Hampstead Heath came calling by email. As can be seen below, this is a delightful project. Dave sent us the image and some words of thanks. He had attended a course we ran for the Centre for Wildlife Gardening in South London. In addition to the course, the delegates also received access to the online guide.
Green Roof on Hampstead Heath nestled in among the trees
Green Roof Course and Guide helps build Hampstead Heath Green roof shed
In Dave’s words:
The course and guide provided all the detailed information that I required. The construction of the roof was as per the course. The reinforcements to the shed required some improvisation to the existing structure. A visit to see Bill Oddie’s green roofed shed also gave me some ideas!
As well as putting in more and larger uprights, beam and perlins the crucial thing I learned from the guide was the importance of shear panels. I have probably completely over engineered it. The reason being I wasn’t confident in doing the calculations!
I am very pleased with the wire caged pebble edging.
The references provided were also useful in pointing me towards suppliers, especially for the substrate that is 70% crushed brick. I gave the substrate a bit of variation with some slate, stones and logs and put in some permeable tubing to provide watering.
Wildflower Planting
I also made some potential wet areas at the bottom of each slope where I planted some Snakehead Fritillary. In March 2015 I planted out with 72 plugs from British Wild Flowers Plants – 8 each of Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Cornflower, Harebell, Cowslip, Red Valerian, Selfheal, Vipers Bugloss, Yellow Toadflax and Clustered Bellflower. This was augmented by some british wild flower seed assortment.
The garden backs on to Hampstead Heath (the south west corner) with one slope facing SE so exposed to cold east winds but not bad for sun, the other will also get morning sun but is shaded by housing in the afternoon.
A really great project, loved all the practical work and the result. Probably cost more than the original shed but worth every penny.
It is always good to hear from people who complete a project using the guide. So if you haven’t please let us know so we can write about it.
