Vertical Gardening, Roof Gardens, Veggie Walls

[Dover]

Dicksteele recently shared pics of his 'roof garden' which inspired this post. Wonder if Dick realizes he's at the forefront of an 'upward' trend in vertical gardening? Or maybe it's as old as Babylon.

Here are articles on the various vertical styles:


Growing a Vertical Vegetable Garden

Do you live in the city? Are you confined to an apartment dwelling with little space for gardening? Do you want to grow a vegetable garden, but feel you don’t have the room? If so, then I have news for you. While limited spaces of a city life can be frustrating for the urban gardener, growing a vegetable garden is anything but impossible. In fact, with a little planning and imagination, vegetable gardens can be grown anywhere, regardless of space.

How? Consider growing a vertical vegetable garden. You can easily produce the same amount of fresh vegetables without taking up excess space. A vertical vegetable garden is easy to create. You can create one using shelves, hanging baskets, or trellises...cont'd

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/herb/growing-a-vertical-vegetable-garden.htm


Vertical Gardening (from Texas Gardener)

Texas is the land of wide-open spaces where huge ranches and farms are commonplace. However, despite the magnitude of our sprawling state, many gardeners lack suitable spots for a vegetable garden. Perhaps they live in an apartment or townhouse, or a very small lot where space is limited. Maybe theirs is an older neighborhood where towering shade trees leave little space with good sun exposure.

If you are one of those complaining about a lack of space I have two words of advice for you: "Grow Up!" I mean it. Forget the sprawling gardens where melons and vining squashes take over a land area equivalent to one of those scrawny New England states. Turn that garden on end and go vertical. We can get more into a small space by taking the garden to a higher level.

Other Advantages
Vertical gardening has other advantages, too. It is easier on the back and can make gardening more accessible for gardeners with physical disabilities. Fruit and foliage diseases are often reduced when vegetables are grown vertically. Air circulation is increased so fruit and foliage dry off faster after a rain or irrigation. Fruit does not lie on the soil surface, which reduces some fruit rot problems and damage from some pests that live in the mulch and soil surface...cont'd

http://www.texasgardener.com/pastissues/marapr02/verticalgardening.html


Basics of Vertical Gardening (one minute video)
http://www.expertvillage.com/video/18330_vegetable-gardening-vertical.htm

HGTV Segment on Vertical Gardening:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_gby/article/0,,HGTV_3842_1399479,00.html

Tips On Going Vertical: http://ezinearticles.com/?Tips-for-Growing-Vegetables-in-a-Vertical-Garden&id=1168052


Experimental Green Roof

Professor Tom Hutchinson (now retired) has spearheaded the Trent University Environmental and Resource Sciences Vegetable Garden project with a two-fold purpose: to monitor ozone levels and conduct environmental research and to raise 30 to 40 different crops of produce which is donated to the Seasoned Spoon, Trent U’s local and vegetarian café, and Food Not Bombs, a local community organization that provides free meals outside City Hall every Monday, as well as to various other community groups, such as the Brock Mission and the YWCA, and the kitchens of volunteers. The roof is roughly 300 by 100 feet, two-thirds of which is under cultivation, the rest is grass. On the rooftop garden different varieties of heritage seeds are used. In addition to producing diverse and organic produce, the rooftop garden serves as a test zone for tropospheric ozone. Ozone damages local crops such as corn, beans and wheat (Arthur, 2005).

The rooftop garden has a depth of 18 inches of media which produces vegetables such as artichoke, sweet potatoes, squash, kale, beets, carrots, radishes, broccoli, peppers, zucchini, beans, turnips, eggplants, melons, pumpkins, and ground cherries.

http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/pview.php?id=558

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Sky vegetables could change world food business.

Building and operating commercial greenhouses on supermarket rooftops in the United States is the award-winning idea for a new business named Sky Vegetables.

It is an idea expected to be widely adopted around the world as peak oil cost increases and climate change problems seriously challenge traditional agricultural production.

Last month the Sky Vegetables’ business plan won the $10,000 top prize in the 2008 G.Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition for students of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

According to the Wisconsin Technology Network News, Sky Vegetables won top prize following a review of business plans of 17 start-up companies.

Sky Vegetables prototype green roof investment intends to break even 20 months from now. It proposes to operate its rooftop greenhouses as separate entities above supermarkets and its business model calls for year-round rooftop hydroponic cultivation of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers for retail sale immediately below. Fast expansion of the idea is expected as Sky Vegetables succeeds.

Produce will be picked as it ripens, and taken to the sales shelf in less than half and hour. Market research has shown this as a big sales clincher...cont'd

http://greenroofs.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/sky-vegetables-could-change-world-food-business/


City Farmer's Green Roof:

http://www.cityfarmer.org/CFgreenroof.html

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Rooftop Garden Blog and Source

http://wordpress.com/tag/green-roof/

FAQ about Rooftop Gardening:

http://www.roofmeadow.com/faqs/faqs.shtml


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Sending Your Veggies Up The Wall



I often wander through home shows looking for new green things to write about and are usually disappointed. Imagine our shock to show up at the local Home and Garden Show and find ourselves on Green Street- surrounded by booths with Bullfrog Power, Ecotech and others but the best of show was ELT Living Walls, a sort of green roof on its side- a modular, pregrown, scalable system of "sending your garden up the wall" We spoke with VP Keith Ardron, who informed us that it was launched exactly one week ago but that the interest has been huge. A plastic moulded version of the prototype will be available in May- you can do it yourself or buy it pregrown. "Using our patented Bioblanket system to wick water down behind the root zone, we are able to provide water to the back of the wall where the roots need it most. Use with perrenials, annuals, vegetables and herbs". Frank Lloyd Wright once quipped that doctors were lucky, they got to bury their mistakes but architects could only plant vines

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/modular_green_w.php

[crispini]

1. Great post, thanks!

I *love* the idea behind "Sky Vegetables" !

[Dover]

2. I loved that too. And the university roof garden that gave veggies to local food banks, etc.

Thing is, if everyone starts getting the vegetable growing bug, we may not need to get so much produce at the grocery stores...lol! We'll have our own 'sky gardens'. Would be neat if architects began introducing similar plans for residences, apartment buildings, etc., eh?

[Richard Steele]

3. Wow. What an amazingly great thread! So much useful info in such a small package.

For the record, I'm not at the "forefront" of anything.
I haven't INVENTED anything that I'm doing; I've just
learned about things that other folks did, and adapted them to
my personal situation.

(Those "ELT Living Walls" people, on the other hand...
those crazy bastards are at some serious FOREFRONT!
That's just some pretty impressive stuff right there!)


That pic of the garden at Trent University is extremely INSPIRATIONAL.
I intend to continue with the 'separate container' concept,
but I'm hopeful that a few years of trial and error will eventually
have my roof-garden looking like a smaller version of that
lush vegetable paradise!

My containers barely occupy 25% of the roof space this year.
Next year, I plan to DOUBLE whatever grows best this year, and
keep adding experimental buckets of new things.

[Dover]

4. Well Dick, very few inventors actually set out to invent something new...

afterall, necessity is the mother of invention. And your response to your particular situation was very creative. It just so happens that a lot of people, out of various needs and for various reasons are looking 'up' in their gardening ventures. So at the very least you are part of a bigger wave. So thanks for the inspiration! And best wishes to you for a bountiful roof garden.

[Dover]

5. Dwell Magazine's Green Roof article (short)

http://www.dwell.com/daily/blog/19985504.html