[ez-toc]You don’t have to be a professional to start a beautiful terrace gardening setup. But many of us get confused and ponder how to begin terrace gardening, and many think about the costly maintenance.

However, you can follow some easy steps and tricks to get much out of your terrace garden. Sounds interesting? People are heading towards taking gardening as their food source rather than a hobby. Everyone wants to have a garden- fresh food produced organically.

You may surely get an overview of terrace gardening ideas and hacks from this reading. Not only that, I will tell you how the terrace garden trend started around the globe and the scope of terrace gardening. So, let’s have a terrace gardening setup tour.

What is Terrace gardening?

Mostly, we call it a roof garden. We can see two types of terrace gardening setup. One is the garden established on our roof, patio ultimately using the building roofs. Another definition for terrace gardening is building uplifted terraces against a hill. Backyard terrace gardening can also be an option for the setup process. However, terrace gardening allows all vegetables and fruits in a row. You can take help from some essays on terrace gardening to get a gross idea about terrace gardening and more.

South America and south Asia are pioneers in terrace gardening. Moreover, the urban areas are the main focus of terrace gardening. Terrace gardening has both nutritious values, aesthetic value, and environmental impacts. It allows the home members to do a few physical activities during terrace gardening.

History of Terrace Gardening

The evidence says that Western Asia or, more precisely, the Mesopotamia region was the inventor of roof gardening. And another history of roof gardening is around 500 BC in the Persian cities. Since then, terrace gardening has become popular and a practice to promote landscape greenery. Terrace nursery in New York began in 1969. So, the history of terrace gardening is massive, according to the ‘Study on Terrace Garden’, International Journal of Trends in Research and Development.

Essential for Terrace gardening

Here is a list of essentials that you need to note down for the terrace gardening setup. So, let’s see the following-

• First and foremost, you need the mother component, soil. Fertile soil is the key to successful terrace gardens. The soil layer can be deep or shallow.
• The seedling collection is another crucial task, I can say. You can collect seeds from reputed shops or make your seedlings from market-bought veggies, fruits, and so on.
• The drainage system of the terrace.
• You can have a lightweight container or organic bag to plant the trees. If you are making the backyard terrace garden, you can plan for a raised bed, porches, window boxes, and so on.
• Equipment that is necessary to maintain the terrace garden. Like watering pot, gloves, and trowels.
• Herbicides, fungicides, insecticides.
• Others can be decorative staff like a small built-in pond, air purifying plants, construct shade, and also may rear some chuckling birds, cheeks.

Terrace Garden Ideas for beginners

Maybe some of you get confused about the draining of the terrace gardening setup. The built-in structure for planting trees cannot hamper your buildings.

Kerosine can be an option to hinder some insects. So, it can be a super hack for beginners. To prevent mealybug, you can use detergents. So simple, you can spray your regular washing powder. Also, regular cutting of the branches is necessary because lots of branches or stems can reduce fruit and flower production. However, when you prepare the container, keep in mind that the ratio of bio compost and soil will be 2:1.

If you use coal dust, that will be more beneficial. How come? Then the ratio will be these three will be 1:1:1. Three inches layering of coal dust or brick dust, then the mixer of soil and bio compost is just the appropriate preparation for your container. Remember to make some holes underneath the container or organic bags.

Another thing is using the right amount of potassium and nitrogen fertilizer for your tree. Excessive fertilizer can be even more dangerous. However, beginner terrace gardeners should not plant deep and aggressive root plants that are not easy to handle.

What about the irrigation? You will maintain that you will water the plants early in the morning and late evening. This trick will help to reduce the evaporation of plants. So, the terrace plants will have enough water and will not dry out.

These hacks are from Shykh Seraj, the Bangladeshi agricultural activist who is very popular for his show ” soil and men in the heart.

Choosing the plants and pots for terrace Gardening

You can pick flowers like rose, sunflower, hibiscus, and spider lily. On the other hand, you can plant vegetables like tomato, potato, beans, onion, capsicum, beetroot, chilies, radish, and many more. If I talk about the fruits, you can go for guava and citrus fruits. Initially, you will remember the seasons, sunlight, and seedling types before planting any tree.

Types of containers you can use can be 12-16 inches in size or sometimes more than that. Another thing is using the grow bags. You can use medium-grow bags for leafy vegetables, the other hand, large grow bags for creepers, and extra large grow bags for fruit crops.

However, a new thing is the planter box. Yes, these are also preferable instead to containers and grow bags. The planter box ends a finished look and has more life span nearly 15-20 years than garden Grow bags and containers.

How do you start a Terrace Vegetable Garden?

Your terrace should receive sufficient sunlight. It is better if your terrace garden gets sunlight for at least 7-8 hours. Different vegetable needs different sunlight requirements. For example-

The leafy vegetable like spinach and coriander needs 3-4 hours of sunlight; fruit vegetables like tomato and creepers like bitter gourd need 6-7 hours, and fruit plants like guava and citrus require more than 8 hours of sunlight. Lastly, flowering plants require sunlight for 4-6 hours.

The potting mix should be as easy as possible. For terrace garden landscaping, you can make some layers on your terrace. Each layer will grow some unique plants. Vertical beds can be the good option. The potting mix will contain vermin compost, coco peat, and red soil. You can use any seedlings like a hybrid or nutty seeds for your terrace gardening setup; that is up to you.

The most important thing is which region of the globe you are in! Temperate and tropical regions have different yields for different plants. Lastly, your place also tells more about the terrace gardening setup. Planting native fruits and flower plants can make you a successful terrace gardener.

Terrace Gardening Set-up cost

Some assume that the installation costs and other essentials for terrace gardening would not be easy to handle. But it depends on your space on the terrace and the varieties of plant species you will use.

According to a publication in the Journal of Urban Management, the installation cost can be USD 12.70-25.41. The amount can go higher if you pick decorations and costly non-native plants for your terrace garden. Then the maintenance cost can go higher.

FAQ

Let’s Move toward some questions that you people may ask as a beginner or those who are struggling to set up a terrace garden. So here are the following FAQs:

Which plants can be grown in terrace garden?

You can grow vegetables like leafy, creeper, and tubular vegetables. Then fruits and other ornamental flowers. It depends on your sunlight ratio. In north-facing or shady buildings, you can choose low light plants like ferns and some herbs. And if it gets direct sunlight, you can plant any plants or cacti in your terrace garden. So, you are off to go with your terrace plants.

How do you make an organic terrace garden?

You can use your homemade seed to start an organic terrace garden. Then you can use the vegetative wastes of your home as the nutrition source for your plants. Promoting the use of organic wastes is necessary to build an organic terrace where market-bought fertilizer will be of less use.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Terrace garden?

It works as a heat insulator for urban buildings. You can get organic food for yourself. But in the overall context, your terrace garden will reduce global warming as a minor contributor. A couple of disadvantages can be the water clogging the terrace. It happens due to the lack of drainage. Also, storms can hamper some of the roof trees. So, you will focus on resisting the storms.

Conclusion

Terrace Gardening is a new trend but a long-term practiced idea. Due to the growth of food demand and organic foods, the terrace garden is a brand new formula. It allows urban greenery and is aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes, you can sell the excess fresh food to others. What an opportunity! So, your terrace garden can have both cash and kind benefits.

To sum up, a terrace garden is an enjoyable thing to do. You smell your planted flowers, eat fresh fruits and veggies, and what not? So, don’t let your terrace be a concrete and lifeless structure.

Let’s set up a terrace garden and enjoy the urban life a bit more, and a shout out to all terrace gardeners!