With ever-increasing plans on stuffing living spaces with big buildings and bigger rooms, the space available to plants your own garden seems very marginal. At this juncture, people often have nowhere to look but upwards – not towards the sky, but to their own terraces – to bring their dream of owning a garden to fruition.
Terrace gardens have become really popular over the recent years, and majorly because of their ability to grow any type of plantation. You are provided with complete freedom to customize terrace gardens as you like. In this article by Elitech Drip, we’re going to take a look at everything related to terrace gardening, so that you can decide if that is a type of gardening you may want to adopt in your homes.
Contents
How To Create A Terrace Garden
We know what a terrace garden is. Now, how do we make one in our own home? Well the first step that goes into building your own terrace garden is choosing a proper spot for your garden – it can be an open space in your balcony if you live in a residential apartment, or your whole terrace if you live in a separate home. Once you have that, you need to proof the area where you are about to grow your fruits or vegetables so that it becomes water-resistant and doesn’t cause any damage to the building. Waterproofing kits and equipment are readily available in a nearby gardening store, or you can get them online from sites like Amazon.
Once the proofing stuff is done and dusted, you want to begin with simple steps towards making your garden look perfect. For instance, start with planters or pots for the terrace garden, try getting a pot from a market or anywhere else. Make sure these pots can be recycled. Mix soil compost and sand in equal quantities and fill the pot after that. Now sow the seed and watch it bloom. It’s as simple as that.
Further Enhance Your New Garden
Now that the basic outline of your garden has been put in place, it is up to you to get creative and bring out the best in it. For example, you can bring in a lot of variations of the plants that you want to grow.
Note: Always research the internet to find out which plants would suit your locality best, and then order them.
You can even put to use some Coke bottles, kitchen utensils, and different bamboo baskets so that you don’t have to spend money on buying pots.
Another important tip – and this is crucial if you’re just starting out – is to go with one kind of plant/crop first. Don’t overburden yourself with unfamiliar plants and start out with easier, more familiar ones. Once you gain confidence with the garden’s potential, you can get a bit more adventurous.
Use bamboo to cover the roof of the terrace so that when the sun gets too bright(which is very likely during the summer months) the plants won’t be affected by it.
Haste makes waste. Practice patience because gardening will require you to have lots of it. Getting disheartened during the first few months of the process can be pretty common so make sure not to let emotions get a hold of you.
Advantages Of Terrace Gardening
Having a rooftop garden, or a garden in general will reduce your home’s average temperature by 6 to 8 degrees (Celcius). This substantially brings down the dependence on an air conditioner during most months of the year.
Growing your own fruits and vegetables means that you do not have to consume unwanted chemicals and pesticides that come along with store-bought edibles. You can also exercise at your rooftop garden, getting fresh and clean air and experiencing the joy of being close to nature.
Through terrace gardening, the amount of oxygen in the air is increased and the sound pollution is reduced. Even the birds welcome themselves from time to time to avail shelter at your rooftop.
Vegetables and fruits that are harvested from rooftop gardens are free of chemicals, thus giving a quality meal. This also ensures a tasty meal. Nature is considered to be the best friend of man and having a terrace garden in your house is like having your best friend live with you; it’s refreshing and ensures a jolly time. As we said earlier, having a terrace garden can increase the production of oxygen in the air which means the plants capture air pollutants and filter them and release oxygen. Plants maintain the carbon-dioxide levels in the air and increase oxygen levels. This enables fresh air to circulate inside your home, thereby, giving your family a healthy home.
You can notice the key differences made to your house’s atmosphere after installing your own terrace garden. The heat reflected off your building tends to decrease and your house is comparatively cooler. They also decrease the amount of soil erosion and the surface runoff which can support the growing of crops in an easy way.
Note: You can also use rainwater harvesting and maintain a moderate temperature of the garden. This can arrest the flow of stormwater which in turn can be used for the terrace garden. With the regular dew and evaporation cycle the rooftop is kept cool and the environment inside the house as well is maintained.
Rooftop gardens are not only beneficial for your physical health but also for your aesthetic mind. Fresh air will always help clear your mind and help you be creative.
You can also create an aesthetic benefit by having a rooftop garden that can attract goods, as well as overall the house, looks more appealing. Having rooftop gardens is one of the most efficient ways to use water and prevent soil erosion.
Limitations
Terrace gardens also require an increased water supply. This causes strain in the water supply of the entire building. It will also require a specialized drainage system so as to not allow water to seep into the building through cracks and crevices. A good drip irrigation system takes care of these concerns by saving water and automatically water as per schedule
If the rooftop garden has soil beds, then a protective membrane needs to be installed between the soil and the rooftop. This installation demands professional work. This adds on to the cost of the entire program. Terrace gardens are an expensive affair. The biggest disadvantage is the structure of the garden. There is an increased strain on the entire structure of the building.
Very well researched and useful for beginners