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Clapham Roof Garden

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We are a community of 6 flats and have a large roof terrace at the top of the property. We are looking into planting our own vegtables and fruits - which we'll be able to eat ourselves. Marks going to do a trial run first on his own balcony...

Website: http://CRG
Location: Clapham Junction (SW11)
Members: 17
Latest Activity: Sep 29

23rd July - TOMATO, SPINACH, PEPPER AND CHILLI PLANTS (yielding friut/veg) AVAILABLE ... PLEASE CONTACT MARK

Food prices are going up, the quality of food is going down and everything these days seems to be flown in from New Zealand and Mexico. Its time to bring back the gardens into the UK cities - and exorcise the 1960's mindset that UK living is concrete, clinical and grey.

I have a south west facing balcony and want to see if it's ripe (!) for fruit and veg (see the picture below). I am going to use the balcony (with a little help from my friends) as a trial run for perhaps converting the communal roof terrace. If it's a success we'll look to draft in some help to turn the communal roof terrace at the top of the block into a food growing mecca when spring comes around ...!

For the communal terrace, we will want to look at some designs that will improve the quality of the space and make it more attarctive, greener and relaxing. I'm not saying we'll be swaying from hammocks and drinking pina coladas from palms ... but a bit of greenery would be nice. It might even improve the value of our flats.

It's a blank page and therefore there are a number of hurdles that we need to looking into:

1) will the building support a few raised beds - which will add a bit of extra weight.
2) what are the planning permissions (if any) to be gained
3) what design will we chose
4) what will the cost be - and what funding can we get
5) which plants should we grow
6) are there any unperceived issues - water supply, root damage etc

What this space. We've kept the project open so that all members of the public can join and see how we get on, who we use to install the beds, what the permissions are etc. Any external help would also be great. So far Mark has joined Food Up Front (also a project dirt member) ... who are going to present their ideas shortly

Project Folder (storage of docs) - RECENTLY UPLOADED DOCS - NEW PICTURES TO SEE!

Discussion Forum

New planting session 4 Replies

Started by Mark. Last reply by Iris Borgers Jul 23.

Permaculture Design 1 Reply

Started by Sarah Cannon. Last reply by Mark Jul 6.

new wormery - on roof terrace or bins ... for all to use 5 Replies

Started by Mark. Last reply by Mark Jul 6.

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Comment by Mark on July 23, 2009 at 3:33pm: If anyone wants lettuce, chives and chilli's then feel free to head round - flat 5. likewise - happy to donate a tomato plant or two if anyone is interested. they are just getting going.

Comment by Mark on November 29, 2008 at 11:04am: OK - i have planted some oinions and also some lettuce. Having bought the seeds - the instructions suggested the plants would grow well through the winter. Lets see.

I have also bought a medusa chilli plant - and kept this on my window sill. It ended up being infested with flies (green fly i reckon) ... so i've had to put it outside! does anyone know how to check for flies next time - and/or how to get rid of them?

cheers - i'll upload photos as when shoots start to appear!

Mark

Comment by Carey on November 13, 2008 at 8:21pm: good luck with your trial. also, winter is a great time for planning: eg where the wind breakers need to be and if poss putting them in place, wo what type are you going to have, water issues,riased beds and or other thypes of containers, (you could put a call out for types of material you want that people may have going spare, eg timber if raised beds, or recycled tyres or other types of containers...growing medium (have a company's details who deliver and supply quite cheap compost if you buyt special deals, but you may also know of somewhere to buy it un-bagged? get in touch for a chat if you want. this could be your busiest time, preperation for spring - planting is the easy part then!

best wishes
Carey

Comment by Carey on September 25, 2008 at 11:26pm: Inspirational! I imagine you have trawled the web for info on roof gardening..? I have never done this before, but if you go to my profile you will see I have experience of growing things, including in containers. If you would like some practical help I would love to offer my services!

Comment by Mark on July 23, 2008 at 10:32pm: Right - i thought id better put a quick message up here to say that this has been on the slow go because the block has suffered from the water being cut off. There are therefore far more pressing things that need attention. Once things return back to normal ... i'll kick start things! cheers ... mark

Comment by Mark on July 7, 2008 at 7:02pm: Awesome ... thanks Denny - good point about the wind. We have a perforated wind shield that throws perhaps a bit too much shaddow ... so we might have to position the plants in the right section of the terrace (away from the wind shield) ... some of it is much more sheltered than the others. I'll upload some photos shortly - and it would be great to get your thoughts. Need to run as very late to catch up with someone.

Comment by Denny on July 7, 2008 at 1:11pm: Hi Clapham Roof People

Great idea - thought I would lob in a few thoughts. I hope at least some of them may be useful to you...

I'm a relative food-growing novice, having only started this year. I grow (or try to) a whole range of stuff on my 6th floor balcony (west facing) including rocket, spinach tomatoes, shallots, garlic, parsley and lavender.

A BIG issue for me has been the wind, which is a lot more of an issue as you get higher up. So, one thing to think about is how you can ensure your plants are shielded from the elements, whilst still getting the sun you need. If there is likely to be little shelter, then I would recommend avoiding taller, more fragile plants such as tomatoes (unless you can get a greenhouse). The plants that have worked best so far for me are those for which wind is not so much of an issue: garlic, shallots, carrots, radishes, beetroot, etc. Presumably any type of root vegetable is going to be fine.

On the plus side of course, pests are lot less of an issue from up here!

Hope that helps?!

Good luck with it

Denny