Welcome to the Rooftop Garden Source!

Hello and welcome to the resource capital for all things related to rooftop vegetable farming.

The Rooftop Garden Source was created by urban agriculture enthusiasts looking to provide the world with current events, links, academic articles and professional commentary on the growing rooftop vegetable farming industry.

We recently stumbled upon this sustainable and logical farming method which has been in practice for centuries. We have conducted research and learned that his could without a doubt be applied globally to help fight climate change and hunger amongst a handful of other pressing issues. The potential for rooftop vegetable farming is limitless.

Unfortunately, this concept is not organized on the internet and is relatively unknown outside the urban agriculture community. It is our vision that we can help bring this revolutionary and world saving farming method to the main stream by creating a place on the internet which organizes all rooftop vegetable farming resources.

The Roof Garden Source is a project by the Urban Agriculture firm, Sky Vegetables. More information about Sky Vegetables will be added in the near future.

Thanks and Enjoy

The Sky Vegetables Staff

Rooftop Vegetable Farming on the Roof of the St. Simon Stock School in Bronx, NY

Over twenty years ago, the Gaia Institute developed the capacity to create ultra-lightweight soil out of the waste stream in order to establish ecological and agricultural systems on rooftops. Much further developed in recent years, a patent was awarded in 2005 for this plant growth medium. A grant from the Bronx Initiative in Energy and the Environment and the Bronx Overall Development Corporation in the Bronx Borough President’s Office made it possible to build an instrumented, stormwater capture and educational green roof facility in partnership with St. Simon Stock School.

http://www.gaiainstituteny.org/

“Guide to Setting up Your Own Edible Roof Garden” is Now Available!

Rooftop Garden Project, Montreal, Canada

After five seasons of gardening and experimenting, the Rooftop Garden project team is happy to share the fruits of its labor with you. The Guide to Setting up Your Own Edible Rooftop Garden comes from our wish to see new gardens and partners take root in the fertile soil of Montreal but also in other parts of the world.

Our goal is to make planting these oases of edible nature in the city easier so that more and more people will start gardening on rooftops and discovering its benefits.

The document is available in English and Canada. Hard copies can be purchased for $20 or you can download a copy for FREE at the Rooftop Garden Project website: Get your copy by clicking here

http://www.cityfarmer.info/guide-to-setting-up-your-own-edible-rooftop-garden/

2008 International Green Roof Conference Apr 30 – May 2, Baltimore Maryland

The three-day conference will consist of plenary and specialized sessions focused on four main topic areas:

1. Policies and Programs to Support Green Roofs
2. Green Roof Design and Implementation
3. Research and Technical Papers on Green Roof Performance
4. Networking & Information Forums on Current Green Roof Topics.

This conference is designed for architects, landscape architects, roofing professionals, green roof researchers, horticulturalists, urban planners, facility managers and developers, policy makers and anyone with an interest in green roofs and green buildings.

http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=6e71365a-859a-4f9c-8bfc-78af55f944e3

True Nature Rooftop Victory Garden

By: Erik Olsen

True Nature Foods, a community-oriented organic foods store has installed a 1,400 sf green roof on top of their building, a former auto shop. This modest project would be similar to many others in Chicago if it weren’t for the fact that this roof is to be food-producing – plants grown on the roof will eventually be sold alongside the store’s other produce. The roof was made possible through the efforts of Urban Habitat Chicago, a start-up nonprofit interested in experimental projects.

One of the first crops likely to be harvested, cold-hardy romaine lettuce, is shown here, but the variety of plantings, including buckwheat, burdock, comfrey, Jerusalem artichoke is impressive. Plans for spring and summer include mint, rosemary, oregano, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, and squash. No wonder they’ve named the project after war-era victory gardens, which the building site actually once hosted. The green roof design and plant selections were by Michael Repkin Designs. A portion of the project funding came from the Chicago Department of Environment’s Greeen Roof Grant Program.

http://greenbean.typepad.com/greenbean/2006/12/true_nature_roo.html

Rooftop Hydroponic Farming in Egypt

By Hazim Younis

Recently, Egypt has embarked on a project to increase the amount of greenery on rooftops. This provided a good opportunity for housewives and youth to use their time fruitfully and increase oxygen production in a choking environment.

Due to the rapid expansion of the Egyptian population, and building on cultivated land, there are limited resources for many families living in the major cities. This situation has a negative impact on the general well-being of the families living in poor urban or suburban neighborhoods. Similar conditions can be found in much of the developing world. A solution to a small part of this problem could be providing these families with an easy source of income and healthy nutrition.

This easy-to-do project can be carried out by anyone. All the materials and professional advice needed are found at the Central Laboratory of Agricultural Climate (CLAC). Dr. Usama Al Baheiri, president of CLAC, states that vast areas are not required to carry out the project. However, it is important that all sorts of junk or garbage be removed from the rooftop so that no sunlight is blocked from the plants. The area to be used should have sunlight for at least four to five hours daily to allow enough exposure for the fruits and vegetables to flourish.

http://www.islamonline.net/English/Science/2004/09/article03.shtml

VCU Installs Fucntional Rooftop Greenhouse on Campus

The four-floor, 132,000-square-foot facility creates an academic quadrangle on the southwest corner of the Monroe Park Campus. Science and math faculty – as well as education professors who prepare future science teachers – will be within steps of one another’s classrooms and laboratories. The facility contains exciting new learning spaces including seven classrooms, two lecture halls, computer labs, and a student study lounge – all equipped with state-of-the-art multimedia technology.

The life sciences building features 17 undergraduate instructional laboratories. In addition to general biology and anatomy laboratories the building offers specialty laboratories for advanced courses. Those include genetics, molecular biology, bioinformatics, ecology, environmental science, botany, physiology and microbiology.

A rooftop greenhouse is a research-grade facility that can control humidity, temperature and light. The 3,000-square-foot greenhouse supports a pesticide-free room and three environments simultaneously: desert, mild climates much like Central Virginia and tropic.

http://www.vcu.edu/lifesci/facilities/fac_eugene.html

Rooftop Greenhouse at Northern Kentucky University

By Brianna Bodine

The greenhouse will function as a hands-on lab for students, a production site for general lab specimens, and a research facility for faculty. Tours for school groups and special interest organizations will also be scheduled. “Since the greenhouse is on the roof, we will not be able to develop theme gardens outside the building as we had hoped,” said biology professor Larry Giesmann, “but individual laboratory classes can visit the facility, and small off-campus groups can be accommodated for educational outreach.” Giesmann is expected to become the greenhouse manager upon the project’s completion. During his spring 2006 sabbatical leave, Giesmann worked with local greenhouses and took a Greenhouse and Garden Center Management course at Cincinnati State University.

http://media.www.thenortherner.com/media/storage/paper527/news/2006/08/30/

NYC Youth Center Features a Rooftop Greenhouse

In 2003, ABC renovated a largely abandoned, dilapidated warehouse on East 126th Street in East Harlem to create its newest vibrant children and family center, Echo Park.

the centerpiece of this rooftop recreation and learning space will be a large self-sustainable, solar-heated greenhouse. This greenhouse will add an entire rooftop classroom and laboratory in which children and their families will grow food and where they will learn life-long lessons of good nutrition, respect for the Earth, the dangers of global warming and a responsible relationship with the planet. It will demonstrate that even the most vulnerable child can be a world leader and take small steps toward ensuring a healthy future for children everywhere.

http://www.a-b-c.org/rooftop-project.htm

Rooftop Vegetable Garden Revolution in Russia

Driven originally by a desire to improve the city environments, the St Petersburg Urban Gardening Club started to transform rooftops into valuable gardening space in 1993. In Russia most people in larger cities live in buildings with huge sturdy rooftops constructed to withstand heavy falls of snow. They also typically have very limited access to land. The scheme aims to give people access to gardens so that they can produce vegetables for their own consumption or to sell in the local market.

There are approximately 15 rooftop gardens and 100 participants in St Petersburg. The European Union (EU) provides funding, while a local organisation, Centre for Citizens Initiatives (CCI), provides consultations and teaching seminars, and furnishes technical and material assistance to urban residents and institutions that create rooftop gardens. Last but not least, community members build and manage the gardens themselves.

A rooftop garden in St Petersburg

Theoretically, any roof surface can be greened – even sloped or curved roofs can support a layer of sod or wild flowers. It depends on how the garden is to be used, what the gardeners want to grow, and how often they will need to access the roof. A flat roof, approximating level ground conditions, is easy to work with.

One of the apartment blocks where the scheme has been introduced is cooperatively owned. Brick-built, with nine storeys, it houses 267 apartments with 540 residents, 60 per cent of whom are pensioners. It produces 200 kilos of food garbage daily in winter and 300 kilos in summer. The house has a flat roof of 1700 square metres, and 600 square metres of cellar. People living in the apartments compost their household waste in the cellar, recycle all other waste where possible, and then use soil on the roofs to grow vegetables.

While individuals own their apartments, the government owns the stairways and the rooftops. Permission is needed to use the rooftop in case of concerns about damage caused to the waterproofing by footfall. A surface has to be constructed to minimise this.

http://www.tve.org/ho/doc.cfm?aid=1400