Rooftop Garden Suggetions please.

Micky Dolenz

Hi,

I'm a newbie to the gardening world and need help and suggestions please

I have a rooftop terrace and currently have a few lemon tress growing and other unidentified shrubbery.

What would you do? Ideally it would be pretty to look at and be low maintenance. I live in Italy so there is plenty of sunshine.

Also, I picked up some herb plants. Can they just sit inside? shade or sunlight better ?

Thanks

keltoms05

Hi Micky, do u have any pictures of the terrace? this will help a lot and people will give u more ideas

looksee

Micky, you are asking rather a lot of us to offer advice for Italy! Your herbs for example, depends on what herbs they are, what part of Italy you are in and what kind of climate you are dealing with. I think you would be better advised to look in local parks and garden centres and see what kind of plants are growing/on sale.

I guess you could grow tomatoes and peppers, basil and similar plants that would be 'tender' to us. Your salad on your roof! Sounds lovely.

redser7

Hi Micky - start off simple and have a think about what you want from the site. Do you want to landscape it for entertaining? Grow ornamental plants only or plants that fruit to eat? Can you tell us the size of the site and provide photos?
Suffice to say you can grow tender things much easier there than here and without the aid of a greenshouse
What herbs did you buy? Different types require different treatment.

Micky Dolenz

Hi,

Thanks.

keltoms05
I'll try and stick up pics later. It wraps around the apartment so one side is always in the shade, the front side gets the morning sun and the other gets the sun more or less all day.

looksee
I got some Rosemary and Mint. It came in pots and is fully grown. Basil and peppers sound great. I live in Rome so the weather is pretty mild all year round with warm springs and hot summer.

redser

I'd like it to be practical and pretty . I do like the idea of picking lemon and limes to prepare drinks and for cooking. I get great use out of the lemon trees that are here. Thinking maybe a lime and mandarin tree for the sunny side and even a potato barrel for the shady side.

Will stick up pics, it's long and narrow in a U shape, 4m x 50m. I wouldn't want to use all the space. The other consideration is, the more vegetation outside my door, the more places for mosquitoes to live. Might plant a few natural repellents.

Thanks for the advice.

looksee

Sounds great! The mint needs to be in a container on its own, as it will strangle everything else. The rosemary could have a decent sized pot on its own as it can grow into a good sized shrub.

Mozzies like standing water, so keep the area clear of pots of stagnant water, rather than worrying about foliage. They tend not to like citronella so maybe lemongrass would be a good idea for near the door. (Citronella products are great for de-mozzy candles and as a natural rub on repellant)

Micky Dolenz

looksee wrote: »

Sounds great! The mint needs to be in a container on its own, as it will strangle everything else. The rosemary could have a decent sized pot on its own as it can grow into a good sized shrub.

Mozzies like standing water, so keep the area clear of pots of stagnant water, rather than worrying about foliage. They tend not to like citronella so maybe lemongrass would be a good idea for near the door. (Citronella products are great for de-mozzy candles and as a natural rub on repellant)

Thanks, They eat me alive too. Surprised they haven't surfaced for the season yet. Will defo pick up some Lemon Grass.

With regards to the herbs, where is the best place to locate them?

looksee

Mint will grow anywhere, preferably to spite you! Put the mint somewhere where it will get good light, but it doesn't need full sun all the time. Rosemary grows in Ireland quite happily, but I think it is a mediterranean plant that would be happy in a sunny spot. Thyme would be sunny too, though it also grows in Ireland. On the whole I think most herbs would like a sunny place, they will grow faster and give you fresher, nicer leaves. You should be able to grow a pot of mixed salad leaves to quickly provide a permanent salad bowl, you will need to keep it watered though.

Micky Dolenz

Mixed salad bowl sounds good. Where would I start?

looksee

You will need a medium sized pot - maybe 30cm diameter or so, with some good compost - I prefer John Innes (with soil) but I don't know what the local equivalent will be.

You can buy ready mixed packets of 'salad leaves' which are the handiest but they are a mixture of various types of lettuce, rocket, lambs lettuce, beetroot, spinach etc.

Just sprinkle a VERY SMALL amount of seed over the surface of the compost, sprinkle a bit more compost on top and keep it damp. Seriously do not put in too much the first time or you will grow a pot full of silage which will be gone over before you use it.

It would be a good idea to get two pots going so you can harvest one while the other one, which you start about 2 weeks later - is growing, and keep them going in rotation. Harvest them as soon as they are big enough to eat, lovely fresh salad!

Sonnenblumen

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Hi,

I'm a newbie to the gardening world and need help and suggestions please

I have a rooftop terrace and currently have a few lemon tress growing and other unidentified shrubbery.

What would you do? Ideally it would be pretty to look at and be low maintenance. I live in Italy so there is plenty of sunshine.

Also, I picked up some herb plants. Can they just sit inside? shade or sunlight better ?

Thanks

What a great growing opportunity you have. Ideally you would want to focus on plants which have a good-very good tolerance of dry growing conditions and given your location, this is hardly surprising? You can choose from a wide selection of what is often referred to as 'mediterranean' plants and given the site aspect you will also have the added bonus of scent. Selecting fewer varieties would be best in order to avoid a 'dolly mixture' result. So pick 3 and repeat their use around the area and in clusters. Any 3 from this list would be a very good start all produce an excellent flower display and marked * are very scented:

- Santolina* (available with green and/or silver foliage)
- Helichrysum*
- Rosemary Prostratus*
- Lavender Hidcote*
- Salvia Mainacht

Herbs mostly prefer sunny conditions and are OK but IMO will rarely bulk up to produce any real display impact.

Micky Dolenz

Thank you all so much for the suggestions.

I have been very busy. I have fertilized the existing plants and added a whole lot of compost and fixed the irrigation system.

This morning was my first trip to a local garden centre which was a really good experience. I wanted all the plants . I even learnt a lot of new words.

I picked up a small lime tree, laden down with fruit. I picked up green, yellow and red pepper plants, a sickly looking young Lemon Grass plant(the last one they had) and a packet of mixed salad leaves. And I'm not done yet. Will look at getting a few things that Sonnenblumen recommended also.

I have a question though on a little mandarin tree I have. It's not looking the best. To give some background, The apartment was vacant for a while before I moved in. The irrigation system worked automatically on one side but on the other it didn't. The plants weren't in great shape when I arrived but most have come back as I have been watering them regularly since I have been here.

There are two mandarin trees. They should look like this.



In the pics 2 and 5, you can see that the tree was pruned(?) but never really grew back like the neighbouring tree. But it sprouted from nearer the base and if you look closely, there is a touch of green pushing through 3/4 ways up the trunk.

Am I as well to leave it alone or cut it down a bit?

Thanks

looksee

I think you will find that that 'pruning' is actually a graft. The grafted part (which is the important bit) is dead, the side shoot is just a sport and will be from some sort of unimportant and probably not very useful rootstock. Start again with that one!

Oldtree

a tray under the containers will take the guess work out of when to water, avoids overwatering too

Micky Dolenz

Oldtree wrote: »

a tray under the containers will take the guess work out of when to water, avoids overwatering too

Yeah, I have them under all the plants I stuck in but watering is a tricky business as I am trying to avoid areas with any stagnant water. Mozzies love it

This is all new to me so it's a tad hit and miss.

Oldtree

A tray under the pot will keep the pot at field capacity which is the optimum water condition for the pot (more or less), to avoid the mozzy problem I would fill the trays and see how long they take to absorb the water, then when the tray is empty fill it again and get a rough time again. repeat until no more water is being absorbed within the above time frame and empty the tray out. Then keep an eye on the plants and just as they begin to wilt rewater and that will give you a good sense of the timeframe needed for watering. I did this with trees in pots in London which had very hot dry summers at the time.

Micky Dolenz

ok, so don't pour the water into the pot around the plant but just into the tray?

Oldtree

yes I avoid top watering like the plague, let the pot absorb up what it needs and no more. I can get temps of 120 in the pollytunnel and I grow in pots.

tampopo

Try this....

http://www.thekitchn.com/tips-for-a-smallspace-kitchen-herb-garden-202173

yeah, don't overdo it on the watering from the bottom. Give it a bit of water and whatever is not absorbed by osmosis after 30 minutes or so, turn out on your deck to evaporate...

Micky Dolenz

Started to water from the bottom up.

With my salad bowl, I assume a light sprinkling of water over the top as they are just seeds? They are starting to poke through

tampopo

Oldtree wrote: »

A tray under the pot will keep the pot at field capacity which is the optimum water condition for the pot (more or less), to avoid the mozzy problem I would fill the trays and see how long they take to absorb the water, then when the tray is empty fill it again and get a rough time again. repeat until no more water is being absorbed within the above time frame and empty the tray out. Then keep an eye on the plants and just as they begin to wilt rewater and that will give you a good sense of the timeframe needed for watering. I did this with trees in pots in London which had very hot dry summers at the time.

yes, Oldtree has it to a tee above. I must have speed read it first time around and missed the finer detail. More watering in high summer than now, if you're in Italy. But you'll get the hang of the right amount very quickly. Earthenware pots dissipate water quicker than plastic ones, though...

Oldtree

tampopo wrote: »

yes, Oldtree has it to a tee above. I must have speed read it first time around and missed the finer detail. More watering in high summer than now, if you're in Italy. But you'll get the hang of the right amount very quickly. Earthenware pots dissipate water quicker than plastic ones, though...

Dam missed that detail , I use plastic pots. I only use Earthenware trays under the cacti in the window. There are many decorative plastic trays that look like earthenware if you are after a look.

looksee

You could water the seedlings from the bottom to keep the whole of the compost moist, if it sets into a dry lump it is impossible to wet again. However you might want to mist the seedlings from the top till they have produced some roots, but do it in the evening when the sun has gone off them - if you water in the sun first the water evaporates before the plants get it, and second the water droplets can burn the leaves by acting as little magnifying glasses.

Micky Dolenz

I got a poorly lemon grass plant and it really has come on leaps and bounds over the past few weeks. it is hard enough to come by. Is there a way I can use the existing plant to create more?

redser7

Yip, most things can be propagated easily enough from a parent plant. Different methods will suit different plants. I found this which is one of my personal favourite ways to make new plants ie. take a piece of the old plant and bung it in water

http://www.gardenbetty.com/2010/10/how-to-propagate-lemongrass/

Micky Dolenz

redser7 wrote: »

Yip, most things can be propagated easily enough from a parent plant. Different methods will suit different plants. I found this which is one of my personal favourite ways to make new plants ie. take a piece of the old plant and bung it in water

http://www.gardenbetty.com/2010/10/how-to-propagate-lemongrass/

Awesome, thanks.