Latest 10 Finest Terrace Garden Ideas to Transform Your Rooftops

Stuck between the passion for gardening and not having enough space? The solution is Terrace Garden!

No matter where you live or how much space you own, Terrace Gardens are the best way to keep your passion and need for gardening without worrying about the space and maintenance.

For some, gardening is hobby and for others it might be a need. Especially the people residing in heavily populated urban areas are the ones who prefer small kitchen gardens or flower gardens to soak up their leisure time and satisfy the need for fresh veggies, herbs and spices. But they are unable to do so due to lack of space and idea. In such congested areas, rooftops and terrace are the outdoor space accessible to the users of the buildings and here Terrace Garden Ideas will be a boon for them.

Terrace garden design can be created at costs varying from low to high, based on the materials and methods used for construction. Budget-friendly or no-cost terrace garden can be created using recycled materials like unused plastic containers, water bottles, home-made compost and a simple irrigation system, while high-cost terrace gardens may be created with professional landscape designers, automated irrigation systems, premium soil and selected ornamental plants of our choice.

Terrace garden is a meaningful use of minimum available space in crowded cities which aids in balancing green space among the cement structures.
Terrace gardens insulates the building from rising temperatures in the summer seasons, thus offering thermal benefits and energy savings for the user.
The harmful consequences of Urban heat island effect, pollution and global warming on human health can be mitigated using sustainable terrace garden setups.

Before planning a terrace garden

Before thinking for suitable terrace gardening ideas, you must consider the following parameters.

The load bearing capacity of the building alters based on the construction materials. Using containers for growing plants or installation of lawns and other rooftop structures can be decided only based on the load bearing capacity.
Water source availability must be ensured to irrigate the plants.
The rooftop floor must be waterproofed to avoid water seeping into the construction materials.
Provisions for water drainage must be made to avoid stagnation of water.
If lawns and planting plants directly on to the terrace floor are to be done, sufficient waterproofing and drainage systems must be involved accordingly. Drainage cells and a waterproof geotextile layer must be installed on the terrace floor prior to adding soil for planting.
If the terrace is surrounded with vertical walls, vertical gardening systems can be adopted.
Plants must be chosen based on the growing characters, climatic conditions and terrace capacity to support the plants and ensure its growth and development.

Terrace Garden Ideas and Guide

Here in this article, we have gathered some of the best terrace gardening ideas for home to suit your needs and availabilities.

1. Make it spacious

It works well for those who love to be surrounded by the nature but not smothered. Keep it spacious and open. One can use glass railings and fences to make it look bigger and decorate smaller plants and herbs for a natural touch. This type of gardening ideas will come handy for those having smaller rooftops.

As it will be open and sun will grace this garden for longer span therefore some of the suggestion for choosing plants for this type of garden terrace design is Lavender, Sweet Alyssum, Hibiscus, Mandevilla, Heuchera, etc.

2. Keeping your privacy

For those owning open or exposed rooftops and wanting to maintain their privacy in their terrace garden can make use of climbers and taller plants. If there are railings then climbers would be an excellent choice and potted bamboo and grasses can be used in place of railings.

3. Create diversity

While designing your terrace garden make sure to create some diversity in the size and types of plants. There might be circumstances when parts of your rooftop garden ideas India receive sunlight and there maybe be other parts left with shade. For such uneven distribution ensure growing plants of the types which are sun loving along with the ones which thrive best in shade.

Terrace Garden Ideas — **Terrace Gardening Ideas**

Apart from this there may be variation in spaces available on a single terrace ideas itself. So to suit these, one might keep in mind to use plants of variable sizes to utilize the available space.

4. Addition of Furniture

When designing your terrace garden also decide what you want to do there, dine, relax, work or study. Deciding this will help in selection of furniture for the terrace garden.

5. Centre of Attention

One can make use of a statue, mini water fall setup, tall tree, fountain or an outstanding arrangement of potted plants to make a centre of attention of the whole garden.

6. Lighting Setup

After a tiring day at work and winding up the house chores one would love to relax in their terrace garden under the starry night sky but stars won’t be enough to light up your garden and also getting a hold of stars in the urban sky is quite rare. Therefore to enjoy a beautiful evening, lights according to the mood and needs are to be set up in the terrace garden. Solar-powered garden lights can reduce power consumption and thus becomes a sustainable way of lighting your garden.

7. Selection of Colours

Selecting colours are also important to enhance and accentuate the beauty of your garden. Try to use less number of colour shades for the walls, railings, furniture, pots or floor to keep the natural beauty of the garden. Ensure the selection of an accent shade and one or two more shades to compliment it, not more than that. Using too much colour will make it look messed and busy. In case of plants, a single plant species that come in variegated shades such as ornamental coleus, philodendrons, maranta grouped together at a focal point can make a beautiful garden arrangement. Plants with various shades of green can be attractive without being messy with too much colours.

8. Using the Walls

The adjacent walls can be used to grow climbers by using hanging type planters, baskets, boxes, pots and shelves. This will maximize the space and utilize the areas that are generally not used for planting or terrace gardening ideas.

9. Floor Design

Don’t forget about the floor. Choose the type that is compatible with your budget, the climate you live and suits your terrace garden theme. A simple lawn makes more accessible green space for the users in the building.

10. Become Self Sufficient

The roof is a great place to grow your choice of fruits, vegetables, herbs and salads. Become self sufficient and easily grow your own food.

11. Promote biodiversity

Terrace gardens can support wildlife. Such fauna aids in killing pests that affect the plants in the terrace further aiding in pollination. Using bird baths and lily ponds may me more attractive while promoting biodiversity.

12. Get Creative with Your Terrace Garden

Turn your terrace garden into an open movie theatre, weekend party lounge, family party place, or anything according to your needs by arrangement of required accessories and furniture.

terrace garden design

Terrace Garden Plants

The plants which are a wise choice to be considered in a terrace garden are listed below:

Category of plants	Suggestion of plants for Terrace Garden
Terrace Garden Herbs	Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Mint, Lemongrass, coleus, coriander
Terrace Garden Flowers	Marigold, Begonias, Rose, Bougainvillea, Jasmine, Petunia, Pansy, Clematis, Lobelia, Lavender, Cosmos, Zinnia
Terrace Garden Vegetables	Cucumber, Okra, Eggplants, Chillies, Tomatoes, bitter gourd, lab-lab
Terrace Garden Trees and shrubs	Papaya, Guava, Lemon, Pomegranate, Bonsai trees.
Terrace Garden Succulents and cacti	Agave, Aloe Vera, Euphorbia, Lithops, Sedum, Opuntia, Ferocactus, Mammillaria.

Cost of Construction and Maintenance

Rooftop garden services starts from ₹ 150/sq.ft. Given below is a rough estimation of the terrace garden setup cost of constructing and maintaining a terrace garden design of about 500 sq feet.

Items	Cost
Water proofing the terrace	₹ 5,000 – 10,000
Insulation layer	₹ 3,000 – 7,000
Drainage system	₹ 7,000 – 10,000
Potting soil	₹ 6,000 – 10,000
Gardening tools	₹ 4,000 – 5,000
Pots and containers	₹ 4,500 – 7,000
Seeds and seedlings	₹ 2,000 – 4,000
Watering systems	₹ 3,000 – 5,000
Fertilizers, manures and pesticides	₹ 2,000 – 3,000
Furniture and accessories	₹ 10,000 – 12,000
Installation charges	₹ 5,000 – 10,000
Maintenance per month	₹ 1,000 – 2,000

terrace garden design

Conclusion

Terrace gardens are the best way of utilizing the rooftops for various purposes. This is a great choice for those struggling with less space and wanting to have a garden. The costs of construction and maintenance may vary with the size and requirements of the terrace. Once created successfully it continues to serve its purpose with proper maintenance.

This article was reviewed by Priyatharsini Ayyaswamy.

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