Urban Permaculture - Harvest Time - Fall Gardens for the City

Tonight the predicted low is 53 degrees F.

Judy has begun removing many of the summer vegetables and food crops and planting cooler weather greens and vegetables.

The hot peppers are always beautiful - growing in our Urban Core garden, Hanging to dry on the porch or in a hot sauce container.

There is not limit to what you can grow in the Urban Core.....

Urban Core Crop - Hot Peppers Grown in Judy's Garden

Save Energy - Make your tea outdoors - even on a cloudy day...

Simple way to save energy. Instead of boiling your tea water, place several tea bags in a glass jar and set out in the sun. Cover well. By the end of the day your tea is brewed!

Vertical Wall Hydroponics - grow your vegetables anywhere!

We are developing wall systems to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers on any wall with a hybrid hydroponic watering and nutrient system!

The New Florida Green Roof project moves forward!!! The Seeds are Sprouting!

It has taken about seven days for the allium seeds to sprout. However they are bursting forth in full force now, even though we are well into the autumn season. Allium is one of my favorite plant Genus'. Allium sp. is a hardy plant - you can find them growing almost anywhere!

Allium's are drought resistant, evergreen and provide significant habitat for all types of wildlife! Watch for more pictures as the plants mature! Be sure to also check out MetroVerde - Judy's website on Green Roofs and Urban Permaculture.

Urban Green - Even in a Small Space! Small Gardens!

Even small backyards can provide wonderful areas to establish an intense garden, a place where you raise the level of green from flat lawns to a vertical integration of plants providing food, fiber and medicine.

Go ahead. Dig up the lawn. Drive in a half dozen fence posts and add jute string or fencing. Plant the vines - squash, cucumbers, grapes and more. Be sure to include flowers for the table vases.

Purchase a pack of ladybugs from your local garden shop. Every plant is one more step towards restoring green to the urban core!

Check out Judy's MetroVerde site or www.kevinsonger.blogspot.com for more info on urban green!

Sense of Place is Important to Each and Everyone in the Urban Core

Creating a personal, beautiful and productive garden spot is easy! Be it on an apartment or townhome balcony, in a small backyard or in a large estate - you CAN create our food, flower and medicine refugee with little money and good steady effort.

We like the compact, easy to maintain design!

Yours will evolve through the years!

Start now! Email Kevin or Judy with questions or comments and visit our website at www.metroverde.com

Another Green Roof Video - Florida Green Roof Construction

See Previous Post for more on installing a liner on an existing roof in preparation for a new Green Roof!!!

Enjoy the Video!

The new Florida Green Roof Project - Next Episode - Installation of the Liner!

New eUrbanism! Green Roofs everywhere! We are refining the available technology - now doing things only dreamed of before.... So we'd like to think.. Our ancestors and those before us had vertical green techniques so much more refined - even though they lacked the polymer and synthetic materials we have today...

Hanging Gardens of Babylon! and also check out Wikipedia's write up...

IFAS at UF has a great virtual field trip website that provides more info on vertical crop growing and hydroponics.... see previous blog...

OK but back to the new vegetated roof. Today was the 20 mil PVC liner installation day and unfortunately it was real windy - a front is coming through -

Normally on a TPO roof there is no need to put a root barrier down - you always can if you want to but the TPO and the PVC root barrier are one and the same material practically and you end up just duplicating efforts.

But hey! If you want another liner over the TPO - put one there. The black pond liners you can find a Lowe's and Home Depot work great!!! These come in various stock sizes. You can get 13' x 20', 13' x 10', 8' x 10' and others. Watch Craigslist for great buys on pond liners as there are many people who buy the liners thinking they will get a 'round-to-it' and build a backyard pond. It is amazing how many pond liners I see for sale on either e-bay or Craigslist!

For sure you would want to put a liner over asphalt shingles - as we are doing here... Otherwise the roots would devour the asphalt shingles eventually...

But over TPO - well - if you are in doubt build a trial panel! See for yourself!

So since we have a asphalt shingle roof on this project - we are installing a PVC liner. (Always follow OSHA safety guidelines when working above ground)...

Folded up, PVC is heavy and will stay put on the roof. Unfolded the liner is like a waiting sail, ready to leap into the air and follow the breezes. Moreover, liners are slick, slippery and a fall hazard on the ground and especially on a roof or raised platform!

Even over rough - friction heavy asphalt shingles, PVC liners will 'slip and slide'!

MetroVerde's belief is that any vertical penetration through a roof will cause a failure or maintenance issue, sooner rather than later, in Florida's harsh environment!

Today's project roof has a 5/12 slope - moderately steep slope...

And today was WINDY! With the front coming through, as soon as I started unfolding the liner - the wind would pick it up and throw it down over the edge...

See the photo's...

But using MeroVerde's patented attachment system, once you get the mat laid out in a roughly positioned posture - then quickly attach the mat and the roof with the first fastener - usually the highest corner in the direction of the prevailing wind.

Install another fastener ever three feet on both the x and y axis. Carefully move across the roof area, installing all fasteners until the entire liner perimeter has been attached to the existing roof. Make sure the liner is stretched tightly across the roof and there is no obvious buckling or 'air bubbles' in the liner.

Usually the weight of the liner will press down and form against the existing roof. Once the MV GRP vegetated panels are installed the weight should be easily sufficient to hold the entire system in place.

See the photos! The final installation photo shows the liner stretched and attached - ready for the mats!

Watch for the next episode! Until then - Happy Green Roofing! - PS - Feel free to call me anytime you wish to discuss Green Roofs! 904-294-2656... :) Kevin

Vertical Green - Restoring Green to the Urban Core

It is all about vertical green on an Urban Site. The more vertical green a site has, the more stormwater is treated and attenuated, the more wildlife habitat exists, and the more connections to our historic past interactions with green are resolved for beneficial purposes.

Here the Jincy, Ruairi, Judy and Kevin team have installed what we call a "Shade Trellis'. The shade trellis concept is simple. Shade solar heat gain from entering a house or building through windows with beautiful flowering vines in he summer. Then in the winter, the deciduous nature of the vines causes the leaves to drop and the sunlight is free to enter, heat and warm.

One of the benefits of restoring green to the Urban Core!

How Much Should A Green Roof Cost? and more Green Roofs for Florida musings

One of the most common questions I hear about green roofs & vegetated roofs & garden roofs is: HOW MUCH DO THEY COST? Good Question. Easy Answer.

An extensive evergreen garden roof can be purchased and installed from a base price of approximately $6-8.00 per square foot for simple, one species installations to $12-$14 per SF for a moderately top of the line extensive garden roof with multi-texture, multi-color plan species.

Now, if you have more money than you know what to do with - then you can spend as much as you want per SF. I have seen some vegetated/garden roofs quoted in the $120.00 per SF range (YIKES!!!),

It is educational (and I highly recommend you do this if you are interested in green roofs) to go and talk to your local roofer that has experience with installing TPO roofs. A TPO roof is also a 'green' roof if it is white in color - because it will reflect heat! Usually those roofers who have experience in TPO know vegetated roofs also - but always ask them if their company (or parent company) sells green roofing systems. If they do, be sure to make sure you are receiving unbiased info). A good TPO experienced roofer is Rick Anderson with Delta Roofing in Jacksonville, Florida - call Rick at (904) 292-1592 - tell him you saw his name on Kevin's blog.

Green roofs are my passion, and I believe they are key to restoring green to the Urban Core! - Creating habitat, a sense of place, and resolution to stormwater issues.

Don't be scared off by a quote of $20-$40 per SF for a green/vegetated roof! Those complicated and expensive systems are not necessary!

Please - beware of green roofs that require irrigation. Please!!! - it is easy to grow an orchard on a roof with fertilizer and irrigation and cow manure and etc...

A doubter? Look around the next time you are driving through town at the volunteer plants that THRIVE in sidewalk cracks, overpass retaining walls, uncared for gutters, and more. I've never seen irrigation tubing here!

Now - if you are looking at a global system - greywater, reuse, rainwater catchment (Judy and I are members of ARCSA - check out www.arcsa.org), permaculture - then you may want to integrate recycle irrigation into your vegetated roof - but DO NOT BUY the story that you HAVE to have irrigation. I can show you plenty of applications that have successful and beautiful green roofs that grew up on only rainwater...

OK - want to DIY? email me at chockasacka@msn.com

But before you go and spend $ 20+ per SF shop and compare.

One final tip of the evening. We take and set up light level and temperature recorders on roofs we are evaluating for plant applications. Spend some time to assess what you are working with - this is the first step to good planning.

One last final tip. If you want a top of the line extensive vegetated roof - low maintenance but lush, tropical and beautiful - one that will treat stormwater, provide urban wildlife habitat like you will never believe and create a sense of place your DNA will connect to - email me.

Happy Green Roofing!

Kevin

Living Walls provide the same type vertiscaping - vertical green that vegetated and green roofs provide!!!

Great Reference Website for Urban Heat Island remedies and Florida Green Roofs

Check out this website developed by the EPA about Green Roofs - good basic info...

www.epa.gov/hiri/strategies/greenroofs.html

Florida Green roofs - modular trays or mats? Look out for trays that cause root bound results!

Green roofs are popular now and a huge question I have is with respect to plants developing root binding due to the modular tray walls. I am sure there are many satisfactory answers out there however I am yet to be convinced!

With trays and modular systems - not only will the planting media 'float' out of the tray in a heavy storm event, but the tray walls restrict horizontal growth - and all plants tend to grow outward from their original diameter. Once roots start circling they strangle each other, competing for space.

Mats allow for the roots to grow as far as necessary in any direction. If there is another plant in the way, then competition kicks in and the most aggressive species wins over - however the end result is that the green roof system is always vegetated.

Florida is a tricky climate to use any green roof system in - let alone modular systems or trays. Our climate is totally different than the climate up north and though trays and modular systems may work up north - they are much more difficult to make work in Florida.

Of course - if you want to spend $$$$$$$ on maintenance and design then trays and modular systems can be designed to work acceptably, but why spend the extra dollars when the mat systems will provide the same amount of 'green', put less of a structural load on your roof, and do not require irrigation!

Check out MetroVerde's website - they offer a mat system that has proven itself in Florida - heat, humidity and tropical storms (see the posted video of tropical Storm Fay on Green Roofs)

The two photos here are of sedum center dieback from the plant being root bound, and the actual root circling action. Modular trays are not good for the long tern health of the plants on Florida Green Roofs.

Dump the television. Climb up on the Roof at night in the rain and film the Florida Green Roof Plants!!!

Peaceful. No other words can describe a green roof at night with a gentle drizzle. Well - maybe 'wet' also. Seriously tough - vegetated or green roof plants drink up rainwater. MetroVerde green roofs are not irrigated. Judy designs her green roofs to trive without additional irrigation - so - when it does rain they take advantage of the deviation from morning dew serving as the primary water supply - and they drink up!!! For your own Metroverde green roof - call Judy - 904-294-2656 or check out her website at www.metroverde.com

Whoa! The Semps are taking a hit!!!! Florida Green Roof Plants...

Quick Update - It is mid-September and we have had a tough, hot, wet, humid and rainy summer interspersed with extended periods of drought early on. The Sempervivums - especially the young ones are not looking good!!!!

But we expected this.

There are very few plants that will truly be successful on an extensive Florida Green or Vegetated Roof!

For a good source of information on Florida Green Roofs see www.metroverde.com

Florida Green Roofs, LC-50, FDEP, Anoles and Other Urban Wildlife

The team was in Barnes and Nobles Bookstore yesterday and I came across an interesting book on Florida Anoles. Several illustrations immediately caught my eye - especially the one where the author had delineated the typical habitat for the Cuban anole and then had illustrated the same for the native Florid anole.

The Cuban anole (the larger brown anoles you probably most often see) need vertical green from the ground up to about four feet. Our native Florida anole likes vertical green up to fifteen or so feet high. Florida green roofs can serve to provide habitat that would otherwise be considered rare in the urban core - and help the survival chances of the Florida anole.

It is critical to examine carefully, all the components that go on a green roof - the liner, mat or container and especially the plants and planting medium to make sure there is no toxicity passed into the stormwater once installed. LC-50 toxicity testing should be a part of any green roofing standard due diligence.

I heard recently that FDEP may be requiring LC-50 testing in conjunction with their new 2009 Stormwater rules based on TMDL's and BMP's...

Good Green Roofing to all!

Florida Green Roofs - Green Roofs for Florida

The three H's - Hurricanes, Heat and Humidity! Designing for the three 'H's can be tough but that is what the designer needs to do here in Florida!

A note of interest this morning is that several sedum species we've had on our trial panels appeared to have died last November/December. They apparently had just gone dormant because they are now growing with leaps and bounds.

It will be interesting to see just how root establishment will affect the hot-cold-wet-rainy period later this year.

On another note: Eric Flagg was out yesterday, filming his new video for the St. Johns Riverkeeper - and as he was filming one of the green roof sections, a monarch butterfly, Florida green anole and a bee gathered on the flowering iceplant clumps! Talk about a perfect example of creating habitat in the Urban Core!

Stay tuned for pictures and more results of MetroVerde's green roof mat systems!

Unintentional Green Roofs!

Plants will take advantage of any small amount of growing medium and a place to grow. Check out this thriving vegetated gutter system in Jacksonville!!! See! If plants can thrive on their own - just think what they will do when correctly designed for a vegetated roof system! Roots take the nitrogen out of the rainfall and keep the runoff clean!

Build the Green Roof and the Wildlife will come...

It has been truly amazing to watch what the restoration of vertical green to the urban core will do for wildlife. On one project, a residence in the city overwhelmed with impervious areas, a little horizontal green but no vertical green, we saw a remarked reemergence of wildlife once vertical green was established.

Reestablishment of vertical green is a great example of Biomimicry. By creating living walls and green roofs we attempt to mimic the original, native volumetric green that existed before the cities existed.

Small wildlife, such as anoles and frogs require green between three and six feet off the ground (at least) to survive - providing escape from predators. Four and one half feet above ground elevation is the 'magic' number according to much of the research we came across.

Once the living walls were in place the anoles and tree frogs arrived in mass, reducing the house fly, ant, roach and termite populations. Soon we note an increase in blackracers - feeding on the tree frogs and picking up any stray mice around. Soon we noted more frequent visits from owls, hawks, other raptors and even an eagle - feeding on the racers and other beneficial snakes.

Vertical green is essential for bringing wildlife back to the Urban Core.

Build it and they will come!

To Irrigate a planted roof or to Not Irrigate a Planted Roof...

OK. So there are many, many opinions in this world - including mine. I say absolutely not - no added irrigation on a planted roof. Reasoning being the challenge lies in designing and constructing a planted roof who can survive without irrigation.

Anyone can irrigate and it is no big deal to design a planted roof requiring irrigation. However - the lush, evergreen planted roof surviving only on natural rainfall and dew - well that is an accomplishment!

Now though you also need to make sure the plants will survive copious amounts of rain too! Good drainage helps here....

Another note - as a lawyer I would be looking to a vegetated roof designer who specified irrigation for my planted roof, if I ever had mold problems - regardless of if the roof's irrigation caused the mold or not - something to think about - the roof is supposed to keep water off the structure - not add water to the structure...

Check out the lushness of the MV Garden Roof panel pictured here (planted in May - photographed in August and with no added irrigation!!!).

Chow for now....