Just after finishing my earlier post, I suddenly realised that M had told me about this rooftop garden beside my house and that it is only opened on Sunday mornings which is when the residents came to take care of the plants. I immediately grabbed my camera and headed down to the multi-storey carpark where it was located.
I guessed this garden was not publicised at all from the word “soft launch” in the picture. But they have their reasons why, I think, of which I will explain later.
From the slope up to the final storey, the garden started, with grasses and periwinkles linking all the way up.
All the grasses were packed in black plastic containers that covered the entire level.
I saw M talking to the residents managing this garden. Unfortunately, they were already packing up to leave so I can’t go around taking pictures and learning about the plants they grow there. They harvested some vegetables and donated them to the Church of the Nativity and Blessed Virgin Mary (in the background).
This garden is out of bounds and kept locked and monitored by CCTVs to prevent people from coming in to steal the vegetables which are meant to be grown for the needy. Good way to make use of this place since it is unlikely that anyone will park the car on this extremely hot place.
2 comments:
Love the idea of a rooftop community center like this!
This multi-storey carpark roof garden appears to be a community-managed version of a green roof (aka extensive roof garden) -- notice that the media depth is very shallow. Such lightweight, low-maintenance gardens are typically not meant to be regularly accessed -- another reason why the said garden is locked up most of the time.
From the photos, the "black plastic containers" look like HDB-Premas' PEG trays (Prefabricated Extensive Green Roof Tray System).
Plant selection for such roofs typically favours low-growing drought-tolerant species. It's interesting to see the residents attempting to grow Papaya-like plants in deeper raised crates. Such plants won't survive a normal green roof maintenance regime (ie. usually 2 visits per year -- as opposed to the resident-gardeners' weekly visits).
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