A London Roof Terrace Garden makeover

30 Apr '06 10:51 am

My roof terrace garden has fallen into disrepair in the past few months - I've been concentrating on the virtual garden and neglecting the real one Smile

The Jester Flax, Roses and Bamboo have all gone. There are more beer cans and bottles than plants! I've got a few planters of unidentified flowers and weeds, some spectacularly unsuccesful parsley and some woody looking lavender that needed a prune a few months back.

The weather's picked up in London lately, barbeque season is just around the corner. Hoosey (daughter of moosey and sister of myself!) arrived in London last night and is staying for a few days, so after a hearty breakfast we sat down and decided to give my roof terrace a garden makeover.

After much discussion about the conditions and suitable plants we set a budget, went down to the local nursey and in true Moosey style exceeded the budget by several orders of magnitude!

It's a long weekend in the UK with a bank holiday on monday to look forward to. I'm a staunch believer in 'before and after' garden photos so here's what my roof terrace looked like this morning, more photos when I get back from the football tomorrow.

1 May '06 8:43 pm

I heard through the grapevine that you were getting FORTY Lavender plants for the roof-top garden. That should well cover any lingering winter smells. Please remember you have exactly seventeen days to get them planted properly, and the BBQ organised. See you soon!

PS The BBQ in the pix isn't exactly the style that we southern hemishpere types are used to. Where's the quadruple burners and the gas bottle? Where's the warming drawer?

2 May '06 5:27 am

My roof Terrace is 4 metres long and 3 metres wide and backs onto the roof (surprise surprise!) The walls are about a metre tall. I've always wanted to raise the wall with plants of alternating heights to create a private little garden castle space for me to chill out in over the summer.

I rent my house so I can't make any permanent changes to the house. I decided to make my plant battlements with two lavender varieties, Lavandula Augustifolia (c.30-40cm high) and Lavandula Officinalis (40-60 cm high) My roof terrace walls are exposed to lots of wind and the english summer sun all day long.

I've always loved lavenders. They smell divine, I love the colour purple (not as garish as pansy purple) and they attracts bees - crucial for my closeup insect photos that Moosey loves so much Smile

Im impressed by plants that attract nice insects like bees and butterflys and repel nasty aphids and whitefly.

Lavender also prune and shape well so I can have an excuse to wave some secateurs around.

I did some research and found some good links :

http://www.norfolk-lavender.co.uk/Content/G_Looking.asp?target=1
http://www.gardenguides.com/articles/lavender.htm
http://www.norfolk-lavender.co.uk/Content/G_Names.asp?target=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender

I found some more Lavender information on a delightfully named website that I plan on returning to :

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/lavender.htm

Righto, back to the Roof Terrace garden makeover. Hoosey (my sister / daughter of moosey) and I wandered down to the local nursery the other day to buy some plants and tools. En route I made my first ever non-virtual gardening list.

Roof Terrace Garden Makeover List :

20 Lavandula Augustifolia
20 Lavandula Officinalis
14 plastic planters in 3 different lengths
general purpose liquid fertiliser
trowel
secateurs
peat moss
general compost
garden radio (digital)
Some whitewash / water based paint suitable for painting concrete
permission from the owner of the house to apply whitewash
several large bricks for shelving
broken terra cotta pots, small rocks and stones

Here are some photos from the nursery, and of me spacing the plants out and organising things. More after I have sent out this months Moosey newsletter (already a day late)

2 May '06 6:19 am

Dear Eggy!

I have to thank you for this post sincerely, because:

1- You passed to me your gardening enthusiasm (like our Cottage Garden usually does...), therefore you made me happy!

2- Through the excellent (all of them!) websites suggested , I learned things about Lavender I NEVER knew, even about the Ancient Greeks and the Lavender!

3- I discovered even a recipe for ...Lavender Bread!

In the whole process of your gardening preparation, I admired your discipline and organization! Are you in all things in life like that?

Now I long to admire your terrace in full Lavender bloom! Prepare your Camera!

4 May '06 10:01 pm

WOW! This is taking shape!
Congratulations on exceeding the budget...you've earned your stripes as a true gardner Wink

This rooftop paradise in the making is really taking shape, isn't it? The view beyond it isn't bad either.
May I suggest just one plant? The Mirabilis. You can buy them as seeds or as roots that you can just chuck in a pot. The blossoms of the mirabilis open in the late afternoon and stay open all evening and their fragrance wafts all night long. The unusual thing about these plants is that they can have different coloured flowers on the same, one plant. But the fragrance...lordy-me, it is to die for. Just the thing if you spend any time at all out on that terrace in the late afternoons or evenings.
If you are interested I expect that the garden centers will have the seeds or roots there. Try and get the roots, they will be where they sell glads, dahlias, etc. in the garden center....plussss, you can wait and see what your mum will discover on the mainland if she makes it. Who knows, she may well find a place that gives small plants away for free.
Your rooftop terrace is also good for the watching of migratory birds as well, I see... isn't that a crane I see circling ?
Just a note to Liza: I saw that one of the URL's was for the Norfolk Lavenfder fields. I went there a coupla years ago. It was enormously interestig. You can take a tour where they tell you all about the history of the place and the processing of lavender..and you can view the fields. A really nice day outing. It's an nice setting around the old millhouse.

5 May '06 4:25 am

Nothing like a visit from THE MOTHER to get one to do a clean-up! I enjoyed the post - and am quite envious of the definite limits to your garden Laughing

I have only once seen lavender as good in South Africa as I've often seen it in England - annoying as one would think our climate more suitable! I have never had huge success, although we went through a dry period ending last summer in which I really should have tried harder. I actually think they enjoy being pampered. With a 'family' the size of mine they are forced to just get on with it! I too have visited Norfolk Lavender - and will now explore your '-ishy' website recommendation Exclamation

5 May '06 10:25 am

Thanks for the encouragement! I should have made the transition from virtual to real gardening a long time ago. Today was the first hot sunny london day of the year and after a long day I got to enjoy dusk with my feet up and a cold bottle of beer in my lavender garden.

The tree behind the garden (I live on the third story of the building) doesn't have any leaves yet - I will try my best to capture the trees different stages of leafyness after failing miserably last year.

I have decided to get some more carexes and a couple of flaxes, phormium tenax will do nicely, I don't share the head gardener's perchant for gaudy pink designer flaxes. Flaxes are ridiculously overpriced at the garden centers and nurseries in my area so I will have to be sensible. I'll look out for Mirabilis too Wink

Hmmmm.... Maybe I will get 3 flaxes instead of 2. I blame my genes for my this inability to stick to any form of plant budget and for another garden related list :

deckchair
umbrella
whitewash / water based white exterior concrete paint
permission from owner to use ""
little stones / pebbles
house bricks for shelving and some shelter for my gardening tools and BBQ stuff.
birdfeeders
a new pair of sunglasses. (My last pair were washed away in a foot of water at last years Glastonbury festival)

I went back and checked out http://www.selfsufficientish.com some more. Lots of good advice from Dave and Andy - two 'hippyish' twins who try and live a self suffient homesteading dream in the UK.

Some more garden photos :

5 May '06 5:16 pm

A visiting Mother is a thing of joy - someone who will instinctively know where one's favourite lost football shirt is, and someone who can cook a meal so that all the veges etc. arrive at cookedness simultaneously.

As a visiting antipodean mother (well, that's what I think I am) I'm more worried about that BBQ than the Lavender. Mind you, I am thinking it is a great excuse to buy 40 Lavender plants for the Moosey garden - a sort of gardening planting simulcast.

I like the shy back-view-only photographs of the web-master, who looks awfully like he might have been overdoing the pies. OOps - Get that garden and BBQ sorted!

5 May '06 9:02 pm

May we all join in? The phrase in sophisticated circles is 'indoor - outdoor -flow .So I wonder if you need to knock down the wall between to get outside easily ?You could paint a 'trompe d`oeill 'on the other wall -a Mediterranean scene would be nice. Have an avenue of iceberg standard roses leading towards a central water feature - I suggest three cherubs with layers of water cascading . Get a can of purple spray paint to do the cane chairs-this will co-ordinate with the lavender.Scatter cushions in contrasting colours on the chair will complete the effect .In another corner you could have a realistic copy of 'Winged Victory 'surrounded by pots of casually placed pansies or something of your choice .To add height to the picturesque scene ,you could have a pair of polystyrene imitation pillars (they can make them look very real these days .)I have seen in a magazine, pots of geraniums fastened to the pillars ,twining around them in an artistic way .
Aaaaaaaahhh ! A Visual Symphony !
KAPAI ! (which translates "Jolly Good Show Wot ?)
Dixie ( I do hope Kiwi humour is understood !)

7 May '06 8:29 am

Dixie,
I sure hope that the owner of the London rooftop garden knows you're - joking? You were joking? Because if I arrive (in NINE DAYS eek!) and find cherubs and trompe things all over the rooftop garden I will hold you personally responsible! Thankfully you didn't suggest a static posed tableau of gnomes...

THis business of indoor-outdoor flow, too - I always thought it meant sneaking onto the house carpets still wearing your gumboots. Hee hee.

Memo to Roof-top Garden Owner - Get that BBQ sorted!

A London Roof Terrace Garden makeover

A London Roof Terrace Garden makeover

How About a BBQ Make-Over?

Rooftop Battlements of Lavender

Organized Lavender Gardening!

Rooftop Paradise in the Making

Make-over

The garden begins...

Visiting Mothers

rooftop garden makeover.

Wot No Gnomes?