Terrace Garden Tips

Terrace gardening is a type of indoor gardening where you take care of your indoor plants. The terrace may be either at ground level, below ground level, or raised above it.
Terrace Gardening is an activity which you can use as an end of day activity for relaxing.

Important features before gardening

• The roof on which the gardening is to be done should be strong enough to carry the weight of the garden
• The terrace should be sloppy with an effective drainage system.
• Lastly there should not be any leakage of water in your roof garden.

Structuring Terrace Garden

• Unlike any type of gardening this terrace garden also needs a detailed plan. It should be proportionate with lawns, shrubs, ground covers and small trees. If desired you can also assimilate the concept of water garden or rock garden or create a shady structure on your roof garden.
• The next step is the choosing of plants. Fiber-rooted plants are preferred to tap root system. Tap-rooted plants have the tendency to grow through the building causing harm to it.
• The soil that should be used must not exert pressure on the building. The adequate soil for this purpose is soil rite or peat moss. As it is a costly material you can blend it with garden earth, manure.
• To prepare your drainage system you need to do the roof garden construction. Lay only burnt bricks approx. 2" - 4" uniformly on the terrace. Burnt bricks are the best because normal ones turn into mud and collapse the drainage system. Corrugated sheets are another option and should be placed at 3' distance to make the water flow to the drain.
• In top of the bricks lay a net lawn. This will prevent the soil (prepared by you) to get inside the bricks.
• You have to construct drain at several places of the roof if it is quite large (say more than 500sq. ft.). Place pipes at several places leading to main holes. But be careful while laying pipes it should not be visible and gets covered by lawn when complete.
• Put the mixture of the soil prepared beforehand to the pot according to a level you choose. Then sow the selected indoor plants.
• You can explore hydroponics as well for terrace gardens. Hydroponics is art of growing plants without soil.
• You should check the direction of sun on your terrace before planting any plants. Depending on sun or shade you can decide the plant in the respective area. If there is little or no sun then it would be better to go for non-flowering plants and go with plants like palms, cane bamboo, phycus, croton, chlorophytum, drycena, defenbacia, money plants and also varities of cactii. Bonsai plants can also be kept, they will take less space and look good.
• Select plants with shallow or short roots for planting on the terrace or else so that there is no damage to your home. Also choose plants which do not require too much watering since terraces will have limited drainage faciities..
• Cacti varieties will do well on terraces since they are low on maintenance. Plants with deeper roots should be kept in planters or pots. Short trees can also be planted in big pots or planters such as peach, lime, orange or karipatta. If space permits a gravel path or a rock garden can be created to further beautify your terrace garden.
• The best time to get a terrace garden made is in February and March, so that by the time the monsoons come in, the earth would have settled down and the garden would be in place.