Green Living

Benefits Of Roof Top Gardening

A Green roof, also known as a rooftop garden or rain garden, is a roof that is partially or completely covered with plants and provided with an irrigation system. Such greenery reduces the ‘urban heat island’ effect which makes a built-up area significantly warmer than its surroundings. Green roofs also: Conserve energy use in the building by keeping temperatures down so less air-conditioning is needed; Improve air quality; Reduce noise pollution; Enhance a building’s aesthetics; Store rainwater…

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Creating Edible Landscape Eith Good Soil Preparation

The first step in creating an edible landscape is good soil preparation. Soil is composed of sand, silt and clay mineral particles in varying proportions. It’s a soil’s tilth — its texture — that determines how well plants grow and the ease with which plants are able to take up water and nutrients. There are 12 basic soil types and most common soil types are loamy sand, loam, clay loam, and clay. You can determine…

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Mercury Accumulation in Plants and its Effects

Mercury is one of the most dangerous toxic trace metal pollutants that can affect the growth of many plant species. It accumulates biologically and enters in to the food chain system generating long term health problems. Industrial development has been considered as one of the major factors responsible for increasing levels of mercury accumulations within the plants. Anthropogenic activities have contributed significantly to the mercury adulteration of our atmosphere. Some of these common causes include…

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Good Lawn Care Practices

Summer is prime growing season for lawns. Lawns that are not performing their best can be made better through the fall. If you did not fertilize your lawn during the spring, you still have time to fertilize and get your lawn in good shape prior to fall. But only keep with a fertility program through early to mid-August, and water your lawn deeply once or twice a week as needed. Watch for chinch bugs in…

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Perfect Tree Growing Practices

Spring and early summer is perfect time to add new trees to your landscape. Many people plant trees quite incorrectly by placing them too deep into the ground. This is one of the leading causes of premature tree loss resulting from girdling roots around the buried portion of the stem. Most trees planted by homeowners come as potted or container-grown trees because they are easy to maintain on the sale lot and easy to handle…

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Growing Vegetables on The Rooftop

Interest in green roofs is increasing. but there is not yet much information on rooftop vegetable gardening. Some gardeners are also growing herbs and vegetables on roofs. Vegetables such as tomatoes and okra and herbs such as basil are combined with flowers in large containers may also be grown on these green roofs. Green roofs categorized as “extensive”— those with a growing medium depth of 6 inches or less — are not well-suited to growing…

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