water conservation | Backyard Roots

You’d probably never believe Gary Rosenberg’s garden was on a roof top so I had to prove it with this photo of him climbing up a ladder to it. His Berkeley garden is so densely planted and lush that I was constantly checking my steps to make sure I didn’t walk off the edge. His house didn’t have a backyard and he wanted to make use of his large flat roof top so he began the rooftop garden back in 1994. First, he made sure the foundation was strong enough to support all the weight. Then he then stripped the old roof down to the structural elements and covered them with thick plywood. He topped it with two layers of modified torch-on, a rubber-like surface that is extremely waterproof and durable. But the mechanics of his garden is really not what it’s all about.

“I don’t teach gardening, I teach civil disobedience,” he explained, and there’s nothing that bothers him more than our wasteful consumer society. Almost all the containers, building materials, and even plants have been gleaned. He uses solar power, a composting toilet, and recycles the water used to for his plants into a very rich compost tea that he reuses on his plants. He also allows his plants to live their entire lifespans so he can collect the seed from successful plants so they can naturally adapt to the climate. He doesn’t see weeds as a problem, because they are biomass and natural carbon sinks that he eventually add to the compost. The way Gary sees it, if we could redirect the waste stream, improving society would naturally follow.

Collards are allowed to grow over several seasons, he picks leaves as he needs them.

Gary recycles the roof top runoff in barrels that makes a naturally rich compost tea.

Gary has planted over 20 fruit trees along the sidewalk of his Berkeley home.

Gary’s rooftop garden is barely visible from the street because of his densely planted sidewalk garden that contains over 20 fruit trees.

Two young girls collect water from rain barrels.

Ann Naffinger and Paul Canavese daisy chained 4 55-gallon barrels on the side of their Alameda home.

With drought and rising temperatures it makes sense to conserve water whenever you can. Installing a rain barrel or tank is an easy way to collect water for your garden that would otherwise just go down the drain. It doesn’t have to be expensive either. Using recycled food transport barrels are cheap and cities often offer inexpensive barrels for sale. Rainwater is also good for your plants (unless you live a place with very polluted air) because it doesn’t have cloramine, a disinfectant added to many municipal water that is not good for soil and plant health. While visiting urban farms up and down the coast I saw lots of examples of tanks and it seems the biggest obstacle for city yards is figuring out where to fit the barrel or tank. Here are some ideas.

Birgitt Evans put her tank under her deck in Alameda, California.

Kenya Spiegel and Seth Brown in Portland hooked up a tank to flush a toilet.

Catherine Burke in Seattle had plenty of room in her large Seattle backyard to set up this 1500 gallon tank.

Here's our 200 gallon tank in my San Francisco yard. We didn't have room to put it next the house so it's at the end of the side walkway.

Here’s the 200 gallon tank in our San Francisco yard. Because we only have a four foot wide walkway on the side of the house, we put it just past the walkway in the backyard.

Here is the way Barry made the round foundation for the barrel.

This shows the gutter with the shut off valve.

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Category Archives: water conservation

Gary Rosenberg’s Rooftop Farm

Rain Barrels