garden@risc.org.uk

LATEST

National Gardens Scheme 2009 Open days

Sat/ Sun
Midday - 4.00 pm
Admission: £2.50 adults, Children Free.

9th and 10th May
11th and 12th July (£4 when combined with M.E.R.L. garden)
8 and 9th August
12th and 13th September

Out now - 'Beating drought: a brief guide to water conservation gardening,'
as seen on Gardners' World

Introduction

Story of the Roof Garden

Credits: people behind the project

Plants

Food Issues

Permaculture

Forest Gardens

Visits: Schools and Groups

Health and safety Notice

Open days and Volunteers

Press Clippings

Bulletin Board

Photo Albums:
Peter Savage Garden Photography

Construction

Plants

Vistas

Garden Tour Movie
(Media File 10mb) Suitable For Broaband

Garden Tour Movie
for dial up users (1.6 mb)


External Link:

Living Roofs

Plant Cultures

Whitely Schools garden project blog

Lots more roof garden resources

The Willow Bank
Living willow sculptures

Sector39
Sustainable garden design

Risc's edible roof garden

see the garden from the Google Satellite map

Look up in the heart of Reading town centre and you might just see a mini wind turbine peeking over the top of a roof looking back at you.

Behind central Reading's only renewable energy installation lies the RISC edible roof garden; a forest garden complete with over 120 species of edible and medicinal trees, shrubs, vines and plants from around the globe. Fed by stored rainwater gathered from the roof, pumped by energy generated by solar cells and wind collectors on the chimneys; this urban oasis is fed by paper and food waste compost from the RISC offices and is one of the nicest places in Reading for a picnic!

Creating an illusion of a rural idyll, these pictures ( right) were in fact taken 3 floors up and 1 minute's walk from where Reading's inner ring road passes one of Europe's biggest new shopping malls.

'Growing our futures' the project behind the remarkable roof garden project at RISC is a statement about the potentials of working with nature, in a creative partnership, to create quality living spaces, providing food and resources for people whilst supporting biodiversity in our own backyard.

Roof gardens are increasingly becoming a focus for reducing the negative environmental impact of cities.

• promoting biodiversity; valuable inner city habitat and feeding stations especially for insects and birds.
• producing food and other useful plants
• reducing urban heat islands which distort local ecologies.
• storing tonnes of water and helping reducing flooding
• encouraging organic waste recycling via composting
• increasing thermal and noise insulation of buildings
• creating valuable usable space for people

Visits: See visits and open days sections for more information, we are in the YELLOW BOOK again, as part of the Royal Horticultural Society's National Garden Scheme.

NGS open weekends 2009
4 weekends only:
Sat/Sun 12.00 Midday til 4.00p.m.
With a 30 minute walking tours of the garden;
9th and 10th May
11th and 12th July (£4 when combined with M.E.R.L. garden)
8 and 9th August
12th and 13th September
Admission: £2.50, children free, Home-made Teas. (12-4).
All fees are treated as charitable donations.

Visitors are invited on a 30 minute walking tour of the garden, discussing the plants, their origins and various uses. You are also welcome to explore the garden alone, however please note SOME OF THE PLANTS ARE TOXIC, please check labels and take advice before grazing. Children must be supervised.

Volunteers required to help with open days and more.

Tiger Iris, an attractive flower with an edible corm from Mexico

More about the garden

The Roof Garden was planted in Spring 2002 and designed with the intention that it would slowly mature into a mixed open woodland of useful plants representing many if the major plant types from around the world - aglobal legacy on which we all depend. Furthermore the idea is that by modelling on natural systems we will gain insight into some of the defining characteristics of sustainability in nature, and adapt those insights for use in our own built environment.

Natural systems, such as forests are made from a complex ecology or inter-relationships between many different species. This complexity is what makes nature abundant, robust and most importantly sustainable. No one gardens a forest, it draws nutrients from the soil, recycles everything and is solar powered - all by itself and leaves no waste! If we could learn to make make our own human designed systems work in the same way, then we perhaps we can come up with much more sustainabel ways of living.

Some people call this approach to design permaculture, or environmental design, call it what you want, its an idea who's time has come. Importantly this approach to development, applied in a broader way presents the opportunity to learn from nature and to use that insight to help tackle some of the many environmental problems in Reading, the UK and around the world.

Permaculture magazine published this article about the roof garden, shortly after it first opened.

The RISC roof garden is home to over 140 species of useful plants from around the world, uses composted waste and is made from many recylced and local materials. It is powered by solar, wind and rainwater and is a unique space in Reading to explore issues of sustainable development & biodiversity; raising issues about our relationship with the environment.