Roof Gardens and Balconies, hints and tips

Balconies

While breakfast on a sunny balcony is a wonderful thing, the main drawbacks of roof gardens and balconies are the strong winds and sunshine they face. To make them work for you, take advantage of any existing protection, such as walls or fences and plan to add trellis or screens to further break the wind, but make sure that any fixings are well supported.

Balconies also often have the additional problem of an overhang, meant to protect the user from rain, but which also prevents rainfall from reaching containerised plants. Hosepipe access on balconies is also usually limited. See if you can run a gutter pipe along the overhang to a small rain butt or barrel that fits in a corner of the balcony – now you’ve got water on tap!

Roof Garden

Before designing any roof garden it is essential to check with an architect or structural engineer how much weight the roof can take, whether planning permission is needed and also to check whether or not the roof is waterproof. Ideally place heavy containers near load-bearing walls, or over a load-bearing beam or joist. If you’re buying a house with a roof garden, make sure this information is included in the sale details – your insurance premiums will rocket if you don’t!

Because containers will dry out rapidly in the excess heat and wind, attempt to provide quite a deep container for your plants but if you have to use small containers, select ones made of non-porous materials such as plastic, metal or fibreglass to reduce potential moisture loss.

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