Blog Archive

Monday, April 6, 2015

Building, Planning and Designing

Living pallet wall
April 6th, Puebla - Just over a month has passed and the roof is slowly coming alive, the different components piecing themselves together, and the entire space lending itself nicely to exercises in visualization and brainstorming of things to come. This first phase has mostly been dedicated to importing materials and building the structure and elements that are necessary to allow the garden to thrive.


New additions:

2' x 5' raised bed made from old fruit boxes, burlap and plastic

Vertical migration worm compost box made from a pallet and wire mesh

Large compost bin to accommodate all the food scraps from the house

More fruit box planters…all plants finally have a home!

What I've learned and observed:

  • Main distinctions between a regular garden (where there's access to land) and a rooftop garden: exposure to the elements can be a lot harsher; the need to import almost all of the organic matter (leaves, grass, compost, soil, sand, etc) required to create healthy soil with vibrant microbial life; the space restrictions and the need to contain your growing medium.
  • Urine can be diluted 30:1 with water and poured into the soil as a nitrogen rich fertilizer. This is especially beneficial to tomatoes during the first few weeks to stimulate leaf and stem growth. Towards the end of their cycle, they need higher amounts of potassium, to feed the juicy fruits.
  • Puebla is at a similar altitude to the high desserts of Arizona and New Mexico. Researching the experiences from these areas will help when it comes time to germinate, transplant and tend the edible plants.

Strawberries

  • Fierce sun, wind and rain make the need for cover imperative and urgent. Today there was a flash hail storm for half an hour followed by a thunderstorm, but 5 blocks away it was nearly dry. Weather comes and goes very quickly. The current set up with tarps, string, and pallets is slowly getting ripped apart. The new roof will support a plastic awning over the work area and shade cloth over the area for the sub-irrigating planters and two 2'x5' raised beds.
  • The sub-irrigating system is ideal in hot, dry weather and, I'm told, great all around, but it could require rainproofing for heavy storms, depending on how well the drainage of the containers can cope and whether or not the strong, wet winds will harm the transplants. I'm hoping the roof will significantly lower the wind, but we'll see how it might tunnel to get through.

Compost, Storage and Work Areas
  • When designing the sub-irrigating planters (SIPs) I was expecting that I would be able to find a cheap and readily available source of coconut fibre, or coir, which has a very similar water retention action as peat, but it was very expensive and limited mostly to the coastal areas. So the system will rely on a compressed bail of Canadian peat (and perlite) to utilize the capillary action of water to wick it up through the soil from a bottom reservoir. Since peat is not the most ecologically friendly option, I'm still on the lookout for coir.

Work area and space for food garden waiting for roof


Design for SIPs with rainwater catchment and supply system 
(same area as picture above)


SIP inner profile

PVC support base for lid with water reservoir underneath

When all six containers are level, water eventually 
sits perfectly at 5" in all of them, 
with an overflow hole at 5.5"


  • Never leave tools out...even for 30 minutes. You never know when the pretty white clouds rolling in will unfurl the fury of a downpour.
  • Pepe arrived today with the worms. They came in a 50kg burlap sac filled with a mycorrhizae-rich corn fibre compost. It took 3 hours to piece it apart and get all the worms into the new box. Peevishness lasted about 3 minutes.
  • Almost all plants have found their niche. After initially showing some stress, they now seem acclimated to the conditions on the roof.

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