My designs focus on the creative use of space to ensure that my clients needs are met, whilst maximising the 'green potential' of the garden.
A great tool to increase the planting and biodiversity of your garden is to install a green roof where you can. This makes use of the horizontal space of a garden room, shed or bike store, adding another dimension to your planting and softening hard lines.
Tips for installing a green roof:
Ensure that the roof structure can take the weight of the planting. This is especially important with garden rooms or sheds with a deeper planting beds for semi extensive green roofs (roofs with enough depth to support perennials but not shrubs or trees). Consult a structural engineer for advice.
Ensure that good drainage has been considered. Angle your green roof towards a gutter or drainpipe and try to have water discharging into a flower bed or other permeable surface.
Waterproof the base and sides of your green roof with Blackjack paint or an EPDM liner.
Install a trim to hold the liner and/or substrate in place.
Ensure the right depth and type of substrate for your planting. Sedum roofs only require 5-15cm of substrate and should need minimal watering and weeding, but they do need sun. A semi extensive green roof will need 10-20cm of growing medium.
The RHS have some great advice on suitable plants. Green roofs are a fantastic way to increase biodiversity in your garden, and look great too.
