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on sheds, garden offices, and studios

green roofs

Nigel Dunnetts garden sheds in Sheffield, United Kingdom. Photo by Nigel Dunnett

Dunnett garDen sheD

Crosspool, Sheffield, United Kingdom Owner and designer: Nigel Dunnett Context: Garden shed Size: 3 x 4 m (9 x 12 ft) Main purpose of green roof: Aesthetic, horticulture, biodiversity, food growing, experimental

Thisshed in my garden was largely responsible for my initial interest in green roofsan interest which has developed subsequently into a major part of my life. in 1999 i moved into a new house on a steeply sloping hillside in sheffield. Although the house faced onto a normal urban street, behind the house there had been no development because of the slope, and the relatively small garden backed onto open fields. A large area of the garden was taken up by a substantial garden shed and store. because the garden sloped downwards, the grey felted roof of the shed was very visible from the house. i had the option of removing the shed, but the storage space was very useful. i knew what green roofs were, having seen them during visits to Germany, but had little or no idea how they worked or what they were made from. However, as a professional ecologist, i was intrigued. instead of demolishing the shed, i decided to use it as an opportunity to try and make a green roof of my own, one that would beautify an

The living wall of Nigel Dunnetts shed contains many alpines, planted into gaps in the dry stone. Photo by Nigel Dunnett

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Right: Biting stonecrop (Sedum album) in full flower. Photo by Nigel Dunnett Far right: The planting is a diverse mix of grasses, perennials, and annuals. Sea thrift (Armeria maritima) is flowering profusely. Photo by Nigel Dunnett

ugly structure and integrate it both into the garden and with the fields beyond. At the time, the idea of green roofs at the small garden scale was unheard ofall the examples were large scale. it seemed that in the United Kingdom, the rooftop was just about the only area in gardens that had not been exploited for plant growing. i saw it as the final horticultural frontier. Designing and planning The existing building appeared relatively sturdy. The roof joists were new, the rest of the building was old, and there were signs of decay in the plywood walls. it was questionable as to whether the building would support significant loading. Although i am happy to take on any sort of garden work involving plants, i am the first to admit that i have no Diy skills or inclination whatsoever. At the time i would not have

known where to start in terms of strengthening the roof or the building. The best solution for me, therefore, was to build an external shell around the building and to use this to support a new roof platform. This had the added benefit of enabling me to make new cladding for the walls of the building. in effect, the old shed was enclosed in a new, living skin. i had no drawn plan for the buildingmore of a vision in my head. The final form of the building evolved over the two years it took me to make it in my spare time. Installation i sunk four 100 100 mm (4 4 in) posts at each corner of the shed, with their tops 100 mm (4 in) below the level of the existing roof surface. i then placed horizontal 100 100 mm (4 4 in) beams onto these, making a framework around the whole perimeter of the roof, at roof level, with supporting

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75 75 mm (3 3 in) supporting posts placed regularly around the roof at 1-m (3-ft) intervals. Next 75 75 mm (3 3 in) joists were then laid across these beams in one direction, 450 mm (18 in) apart, and sheets of exterior plywood were then fixed to these to make a level surface. i then laid butyl rubber pond liner over the whole surface. The whole roof sloped slightly backwards, so water could drain off the back end, directly onto the original felted roof surface of the old shed. i then simply tacked on some thin (150mm, 6-in) planks around the edge to hide the structure and stop growing medium from falling off the roof. The supporting posts enabled me to tack on 75-mm (3-in) boards as new cladding at the front of the shed. All materials were from the local Diy centre. The whole structure was then painted. The growing medium was spread directly onto the pond liner to a depth of 100150 mm (46 in) and

consisted of a mix of materials that i could get hold of at the time. LECA (expanded clay) and crushed brick were mixed with a proprietary soil-based gritty garden compost (John innes no. 3). The roof was planted with sedums (Sedum acre, Sedum reflexum, and Sedum album), Dianthus carthusianorum, chives (Allium schoenoprasum), Petrorhagia saxifraga, Thymus vulgaris, sea thrift (Armeria maritima), Erodium manescavi, wall germander (Teuchrium chamaedrys), hawkbit (Leontodon hispidus), and blue fescue grass (Festuca glauca). plants were watered on establishment, but then subsequently the roof received no irrigation. No maintenance was carried outthose species best adapted survived, and others were allowed to freely seed themselves in. The roof was built with limited resources. i initially spread substrate and planted only the 1-m (3-ft) perimeter of the roof, with the intention of filling in the rest as funds allowed. in the end, the whole of the roof was not filled in. However, unless you physically climbed up onto the roof, this would not be apparentfrom ground level and from the house, only the edge could be seen, and unless specially told, people automatically assumed the whole roof

The rooftop was just about the only area in gardens that had not been exploited for plant growing. I saw it as the final horticultural frontier.

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had been planted. i never made any pretence that the roof was planted for any significant benefit beyond aesthetic, and therefore the perimeter planting more than achieved this objective. At the side of the shed i created a living wall. i simply adhered a pond liner up against the existing wall surface as a waterproofing layer, and then built up dry-stone walling in front, using the upright posts at 1-m (3-ft) intervals as a framework, packing the stones in very tightly. A gap of 2550 mm (12 in) was left between the stones and the wall. As i built up the wall, i packed the space behind with gritty compost, and inserted small plants (mostly cuttings and seedlings of plants from the green roof) into gaps in the stones as they arose, again packing in with compost. Water from the roof drains down behind the wall, providing irrigation after rain. success of the green roof The green roof thrived, although the vegetation changed dramatically over time. The blue fescue grass is now dominantit is a vigorous self-seeder. but this has resulted in a shimmering steely blue meadow. some of the flowering plants have proved to be remarkably resilient within this meadow Sedum reflexum, hawkbit, and particularly the chives and thyme have spread throughout. in fact, the roof became my main source of these herbs. Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) have colonized, and another invader, the annual scentless mayweed (Tripleurospermum maritimum), flowers for most of the summer. The creation of the green roof provided the impetus for the transformation of the complete shed.

The meadow roof makes a visual connection with the planting on the ground. Photo by Nigel Dunnett

From a former eyesore, the shed became an integral and essential part of the garden design. moreover, having a visually prominent meadow on the rooftop made a strong visual link to the meadow and naturalistic planting that was found in the garden on the ground. i made no attempt at wonderful construction detailing or finishing, and everything is pretty rough and ready. but to me, somehow that adds to the appeal.

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aBout the authors


Nigel Dunnett is a reader in Urban Horticulture in the landscape department at the University of sheffield, where he has developed innovative research programs on naturalistic and ecologically informed planting for gardens and public landscapes. He is director of The Green roof Centre, sheffield, and acts widely as a consultant on green roof design and planting, and sustainable garden and landscape design in general. He writes regularly for landscape and garden publications, including Gardens Illustrated and The Garden. With Nol Kingsbury he wrote Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls; with Andy Clayden, Rain Gardens: Managing Water Sustainably in the Garden and Designed Landscape. Dusty Gedge is a green roof campaigner and founder of livingroofs.org, an independent green roofs association that promotes vegetated roof structures in urban and rural areas. With a background in community theatre, he is passionate about nature conservation and birdwatching. A frequent television and conference presenter on green roofs and biodiversity, he is particularly interested in teaching amateurs how to make green roofs. in 2004 he was awarded the Andrew Lees memorial Award at the annual british environment and media Awards. He is currently president of the european Federation of Green roof Associatons. John Little is a partner in The Grass roof Company, an award-winning, ecofriendly landscape design and management company that designs and builds green-roof buildings, designs and maintains school grounds and undertakes grounds maintenance work on behalf of local authorities. He has developed a broad reputation for his innovative green-roofed small buildings for schools, gardens and community use. His turf-roofed house won Daily Telegraph self-build house of the year in 1996. edmund C. snodgrass started the first green roof nursery in the United states and has collaborated on green roof research with colleges and universities. A fifth-generation farmer and nurseryman, he is owner and president of emory Knoll Farms inc. and Green roof plants in street, maryland, specializing in plants and horticultural consulting for green roofs. He is coauthor, with Linda mcintyre, of The Green Roof Manual: A Professional Guide to Design, Installation, and Maintenance. He also wrote, with his wife, Lucie snodgrass, Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planting Guide.

MARTA HERRERo

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GRAHAM SNoDGRASS

JANE SEBIRE

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