Wild flower roof garden

annebaynes

My downstairs neighbour has installed a large shopping container in our joint yard to keep his tools, bikes etc in. We have decided to plant a wild flower garden on the container roof to improve my view. Any suggestions for how we do this ?

annebaynes

Sorry I meant Shipping container

wild edges

Two questions to start with: What part of the country are you in and what is the budget? Also what is the access like and how much maintenance are you happy to do? Ok that's four questions...

Edit: I knew I'd seen this done somewhere. The picture below was taken at the WWT Slimbridge reserve. They've got a shipping container as an information centre in their rain garden and they've planted the roof up with wildflowers and grasses. The black rectangles are the ends of timbers running across the roof and they bolt a capping peice on to hold that mesh in place. The timber runs front to back to hold the whole lot in place and as you can see the capping drops down over the lip to hold it tight at the sides. The mesh retains an edging of stone which is partly for drainage and stability but also for habitat for bugs. You could use reclaimed materials for a cheaper option though. Plant them up with succulent plants and you won't see them after a while anyway. I think there's also a small, shallow rain pond up there but don't quote me on that. It's a good thing to add though if you can. They've got rotten logs and all sorts up there for extra habitat.