Terrace / roof gardening is a booming concept in all metropolitan cities across the country. In this blog, we are going to detailly explain why do we need a terrace garden? Is it complicated to set it up? How much is it going to cost? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.What is terrace gardening
2.Why do we need terrace / roof gardening?
3.How to set it up and maintain it?
4.What kind of plants, vegetables or fruits can we grow in Chennai?
5.What will be terrace gardening cost in Chennai?
6. What are the disadvantages of terrace gardening?
1.What is terrace / roof gardening?
Setting up a garden in a building’s roof or terrace instead of the ground is known as terrace gardening. It can be either functional with plants that grow vegetables and fruits or for decorative purposes with plants that look attractive and grow flowers. It has become very famous in metropolitan cities as there is not enough space in the ground to set up a garden.
2.Why do we need terrace / roof gardening?
” To save our lives and money”
Price of 1 kg tomato was around Rs.5 before 15-20 years. Now its Rs.50/kg. In the next 10 years, it will go up to Rs.500/kg. In that case, an average family of 4 will be spending Rs.50,000/month just for buying vegetables. We can set up a terrace gardening for as low as Rs.5000 today. Not just saving money but there are various other benefits in having our terrace garden
- You get fresh and pesticide-free vegetables/fruits
- Keeps the building cooler
- Helps in harvesting rainwater
- Keeps us close to nature
- Spending 15-20 mins in the terrace garden can help reduce your stress levels
- Helps in reducing pollution
- You can grow medicinal plants and herbs too
- Makes the house look visually appealing
3.How to set it up and maintain it?
The first step in setting up a terrace garden is to finalise the layout.
How much space do you have?
How many plants do you require?
What kind of plants?
How are you going to place it?
Preparing a layout by yourselves answers all these questions. Once the layout is prepared you will have crossed halfway in setting up the garden. Based on the layout you can approach a terrace gardening expert you may find online (you get a ton of terrace garden dealers through google search). You can talk with them, check out their previous work, talk with their existing customers to verify their work. You can also seek expert advice to the dealers, some of them does this work out of sheer passion rather than doing it just for money. You may identify people like them just by talking with them. Finally, you can set up the garden using expert help. Some of the contractors like cityrene builders provide terrace gardening as complimentary to their customers while building homes with them. You can find them at hire and build.
4. House construction budgeting
” To save our lives and money”
Price of 1 kg tomato was around Rs.5 before 15-20 years. Now its Rs.50/kg. In the next 10 years, it will go up to Rs.500/kg. In that case, an average family of 4 will be spending Rs.50,000/month just for buying vegetables. We can set up a terrace gardening for as low as Rs.5000 today. Not just saving money but there are various other benefits in having our terrace garden
- You get fresh and pesticide-free vegetables/fruits
- Keeps the building cooler
- Helps in harvesting rainwater
- Keeps us close to nature
- Spending 15-20 mins in the terrace garden can help reduce your stress levels
- Helps in reducing pollution
- You can grow medicinal plants and herbs too
- Makes the house look visually appealing
| Vegetables | Herbs | Fruits | Flowers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beans | Corainder | Strawberry | Petunia |
| Capsicum | Ginger | Blueberry | Begonia |
| Chilli | Fenugreek | Fig | Geranium |
| Beetroot | Garlic | Pineapple | Rose |
| Pepper | Turmeric | Cantaloupe | Dianthus |
| Bittermelon | Parsley | Gooseberry | Fuchsia |
| Carrot | Mint | Banana | Zinnia |
| Cucumber | Basil | Tomato | Chrysanthemum |
| Bottle gourd | Saffron | Passion fruit | Impatiens |
| Egg Plant | Curry Leaves | Watermelon | Lobelia |
| Okra | Holy Basil | Currant | Lobelia |
| Onion | Carom | ||
| Peas | Dill | ||
| Potato | Thyme | ||
| Radish | Lemon Grass | ||
| Spinach | Indian Sorrel | ||
| Lettuce | |||
| Zucchini |
5.What will be terrace gardening cost in Chennai
Approximately it might cost Rs.100-150/sft. But it depends on various other factors too which are listed below
- The type of plants you are going to grow
- The type of containers you are choosing to grow your plants i.e. grow bags, pots, plastic cans etc.
- The type of watering system you are going to use, is it going to be manual or automated
- Type of surface, if the building is new the terrace would be in good condition it doesn’t need to be waterproofed if it’s an old building it needs to be waterproofed.
Recently most of the banks provide loan for both land and construction. Enquire it before taking any step ahead.
6.Disadvantages of terrace gardening
There are very little disadvantages in terrace gardening when compared with the advantages however there are some challenges in setting up a terrace garden. Some of them are listed below
- The terrace has to be properly waterproofed before setting up the terrace garden or else there may be leaks in the roof
- If there is no proper slope provided in the terrace the water may be stagnant in between the plants during rains
- The wind speed will be high in the terrace when compared with the ground level, hence proper protection must be given to the plants to prevent it from getting damaged.
- Frequent maintenance and cleaning might be required as there will be shedding of dry leaves.
- There are high chances of pests and insects to be present in the terrace garden which might require frequent attention
You could get more detailed information about terrace / roof gardening in this post
