luscious green roof on a garden shed

DIY Green Roof Guide

The online resource for building small scale green roofs on garden sheds, garages, house extensions and other small construction or retrofitting projects

a green roof on a new house extension

New Builds

A step by step guide to creating a SAFE and LEAK FREE green roof on a new small scale construction project. Learn from the vastly experienced authors how to accomplish it yourself or provide guidance to your contractors

a small green roof on an electrical substation

Retrofitting

Even the smallest of roof spaces can provide a small haven of beauty and a wildlife oasis. The retrofitting section advice can be used on garden sheds, cycle & bin shelters, the fundamentals remain the same!

edge details of a garden shed green roof

Detailing

From suggested screw sizes through edge details to drainage suggestions, John & Dusty take you through the process using text, photos, illustrations and videos

edge details of a garden shed green roof

Planting Ideas

Plant suggestions focussed on native species that can provide the maximum biodiversity. Separate lists for the UK, Eastern USA & Canada, Mid-West USA

Previous Articles

Rooftop Carrot Farm in Essex

The rooftop carrot farm in Essex is a bit of a mystery. How did the edible variety  get there?  We do seed the wild  Daucus carota, on roofs but not certainly these. However amongst the lush carrot foliage there are a few gems that are attracting late pollinators to...

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French Guide is launched

The French Guide is now live. We have finally managed to get our small scale green roof guide translated into French. Currently the French website is up and running. The public pages are all viewable. From the 24th October the membership side will be sold. Dusty will...

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Urban Food – Montreal

Urban food growing is happening on a small scale green roof in Montreal, Canada.  This was another successful green roof built on a shed using our original e-guide. When we first launched the guide back in 2010  Oliver spent a couple of months emailing us about his...

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Vienna here we come

Vienna is our destination in late November. John will be speaking at the First European Urban Green Infrastructure conference in the Austrian Capital. Dusty will also be there as he is one of the co-organisers. Small scale green roofs can play an important role in...

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A Coast Green Roof

The Coast green roof sits perched above the bay at Sennen, Cornwall. The first and last green roof in England being only a couple of miles from Lands End. A Coast Green Roof needs Coastal wildflowers The roof is a true coast roof, which makes it perfect to celebrate...

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Green roofs 4 Pollination Awareness Week

Pollination Awareness Week starts today. What better way to promote pollinators than turning a shed, a garage or an extension in to a pollinator paradise. It is amazing the range of pollinators that can found on a small green roof. Even the one on my balcony,...

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Balcony Green roof 2

Balcony Green Roof 2 - Spiders, Solitary Bees and Annuals Spider on my Balcony green roof The spider on my Balcony green roof finally performed for the camera. I have been watching two of these 8 legged wonders wandering across the small roof.  Fast, small and very...

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Summer House Green Roof

The summer house green roof is doing fine. A quick visit to John Little's allowed to have a quick inspection.  A mildly pampered summer house green roof The summer hose green roof is fours old now. It is the one green roof that John pampers. Only a little though. This...

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My Balcony Green Roof

My Balcony green roof was built back in 2002. It is the only place on my home I can actually have a green roof. The construction was undertaken for the unfortunately unpublished 'How to build a small green roof?' pdf. This preceded our original pdf guide and now the...

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Social housing green roof opportunities

Social housing provides plenty of opportunities for small-scale green roofs. Our last post focussed on electricity stations. There are normally a few of these on most council estates across the UK. In fact the picture posted yesterday was from an estate in Southwark,...

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Gain immediate lifetime access for only £11.50 or browse the website and find out more about the whys and hows of designing and building small green roofs before you join.

Spring 2024 Special

The first 30 new registrations can get £2.50 off the usual price by using the discount code 20E3E039F7  at the checkout. That means only paying £9.00 in total to access the full guide. Grab a discounted membership now before they all go.