Roof garden
Encyclopedia : R : RO : ROO : Roof garden
A roof garden is any garden on the roof of a building.
Humans have grown plants atop structures since antiquity. Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings may provide food, temperature control, architectural enhancement, and recreational opportunities. Available gardening areas in cities are often seriously lacking, which is likely the key impetus for many roof gardens. The garden may be on the roof of an autonomous building which takes care of its own water and waste. Hydroponics and other alternative methods can expand the possibilities of roof top gardening by reducing, for example, the need for soil or its tremendous weight. Plantings in containers are used extensively in roof top gardens. One high-profile example of a building with a roof garden is Chicago City Hall.
The related idea of a living machine is based on the most basic mode of gardening: dumping wastes (compost and sewage, appropriately broken down, usually in some specialized ditch or container) on the soil, and harvesting food which, when processed, generates compost, and when eaten, generates sewage. In most of the world, this kind of very tight closed loop gardening is used, despite certain health risks if modern technologies and methods are not employed.
See also
- green roof
- living wall
- Kensington Roof Gardens
- urban agriculture
- list of gardening topics
- Hanging Gardens of Babylon
External links
- [Greenhouse in the Sky]
- [Website with pictures of roof gardens in London]
- [Urban roof gardens in London and other major cities around the world]/
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