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Terrace Gardening Advantages; Disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages of terrace gardening

What is a terrace garden? The terrace garden is also called a roof garden, it is a garden in which vegetables, flowers, and fruits are developed on terraces, balconies or roofs of buildings. The kitchen garden, a normal in every Indian household, has now shifted to the roof due to constraints of space and is known as a terrace garden. Increasing pressure on land and escalating costs have added to its growing popularity.

Advantages of Terrace gardening:

Advantages of Terrace Garden.
Advantages of Terrace Garden.

The advantages of terrace gardening are given below;

Some of the benefits to health, aesthetics and the environment include:

  • Reduce the indoor temperature by 6 to 8°C and can reduce air conditioning cost
  • Reduce overall heat absorption of buildings and insulate the building against heat & cold
  • The convenience of safe, pesticide-free, healthy green and fresh fruits or vegetables
  • Conducive to a regular of physical exercise, clean air and being close to nature
  • Terrace garden increases the amount of oxygen in the air
  • It reduces sound pollution
  • Perform as a habitat for city-weary birds

Fresh and organic produce: Having a terrace or roof garden gives you direct access to fresh vegetables and fruits. Nothing tastes improved than food cooked with vegetables plucked straight off the plant, or fruits are eaten in their freshest form.

It brings one closer to nature: Nature is always has been man’s best friend. Terrace gardens bring a piece of nature to the house.

Helps in reducing pollution: Terrace garden plants increase oxygen production in the air. Having a garden means increasing the flow of oxygen and thus reducing pollution. The plants capture airborne pollutants & filter toxic gases. They potentially control the quantity of carbon-di-oxide and other pollutants constantly released into the air. Your children breathe in the fresh air your garden brings in, which in turn helps them to increase a stronger immunity system.

Read: Terrace Vegetable Gardening.

Improvement to the environment: Our home prior to the terrace garden was extremely warm in the summer time.  We have reduced the amount of light or heat being reflected off the roof.  In addition, the garden plants are reducing the carbon monoxide from the environment. How does terrace farming impact the environment? Graduated terrace steps are normally used to farm on hilly or mountainous terrain. Terraced fields decrease both soil erosion and surface runoff, and can be used to support growing crops that require irrigation, such as rice. 

Helps in rainwater harvesting: Terrace gardens retain rainwater & thus help in moderate the temperature. They also arrest the flow of stormwater, therefore decreasing the pressure on sewer systems when the flow is forceful.

Keeps the temperature cooler: The regular dew and evaporation cycle keeps the surface of the roof cool and thus provides a cool environment inside the house. Another fact that maintains the heat in check is that the light that is absorbed by all the vegetation on the terrace garden would otherwise be converted into heat energy in the absence of the plants.

Aesthetic benefit: Create your house visually appealing to the existence of a terrace garden. It beats any pricey & modern uplift that you can do to your house.

Prevents soil erosion & makes more efficient use of water: Just like the rice terraces throughout Asia, garden terracing can solve the trouble of soil erosion and water runoff. For instance, if you have a graded lawn that slopes to the street which regularly sends dirt & water into the gutter system, a terrace will naturally retain that water on flat planes instead. That way, you can use your hill & save the drainage system from flooding.

This is a good thing because some municipalities are writing legislature taking away government liability for flood damage to homes caused by sewage backups. The newer homes that are built on green spaces, the additional sewage backups will become a regular thing. Where can one start a terrace garden? Terrace gardens can be created on almost all types of buildings like residential flats, individual houses, commercial hubs, godowns, and factories.

Read: How To Start Hydroponics At Home.

Creates natural steps & a flat space for gardening: If you have a sloped lawn, you know how difficult it can be to apply it for play or gardening. With the addition of some earth or compost, a terrace can include quite a few extra square feet for those purposes. The possibilities are continuous.

The greatest advantage of terrace gardening is that you relax in the lap of nature when you want. Apart from health & environment, it has an aesthetic benefit too. It can make your home cooler by 6-8°C. Thus a big saving in air conditioning cost. You can also get fresh, clean air right at your home and enjoy the healthy and organically grown green & fresh vegetables grown on your terrace.

Disadvantages of Terrace gardening:

One major disadvantage of terrace gardening is rainwater saturation of the ground. This happens when terracing retains too much water, which is absorbed into the ground or soil. The problem with ground saturation is that it can lead to water overflow through periods of heavy rains. This can end up source more damaging runoff than in unterraced areas. Additionally, if not accurately maintained, terraces can lead to greater soil erosion, often downslope from the terracing, than in non-terraced areas.

Terrace garden requires huge inputs of labor to construct & maintain, and when not properly maintained, the effects can be catastrophic. Unmaintained terraces can lead to mudslides, the creation of deep gulleys and increased soil erosion, mainly in sandy soils or on extremely steep terrains. Terracing also has been exposed to reduce soil quality via the leaching of important nutrients from the soil in some areas.

Read: How To Grow Dhaniya On Terrace.

1 COMMENT

  1. If we grow only in pots of different sizes won’t it put load on the roof. Also water seepagr from the pits will weaken the roof
    So is roof gardening viable?

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