URBAN GARDEN CONSTRUCTION

From the first floor, predominant structural element is wood: wooden beams and structural OSB wood boards, mixed with metallic pillars and metallic main beams. Cover is calculated to support overloading 800 kg/m2.

Over wooden beams structural OSB wooden boards have been put. Slopes have been made with isolation itself, in order to reduce weight; in this case it has been put 8 natural cork centimeters minimum. Cork is an excellent thermal isolation, has a good acoustic performance, is breathable, is rot-proof, resists insects and fungus attack, does not emit vapors and toxic particles, has a profound resistance to compression, is fireproof and has a good quality-price relation.

Under cork, in hot face, vapor barrier has been put in order to avoid interstitial condensations.

Waterproofing used is EPDM fabric, unbounded to base support and sewed up with a lateral clamping profile. EPDM, within the context of waterproofing fabrics is the best in terms of flexibility, resistance and durability, and allows potable water collection. Without a doubt whatsoever, it is the most ecological, compared with PVC o asphaltic fabrics. These fabrics are usually used in small and large reservoirs.

Waterproofing test was made, in order to check that cover did not lose water anywhere. This type of waterproof fabric union is vulcanized, like a cold solder, so when the necessary time has passed, the two parts works like only one. It is the same process that is made when a wheel bicycle is patched.

We start the green cover itself. Layers from down to up are:

1. Retainer blanket: absorbs water to keep humidity more time and save water. In addition it protects waterproofing.

2. Polyethylene drainage board: it restrains a water part and drains the rest, besides of providing protection to inferior layers.

3. Separator blanket: antiroots geotextile, to avoid roots go down below this layer. It also prevents land from going to a lower level.

The time to put substratum has arrived. In this case, a friend prepared a soil for me, where he mixed coconut fibers, peat moss, manure and pumice stone, in order to be light, fluffy, with enough nutrients and with retain water capacity.

We can start designing urban garden. Here we applied “Parades en crestall” system from Gaspar Caballero. It is about making 4 stops minimum with intermediate roads to walk.

In this system, cultivated soil is not footstep, that’s why there are tiles in the middle of every stop to put the foot if it is necessary. Manure or substratum is put in every stop. Flowers and aromatics plants are sowed between tiles to favor crops pollination. Assembling a self-winding watering system is also advisable, to reduce work. Exudative tube is the most recommended.

Then seeds or seedbeds are sowed in every stop depending on families we want to plant. Every stop has some assigned families and every year a rotation is made to avoid the same crop to stop over in the same stop in four years. In this way nutrients provided or removed by every crop are compensated.

And here we can see the result a few months after seeding: beans, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, lettuces, cucumbers, onions, beetroots… without removing any weeds and without using pesticide. Another element that an urban garden cannot lack is a compost bin, to compost daily fruit and vegetable rests and urban garden waste.

Here you can see diagram used, with stops, families that are in every stop and food classification depending on families. Also you can see crop rotation direction. Encourage yourself, it is really easy to do and gives really good results, virtually no maintenance.