- Laxminarayan Srinivasaiah is an avid Organic Terrace gardener and also main coordinator for "Oota from Thotta" to happen in Bangalore.He has written in simple ways how to make this containers for growing vegetable plants.
Here is what he has to say:
Urban gardeners are always on the lookout for solutions for gardening, as every inch of space in the city is getting costly. So, you can hardly find an empty plot for gardening. Even the parks are getting replaced by apartments. Enthusiastic gardeners are now forced to look at alternative solutions. Basic necessities for plants are Manure, Water and Sunlight. Sky scrapers haven't helped much either. So naturally urban gardeners are lead to their roof-top or their terraces. So the basic necessities of Sunlight is taken care of. But many of them, like me, are having the same questions..
1. Will my roof take/handle the weight?
2. What if water seeps into my terrace? Wouldn't it damage the building?
these are the questions, isn't it? So here, in this little note, I will try to provide my thoughts (not exactly solutions) and it should help you a bit in deciding on taking your garden to your roof top.
Will my roof take weight? - Ideally most of the roofs (4 to 6 inches depth) can take a weight of 200 kg/sq ft. This I would call it bare minimum. So growing something in beds is definitely not a problem. Just make sure to have those heavy pots/containers on the side of the wall. This should be enough.
Water seeping into my terrace - Normally every roof is built with basic water proofing & is elevated to let the water exit at some place. This is exactly what happens when it rains, the water washes away into those exits. You can get an additional water proofing done so that you can grow directly on the terrace. Some examples are lawn growing directly on the terrace. But this seems to be a bit costly, but who ever can afford it, can get it done. But make sure you get it done from a trust worthy source. The second option is to have your containers which lets the water to drain out. Here's an attempt from my side to create something similar satisfying these conditions.
Here are the steps:
1) Figure out the dimension of the container that you would want to build. Get the frame (in steel) fabricated from any of the vendors. Get the frame constructed with legs (numbering 4 or 6 and a height of 3-5 inches) depending on the dimensions of the planned container. Try and get the frames to have some vertical support for the walls that you will create later (Shown in the pic). Should be similar to a cot. This is a bit costly affair as the steel prices are constantly rising, but that's the way it is :( The frame would look like this
Empty Frame
2) Get some wooden pieces ( if we could re-use, so getting pine wood from those container boxes would be better) and place them on the frame so that it forms the bottom. Similar to the one shown in the picture.
Wooden pieces forms the base
3) Create a rectangle box with wood for the dimensions you need i.e., L X W X H. Height should be 4 inches or higher as that would determine the depth of your container. Length and Width will be similar to the frame (from 1st photo above). Use nails to connect them and wrap a plastic sheet around to avoid dampening them while watering. If there is an alternative to plastic sheet, try it out.
Wooden pieces fabricated, forms the sides of the container
4) Place the wooden rectangle you created above on the frame so that it fits into the frame. This will rest on those wooden pieces and not necessarily on the frames (and this is fine). The walls are supported by the frame so as to not fall out when the growing medium is added. Will look like this once completed.
Frame with base and sides
5) Now place a plastic sheet to cover the bottom and it should also extend a bit towards the sides. When the growing medium is added, the plastic sheet gets firmly attested to the base and the sides. Looks like the pic below when the plastic sheet is placed.
Plastic sheet which forms the bottom to support the growing medium
6) Now, add the growing medium.The plastic sheet at the base will sag in between those wooden pieces. Punch a hole into them from bottom (after adding the growing medium) to create the extra water to drain. Around 6-8 holes per container should do. So your final container with the growing medium will look like the following and will be ready to plant.
Container with growing medium ready for planting
So Finally, the idea is to have this frame around 3-5 inches from the ground so that the extra water drains out pretty similar to rain water falling on the terrace. The added advantage of this is (considering the growing medium is light i,e., coco peat & compost) it's mobility. It can be re-located by just lifting it up holding the frame along with the growing medium (including plants).
Thank you Laxminarayan Sir for sharing with us these details.You can also reach this info from this link.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/laxminarayan-srinivasaiah/gardening-containers-no-rocket-science-/366686480057912
