Culinary roof garden in the heart of London
An organic roof garden with Cellmax Bio products.
An organic roof garden with Cellmax Bio products.
In early 2021, we were approached by our UK partner The Urban Seed Lab to help them create a unique rooftop culinary garden for a successful chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur in his beautiful London home.
The client's main brief was to design, plan, grow from seed, plant and maintain a fully managed culinary garden, using the very best quality materials available anywhere in the world, that would showcase rare and unusual varieties of herbs and vegetables for use in his home kitchen and enable him and his family to live self-sufficiently in the heart of London.
The Urban Seed Lab purchased an impressive range of powder-coated stainless steel 'Belvedere' planters from world-class Austrian brand Biohort (www.biohort.com) and designed a bespoke layout for the newly installed, architect-designed first-floor roof with spiral staircase.
Cellmax worked closely with the Urban Seed Lab and recommended the use of our BIO Soil mix combined with a thin layer of clay granules underneath, to ensure optimal drainage that could withstand the rainy UK climate. Cellmax BIO Soil mix is certified organic, and as such the client's requirement for a fully vegan and organic-certified garden could easily be met, using the highest quality growing substrates that will ensure high yields and ease of maintenance, and would offer unrivalled growing performance.
Given the grandeur of the surroundings and the quality of the beautiful, architect-designed house in which the garden was to be located, it was imperative to achieve a sleek and stylish look. Together, we devised a method of 'top-dressing' each planter with a layer of Cellmax COCO Soil mix. This provides better drainage, as well as a smooth, aesthetically pleasing finish to the vegetable and herb beds. Moreover, Cellmax' COCO Soil retains less water than conventional growing media, which deters pests and flies that usually accumulate around excessively wet soil.
In total, some 15,000 litres of BIO and COCO soil were shipped to the UK, along with 2,000 litres of clay granules and a full complement of Cellmax growth nutrients. The results were excellent, and this particular London project is now among the very best private culinary gardens in the UK.
After a detailed planting plan that took months to refine, Urban Seed Lab germinated each plant for the garden from DEFRA-certified organic seed and aeroponic rooted cuttings (done exclusively with Cellmax substrates and nutrients). They were lovingly raised in their nursery in Wales under adapted light and nutrient protocols for maximum vigour, yield and pest resistance.
At the beginning of the British summer, the roof garden was finally planted, in time for the upcoming warm weather. All plants were planted with the Cellmax ProductX Mycorrhizae, which stimulates the growth of microbial fungi in the planters, ensuring better growth performance.
A special bed of rare mint and basil was created with unique varieties such as Christmas basil (with an aroma of cinnamon and cloves), British basil (a thicker, hardy variety ideal for cultivation in the UK), berry and cream mint (strongly fragrant with a sweet, berry-like aroma) and an apple mint variety, to name a few. An 'everyday' herb bed has been laid out with common varieties such as dill, thyme, chives, parsley (both flat and broadleaf), coriander (including the rare 'Calypso' coriander variety, which bears fine, very floriferous needle-like leaves), Italian basil and many more; a more exotic-tinged planter with lemongrass (which adapted particularly well to the British climate thanks to the mix of Cellmax Bio/Cocosmix in which it was grown), lemon verbena, passionfruit flower and purple oregano, a highly aromatic, hardy variety that lends itself extremely well to hearty British cuisine.
To ensure healthy root growth, Cellmax's BIO-Rootbooster was used alongside our BIO-8-2-2 to stimulate growth; by increasing amino acid levels in the soil, the bio-life already present in BIO Soil mix can continue to develop well.
A feeding schedule was set up with a custom-designed Gardena Smart Drip watering system, which automatically waters each container, complete with individual humidity sensors, angled sprinklers, regulated drip lines and special fertiliser manifolds for use with the Cellmax feeds. The entire watering and feeding regime was - and still is - fully managed remotely by The Urban Seed Lab, some 150km away in Wales, using a smartphone app that displays live humidity levels, soil temperature and local weather. The end result is a fully automated, heavy-growing, fully managed culinary garden in the heart of bustling London.
Although most of the plants grown are herbs and vegetables with only a vegetative phase (harvested before flowering), those that reached the flowering phase were treated with Cellmax BIO Bloom to encourage heavier fruit set and improve flavour. A number of herb varieties were sprouted to seed so that they could be harvested and used in cooking (fennel and coriander) or so that they could be planted for the next season.
With this year-round culinary garden, it is possible to pick and harvest from time to time. Especially with the leafy vegetables and herbs, it is necessary to harvest before the plant blooms. In late September, it was time to harvest the larger vegetables such as; Cucumber, carrots, peas, tomatoes and chilis.
Although this culinary garden was conceived and designed to be completely self-sufficient, spring and summer are obviously the most productive seasons for gardening. However, this does not mean that nothing edible can be grown in the colder months: after clearing the containers of outdated annuals, varieties of small lettuces were planted in polytunnels, which will last all autumn and into winter when they are fully grown. Garlic, onion and shallot plants were planted, which will ripen in early summer. Winter kale, beets, radishes, overwintering brassicas and scoop peas are all planted out now, and a new crop of hardy herbs will assure customers of a winter season full of fresh, organically grown herbs, fruits and vegetables, right on their doorstep.
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