Im interested in transforming my terrace into a beautiful garden. Im not sure how to go about it.Kindly tell me as to what preparations are needed to form a terrace garden and how to develop it. Also i would like to know what plants are suitable for the terrace garden in a place like Chennai.

I am growing Bulbous plants and cacti in structure called arridarium a term used for a structusre for dry areas as compared to green houses, you must be havin good rains there so it is easier to grow plants there.

Great thought! You need to ensure

1. The structure can support extraweight - 7-10 inches of soil, sand and compost mix, and heavier when wet - in case you are planning just a lawn and small plants; and  much heavier (20-25 inchs) if you want trees etc. You could use large pots for trees, but they too add to the weight.

2. The waterproofing ....

I may probably be able to help you with you other concerns, if you plan to go ahead

Do keep in mind that a terrace garden in much tuffer, requires much more attention and labour then your dharti ka garden.

You could click on http://www.antaeusinfo.com/TerraG/default.htm to check out some snaps of my terrace garden. I created this link yesterday.  

--Last edited by rv on 2008-06-13 19:08:53 --

Your Roof Garden is beautiful, you must give more tips to others to spred the cult. What water proofing is required to protect the percolation of water into the roof structure?

Thank you Ravinder. Structure and Waterproofing, I left to the professionals. Did not use any of the new waterproofing methods, but resorted to traditional means. Just ensured that the work is done properly. Have gone thru one Monsoon and a bit this year. So far so good!

RV, thats a beautiful garden on the terrace! Without seeing your pictures, I wouldn't have believed that so much is possible.

You have a beautiful site Tabish. With verywell informed members. Its site like yours that have made is possible. Thanks to the FOI Community

Thats a lovely garden u hav RV. u said about the trditional method of waterproofing ... who does it? can u give me more information about it? is the lawn laid by the nursery people or can we do it ourselves? it is very expensive? kindly gie me more details. thank you for replying to my querries.

Any architect should be able to help you with waterproofing. We used bitumen. Once the roof was ready, laid brick tiles in rows to create drains, on top of which a Geosheet was stretched . Then the mixture of mud and sand was spread on it. Later added compost and planted Doop grass by dibbling. Mine is a newly constructed house, and was designed with a terrace garden in mind.
Planting grass - You surely can do it yourself. We however contracted out the work (I don’t have a gardener or helper). They provided the compost, planted the grass, took care of it till its first mow. All inclusive it costed about Rs. 7 a sq.ft.

Gardening is  not expensive. Terrace Gardening however does involve a greater expense because of containers. Buy plants small and in polythenes as far as possible. Small because they are cheap and acclimatize better. Polythene, because you wont need those small pots they are sold in. And they are lighter to carry up the stairs. Don’t buy more than one or two of a variety to begin with. See how they fare in the wind and heat. And all plants produce seeds, which sprout with ease!  

--Last edited by rv on 2008-06-02 17:44:34 --

Thank u very much RV for all the valuable information given.

RV , Your garden looks beautiful. I thought the fire bush was useless to any other bird other than the humming bird.  Glad to see that other birds can feed off it. Which part of India do you live in?