Urban rooftop farming is becoming more and more popular as a means of growing local fresh produce in underutilized areas. Rooftop gardens can yield abundant fruits, vegetables, and herbs for city dwellers with little yards.
Consider the roof’s weight capacity, wind, sunlight, and your objectives while designing a rooftop farm. Some of the best produce choices for rooftop farming are as follows:
Rooftop Farming Options
1. Greens with leaves
For rooftop farms, leafy greens like chard, arugula, spinach, kale, and lettuce are excellent options. They are very nutrient-dense, grow rapidly, and take up little room. With cut-and-come-again planting, many kinds can be harvested several times during the growing season.
Leafy greens require a minimum of six hours of sunlight each day. Among the better choices are:
- Lettuce: Good compact types include looseleaf, butterhead, and oakleaf lettuce.
- Kale: Lacinato and dwarf kale are both delicious and resilient to cold.
- Tyee spinach is a heat-tolerant plant that grows quickly.
- Astro’s arugula is a well-liked nutty option.
2. Herbs
Fresh herbs like basil, mint, thyme, sage, parsley, cilantro, and dill are ideal for rooftop gardens. They add flavor to food, take up little room, and many are perennial. The majority of herbs require six hours or more of sunlight each day. Among the best types are:
- Basil: Eleonora, Spicy Globe, and Sweet Genovese are robust and flavorful.
- Thyme: Both French and English thyme are vital herbs in cooking.
- Oregano: The greatest flavor comes from Greek oregano.
Growing purple and garden sages is a simple task.
3. The tomato
Tomatoes thrive in raised beds and containers. Select compact, determinate cultivars and seek out cultivars resistant to disease and heat. Cherry tomatoes ripen early and are fairly common. Here are a few great patio tomato options:
- Sungold, Sweet Million, and Juliet are three cherry tomatoes that produce a lot.
- Slicing Tomatoes: Jet Star, Park’s Whopper, and Celebrity are excellent options.
- Roma tomatoes, such as Plum Regal and Red Deuce, are great for sauces.
4. Peppers
Like tomatoes, peppers grow well in pots and yield a lot of food in a small area. Choose peppers that are smaller and better suited for growing in containers. Among the best choices are:
- Sweet Peppers: These tiny, delicious snacks and lipsticks are portable.
- Hot Peppers: Serrano, Early Jalapeno, and Hungarian Hot Wax are excellent spicy types.
5. The eggplant
Eggplants are lovely plants that produce many vegetables that are ideal for baba ghanoush, stir-fries, and curries. Choose smaller, cold-tolerant eggplants for rooftop gardening, such as:
- Little Fingers: An extremely popular miniature Japanese type.
- Fairy Tale is a lovely Italian eggplant with stripes of purple and white.
- Little Prince: A disease-resistant hybrid that matures early.
6. Bush Beans
Bush beans don’t need much vertical space, so they grow nicely in containers. Select bush bean cultivars that mature rapidly, such as Roc D’or yellow wax beans and Provider green beans. For continuous harvests, plant successions every two to three weeks.
7. Strawberries
Strawberries are a great edible container plant and ground cover. Choose everbearing or alpine kinds that yield berries all season long. Seascape, Tristar, Fern, and Fort Laramie are some suggested varieties.
Additional Fruiting Plants
Other fruiting vegetables like peppers, radishes, cucumbers, and peas thrive on rooftops. The finest cultivars for container growth are dwarf and shrub varieties. Staking or trellising can make the most of vertical space.
Water, Sunlight, and Soil Needs
Most food plants require six to eight hours of sunlight each day. Utilize windshields and supply regular water because rooftop wind can be drying. Light, rich, and quick-draining soils are ideal for container gardening. Add organic fertilizer and compost to potting mixes. Watering requirements can be decreased by adding drip irrigation.
Last Remark
Producing a wide variety of crops on rooftops is feasible with a little preparation, imagination, and the appropriate cultivar selection. Choose container-grown cultivars that are compact, high-yielding, and quick to mature. For any urban rooftop farm, herbs, greens, tomatoes, and peppers are great choices.