Vivek Kohli
In a world, where natural resources are decreasing and food insecurity might prevail sooner or later, rooftop vegetation is a good solution for self-sustenance.
With urbanization and since more and more people would like to do their farming where they are, urban gardening is considerably being taken up and has been a successful alternative – a shift from the traditional thinking that the cultivation of crops can only be done in the rural areas. Urban agriculture, urban farming, or urban gardening is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around urban areas. One of the most popular and common practice of urban farming is Rooftop Vegetation & vertical gardening.
The rooftop vegetation is defined as a type of farming or garden on the rooftop of a building, home, or any residential infrastructure. This term is also known as green roofs. Rooftop vegetation and vertical gardening are included in the methods of urban farming. The rising temperature of the Earth’s surface is triggering natural disasters. Global warming is showing negative consequences on wildlife, marine biodiversity, plants, and humans.
IMPORTANCE OF ROOFTOP VEGETATION AND VERTICAL GARDENING
Rooftop vegetation and vertical gardening can have ecological as well as economic benefits.
The importance of rooftop vegetation and vertical gardening is as follow:
Both can be used for decorative purposes.
They provide temperature control. The urban heat island effect can be reduced using these techniques.
Rooftop vegetation can provide fresh vegetables and fruits while vertical gardening enhances the architectural beauty of the building.
Vegetation and gardens improve air quality and filter air pollutants such as carbon dioxide.
The economic value of the building increases due to rooftop vegetables/vertical gardening.
Nowadays people resort to growing vegetables and plants on the house terrace because land for cultivation is shrinking drastically especially in urban areas. Primary reasons are that grow
Method of rooftop cropping:
The rooftop gardening can be done in growbags, which are available in various shapes, such as round, rectangular, square, which can be choosen on the basis of requirement and preference.
Advantage of grow bags over plastic sacks
Plastic sacks can be used for terrace gardens but the use of specially designed plastic grow bags (ROCHFERN grow bags) has its advantage.
They bags come with perforation for drainage and it has elegant look compare to old plastic sacks.
Grow bags of 150 microns and above thickness made out of virgin material can be reused for up to seven seasons
Vegetable cultivation in grow bags
Fill grow bags with a potting mixture ,that can be filled up to 75% to 90% of the volume of the grow bag.
The bags are to be arranged in a line on the terrace ensuring the wall underneath the grow bags are to be placed on bricks placed in triangular format or grow bag trays specially designed for this.
Sunlight loving bushy crops are preferred to shade-loving and trailing crops
Sowing or transplanting up to two plants per grow bag is advantageous but you can have more plants in the case of green leaf vegetables.
One of the main dilemmas prevailing in the minds of rooftop growers is the weight of the pots that whether the pots containing soil will be good to be kept on the roofs.
For that the solution for the urban growers is coco peat potting mix which is very light in weight, booster of the plant growth and avoids soil borne infections and hence an ideal potting mix for urban farming that can be prepared as under. To make potting mix at home in India ,get all the ingredients which mostly includes:
* Garden soil
* Cocopeat
* Vermicompost
* Perlite
* A growbag
* PVC shading net
Mix the required amount of each very well in the ratio of 1:2:1 and leave it for some time and then shift it into ideal sized grow bags. The ratio of the potting mixture can be changed, above is the most commonly recommended mix ratio
This potting mix is lighter compared to regular soil, and it is ideal for urban gardeners who are growing plants on their terrace.
These growbag gardens serve the purpose of Market gardens in small urbanized corridors and vacant plots.
Maintenance of rooftop gardens:
It is generally believed that people are living a busy life in urban areas and the greatest limitation for maintaining the rooftop garden is lack of watering time and above that scarcity of water and solution to this is Drip Irrigation.
Drip irrigation involves placing tubing with emitters on the ground alongside the plants. The emitters slowly drip water into the soil at the root zone. Because moisture levels are kept at an optimal range, plant productivity and quality improve and moreover saves the time and water wastage which occurs while watering the plants individually with a water pipe or some other source of water.
Since the rooftop garden in urban areas is set up with a purpose of growing seasonal vegetables and fruits, it is advisable to grow seedlings in seedling trays or get the seedlings from the market and then plant in the growbags.
Since the stage of development of seedlings from seed is very crucial and require lot of care and technical expertise, it is advisable to grow seedlings in seedling trays or get the seedlings from the market and then plant in the growbags.This will help the urban grower to get maximum yield.
In the summer season, direct heat of the sun can harm the plants, so they can be covered with PVC shaded net, if it requires.
Rooftop gardening: A cost effective venture
To maintain all this, it requires investment of approximately ? 760/- per square foot of space.
And a good part of this which needs to be mentioned is that the department of agriculture encourages urban farming and anybody who wishes to set up a rooftop garden is given a subsidy of 50%, thereby reducing the cost to ?380/- per square foot. Once installed, the unit lasts for several seasons with very little wear and tear.
Conclusion:
The world is facing many problems nowadays, including a growing number of people living in cities, many of whom often do not have easy access to fresh food. To solve this problem, it is necessary to develop a new kind of agriculture that provides city residents with food security while also protecting the environment. Rooftop agriculture could be a solution.
(The author is Retired Joint Director Agriculture)
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