Rooftop Growing

[the.fee.fairy]

I have a flat roof outside my bedroom. Its about 6' by 8'.

The rafters and joist underneath have not been strengthened in any way,l but you can walk on i withou a problem.
I can't turf it because of the weight issues. It is south/west facing (my room is at north, and there's a wall at East that runs the width of the roof.

Any ideas of what i could grow on it next year? Or even now?

I was thinking of trying to get hold of a load of tubs and growing things in them, so any ideas along those lines would be ace. I've got a few tubs in the greenhouse not being used at the moment, so any ideas for now would be good.

Ta very muchly

[Shirley]

Initial thought was that anything put up there would need to be heavy enough or secured in such a way as to not blow off when there are gales...

[the.fee.fairy]

being a southerner, we don't really have gales a lot - we don't get proper weather like you do!!

The roof is protected on 2 sides as well, so i reckon that if i have a few large tub type things up there filled with compost, then they're going to be heavy enough. The ones in the garden don't get blown over at all.

I'll try to get a pic of the rooftop, and it'll be easier to understand what i mean then (i'm cr*p at explaining technical stuff!!).

[Pilsbury]

Just put container growing in the search bar and it should give you results, if i can find the list i will post my growing this year.

ok found it quicker than expected
Well lets see, in the last 2 years i have done
cherry toms, pots and hanging baskets
bush toms, dustbin and growbags
pumpkin, large square containr about 2 foot square
potatoes in the bags from the compost
dwarf french beans 2 plants per 12 inch pot
mini sweetcorn 6 plants in a plastic tub about 2 foot square ( got about 35 cobs)
strawberrys hanging baskets and grow bags
raspberrys
blueberrys
blackcurrents
radish
spring onions
baby lettuce
cut and come again leaves
rocket
carrots, small globe rooted ones, paris Market
horseradish
chillies, jalapeno and scotch bonnet
peppers
apples
pears
mint
chrevil
sage
thyme
parsley
chives
swiss chard
rubarb, in the dustbin this year
garlic
beetroot
catnip
watercress
coriander
american land cress
nasturtium
roses
mushrooms
and dill
god looking back it does seem almost anything will come up in a pot.
Hope this helps
P.S. this is just the edible plants, there are a few flowers with sentimental reasons but i dont grow much that cant be eaten

[wulf]

It might be worth thinking about some subtle way of helping the pots stay up. Even biggish ones can be unbalanced by the wind once they've got a healthy plant sticking out of the top to catch the breezes.

Wulf

[Andy Hamilton]

It might be worth thinking about some subtle way of helping the pots stay up. Even biggish ones can be unbalanced by the wind once they've got a healthy plant sticking out of the top to catch the breezes.

Wulf

What about a brick either side? Or nestled together so that they support each other perhaps.

[the.fee.fairy]

hmm, i'll think about the support thing...

So...silly question coming up...

How much room does a tomato plant need to grow and produce healthy tomatoes? I could either make a couple of troughs to go in lines on the roof, or get a load of tub things (and compost bags - thanks for the hin there!!) and plant them in there. I had a tomato plant (gardeners delight) in an old recycling tub this year,. but it didn't do too well, it kept falling over even when i staked it...

Ta

[the.fee.fairy]

ooph and thanks for the list Pilsbury. I'm going to keep my eye out for some 2ft square pots for pumpkins and sweetcorn! I've got some baby corn seeds somewhere!

[wulf]

It depends on what kind of tomato - some kind of small bush variety, probably with cherry fruits, might be best for a medium sized pot (it also depends what options you've got for staking it up a wall or other support).

Wulf

[the.fee.fairy]

I've got a 6ft wall one side, and a 3ft wall the other (then there's window), so i was thinking of getting some cane trellis and attaching it to the wall, and then tying things to it, like tomato plants to keep them upright.

I've got a few different types of tomato to try, so we'll see!

[Pilsbury]

How much room does a tomato plant need to grow and produce healthy tomatoes? I could either make a couple of troughs to go in lines on the roof, or get a load of tub things (and compost bags - thanks for the hin there!!) and plant them in there. I had a tomato plant (gardeners delight) in an old recycling tub this year,. but it didn't do too well, it kept falling over even when i staked it...

Ta

Three tomato plants in a double deep grow bag, just put down a grow bag and cut most of the top off then put one upside down on top and cut out a panel then put a board on the top one turn it over so you have open side up then a board and the open side of the top grow bag down then slid the board out and you have double deep growbags good for tomatos, squash, and most other things. instead of buying grow bags you can fill heavy rubble sacks, preferably black and do the same thing with your own compost mix, very rich for squash.

[Muddypause]

I'm just thinking about structural things. Not meaning to dampen your enthusiasm, but a couple of things occur to me that you may want to consider in your plans.

Flat roofs tend to have some sort of membrane or covering to make them waterproof. This is often just roofing felt, or can be zinc or lead sheet. There are other ways of doing it, too, but it is important that you don't damage or puncture a fairly fragile covering. Felt in particular is not really intended for much foot traffic - ideally you would lay boards, or some other means of protecting it before walking on it. If you cause a leak, you may end up causing problems inside, and having to replace the whole covering.

Also, be aware that roof joists are usually not as strong as floor joists. They need to be fairly strong, and should withstand walking on with care, but if you load them up with lots of heavy containers, full of soil that will hold water, you may end up putting a load on the roof that it cannot properly cope with. Not saying it would necessarily collapse, but it may not do it much good.

If any of this is an issue in your case, maybe you could board over the areas you are going to use, or even better, install a sort of raised decking, so you don't touch the surface of the roof at all. Otherwise, put heavy loads near supporting walls, and tread carefully.

[the.fee.fairy]

they're good points, and something i was wondering about.

The roof is felted (grey with little stone things), and it has withstood a couple of people standing on it.

I was planning to put down some scaffolding planks to hold the pots, to give the roof a bit of help. And i was planning to grow tall things by the wall so that they'd have some support.

The growbags seem like a good option for that - put up against the wall.

I'll ask my dad about the weight issue. He did say once before that i could put some tubs of 'things' up there.

Next thing to work out is how to get it all out of my bedroom window

[wulf]

You could try the growbags tipped on their side and supported, like I saw at one of the RHS gardens last year:



That would also be handy if you're trying to make maximum use of the floor space (especially if you limit yourself to what you can fit on a few supporting boards).

Wulf

[the.fee.fairy]

ooh that looks like a good idea!!

Chilli plants - can they be grown outdoors? Or do i need to keep them in a greenhouse?