Archives for March 2010
Mar
09
Melbourne Storms on Green Roof
I thought I would share some photos of the aftermath on one of our green roofs in Melbourne after the recent weekend storms. Melbourne was lashed with hail stones the 'size of lemons' and received 40mm of rain in 30 minutes. There are some great photos of the Races in Melbourne to give you an indication of the mayhem.
Considering the above, you could say that the roof faired pretty well. Like any terrestrial landscape the damage to succulent foliage type plants is always a problem with hail. In the same breath these types of plants will readily sprout roots from their fallen leaves and in the end probably result in a greater density of planting.
I have great faith in plants and expect to see the roof bounce back from this most unusual storm.
Considering the above, you could say that the roof faired pretty well. Like any terrestrial landscape the damage to succulent foliage type plants is always a problem with hail. In the same breath these types of plants will readily sprout roots from their fallen leaves and in the end probably result in a greater density of planting.
I have great faith in plants and expect to see the roof bounce back from this most unusual storm.
Mar
21
Vertical Farming
City farming on a commercial scale is not too far away. These farms can be achieved by either using a group of rooftops within close proximity to each other or by growing plants on a vertical plane such as this vertical farm concept. The garden roof farm concept is much more realisable now, as growing medias can be engineered to suit food production and the availability of natural sunshine means that large amounts of energy are not required to power lights as would be needed with walls.
Perhaps the days of manual labour would come back and replace tractors. Hundreds of jobs could be created in the city with the price of food staying the same or becoming cheaper as fertiliser, transport and packaging costs are greatly reduced or removed all together.
Green Roofs however would be much more susceptible to strong winds or other devastating climatic effects such as hail. The vertical gardens could be grown under the protection of walls and windows and use solar power or other renewable energy sources to power the lights and fans. Evaporation would be kept to a minimum thereby maximising water use but this could lead to mould and fungi problems which could very quickly wipe out whole crops.
If anyone reading this news article knows of any forward thinking restaurant owners that would like to be one of the first restaurants in Australia growing food on their roof then please let the Junglefy green roof team know.
Perhaps the days of manual labour would come back and replace tractors. Hundreds of jobs could be created in the city with the price of food staying the same or becoming cheaper as fertiliser, transport and packaging costs are greatly reduced or removed all together.
Green Roofs however would be much more susceptible to strong winds or other devastating climatic effects such as hail. The vertical gardens could be grown under the protection of walls and windows and use solar power or other renewable energy sources to power the lights and fans. Evaporation would be kept to a minimum thereby maximising water use but this could lead to mould and fungi problems which could very quickly wipe out whole crops.
If anyone reading this news article knows of any forward thinking restaurant owners that would like to be one of the first restaurants in Australia growing food on their roof then please let the Junglefy green roof team know.