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Newbie question about shade
If you wanted to know about the roof system, I can tell you it's very
interesting! He built rows of wood planters (he has wood tiles not fiberglass or pottery tiles for shingles) He gives them a good sealing each spring. I would suggest you check with an architect first for weight limitations on your roof prior to thinking about this as it would be a very sad day when your roof garden comes crashing down on your house! He had to install additional bracing in his attic due to the additional weight. Following his roof lines he built rows much like a staircase with walking area's in between each row. 6" above the roof he built metal decks and angled them the same slope of his roof. To this metal deck he attached on the lower end, rain gutters which all drain on a specific side and attached these into his existing gutter system. On top of his metal decks he built wood supports I just called him and he said these sit only 2" above the metal deck. This is where he built his wood planters. He staggered the sizes, the ones closest to the ground are only 6" tall by 12" wide. He grows lettuce and radishes in the more shallow ones. He graduated the sizes 6" for each row adding 2" of width for each 6" in height. The top row (tallest point of his roof) is only 2.5' tall--in this he plants his melons and takes care to keep these pruned. Also the top row of his north side he plants corn but he says it doesn't do very well as it only supports 2 rows of corn staggered in the same container. He says this year he is going to install a misting system for watering but in the past he has drug a hose around. Due to his time required up on his roof, he broke down last season and built a deck for entertaining. This is the same height as the lowest end of his roof. A barbeque deck below the upper deck (which his wife calls her tanning deck). The lower deck is in full shade and is very nice to see! If only I had his talent for building-----but I don't! He wants to warn anyone thinking about doing this that the roof system cost him his retirement funds. Though it did give him the additional 6,000 square feet of garden space if he covered his entire roof but he has only done the back half of the house. Also he ran into some zoning issues with the city and all us neighbors had to sign a letter for the city for him to be able to do it. He plants anything he can get his hands on but says the best plants are plants which don't require more than one row for correct pollination, Beets, carrots, radish, lettuce, cabbage, peppers, egg plant---anything he doesn't have to stake as he hasn't come up with an artful way to support these without looking trashy. Timber www.timberslodge.net ....a Step Through Time "Minteeleaf" wrote in message ... Timber wrote: Are you home in the sunlight hours? I have seen people plant entire gardens on wheels for just this reason. Can you describe this thoroughly please? What containers, what plants, how did it work? Minteeleaf |
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