beans, and squash planted on the east side of the shed roof. I'm going to try using the corn as a trellis for the vine crops over there. Corn should have gotten more of a head start, but we'll have some climbing starting shortly, ready or not. Biggest corn is waist high right now. Having more fun than a human should be allowed to have :-).

lathyrus, I use a pine bark based mix and the bark does break down after 2 seasons so I replace it. I don't know much about earthboxes but I would assume that in order to wick water upward your soil requirements would be more severe than mine but I don't know. I just water the old fashioned way. :-) My mix formula does reuse about 45% of the old soil mix with addition of new pine bark and perlite and of course fertilizer. Even if I reuse all the soil from an entire container (and many I let go for 2 or 3 seasons), I still have to add an appropriate level of slow release fertilizer so I have to somewhat empty them to mix in the fertilizer which is work. The one year I didn't do this (last year BTW), things went very badly. Plants like tomatoes I completely rebuild the mix every year. I've had bad luck with tomatoes the last 7 years growing them so every year I try something different and that means rebuilding the mix. Other plants like habeneros and cucumbers are much more forgiving.

chemacres, it looks like your rooftop is starting to take shape and I now see why you chose squash -- the sheer amount of foliage it puts out. You gave me some ideas I might try next year.

Updating from 7/21 on the rooftop squash. Added 5 new pictures to the blog entry in the link below.

The first flush of fruit are doing pretty well and are up to 6-8 inches as of this writing. Having some trouble getting a second fruit on the same vine to even flower, though there have been as many as two or three others that were ready to go, but just turned yellow and reabsorbed.

Any thoughts as to how I can get more to take? I've been trying to keep them hydrated, which can be a challenge. I'm trying to get some of the vines going over the sides up into the sun more as well. They should have enough fertilizer at the moment as I gave them another dose of milorganite and a bit of miracle grow. Just a bit of rain the past day or so , could sure use more of the natural stuff.

Pole beans are shooting up the corn and overtaking the smaller stalks. Beans are much reinvigorated with a bit more nourishment. I'm favorably impressed by what a stable arrangement this is for both crops. The "ground" is thoroughly shaded and the whole system is much less buffeted by the wind, what little we've had.