A City Roof Garden for $9.00— By Jacolyn Manning, J2T. 



THE TRUE STORY OF A HOME ROOF GARDEN THAT HAS BEEN A SUCCESS FOR THREE 

 YEARS, TOGETHER WITH AN INDUCEMENT FOR OTHERS TO GO AND DO LIKEWISE 



[Editor's Note. — We oj er twenty-five and ten dollars for the best two roof-garden articles written as a result of reading this. They must be illustrated and by amateurs.] 



OUR roof garden, whose third summer 

 is now in the past, has been an all-the- 

 season joy. It has saved us from the fiery 

 furnace of the August sunshine. 



Our residence is a second-story flat in a 

 brick block. The front windows open on a 

 noisy, dusty thoroughfare. The most invi- 

 ting room in the flat is in the rear, crossing 

 its entire width, and opening by three large 

 windows on a tin roof, the extension to the 

 store below. 



This roof slopes slightly to the west. The 

 brick walls that surround it, have one break, 

 toward the sunset and the beautiful Chippewa 

 River. 



During the first summer the sun's rays 

 seemed to gather malevolent heat each suc- 

 ceeding hour of the afternoon, until the roof 

 quivered, and the atmosphere of the sitting 

 room became unendurable. 



The only palliative I found, was to flood 

 the roof with water at intervals, but the steam 

 from the hot tin merely gave us change in 

 discomforts. 



The following spring the deep windows 

 and roof were utilized early to start seedlings. 

 They grew like "Mister Finney's turnip," 

 and "did no harm" though it was a little 

 trouble to draw in or cover the boxes each 

 night. By the first of May there were twenty- 

 three flats filled with thrifty young annuals. 



We had consulted a roofer concerning 

 the next step. He said that a platform, on 

 proper stringers, could be covered with boxes 

 of earth and do no damage to the roof. 



This platform when made was 6 x 12 ft. 

 with uprights at the corners to which I 



nailed chicken wire for vines on three 

 sides. 



At the shoe store I found stout wood 

 cases of a uniform size, 4 x 2 x 1 \ ft. 



A local expressman agreed to fill these 

 boxes with good garden earth, for a small 

 sum; and becoming interested he was better 

 than his word for he hauled muck from a 

 nearby swamp, and adding sand and barn- 

 yard earth, mixed a compost which has 

 proved fertile. 



The boxes were placed one at each end of 

 the platform, and three along the distal 

 border. Boxes and platform were painted 

 dark green. 



Sweet peas and corn were planted along 

 the back row (having in mind a Greek peanut 

 vender who made himself a tolerably shady 

 and green retreat, on a barren and ugly 

 corner on Ogden Avenue Boulevard, Chicago, 

 by growing corn around his portable pop- 

 corn and peanut stand. To the credit of 

 the Douglas Park policeman, be it said, he 

 was left undisturbed in this pathetic sub- 

 stitute for the vine and fig tree of his native 

 land.) 



Impatient for immediate beauty, I 

 brought home budded clumps of marsh- 

 marigolds from the Trout Brook and filled 

 the right hand box. The sun brought out 

 the blossoms rapidly, and the box, kept 

 soaking wet, was a mass of gold and green 

 for three weeks. These were replaced by 

 well grown dwarf nasturtiums which main- 

 tained a succession of flowers in that box 

 till frost. 



The left-hand box was planted with cosmos 



A bare, unsightly place which radiated so much heat as to maKe the adjoining rooms unendurable 



340 



seedlings and morning glories which ran 

 a race for the top of the wire. The cos- 

 mos plants were thinned as they grew till 

 only three were left. Their last blossoms 

 were gathered in November, weeks after 

 frost cut down all the green of neighborhood 

 gardens. 



Sweet peas, pansies, mignonette, forget-me- 

 nots, all grew and blossomed freely, and were 

 gathered and loved. 



The most heated August afternoon wafted 

 a cool fragrance through the open windows, 

 and frequent rains lessened somewhat the 

 task of watering thoroughly each box every 

 day. 



When the harvest moon soared high, I 

 found my roof a garden of enchantment, and 

 left it reluctantly only when the light ceased 

 from silvering each shining leaf. 



Of course, the spring-grown annuals 

 exceeded our possible space, and were given 

 away by dozens to friends with "really" 

 gardens. 



I bought, for color, one salvia, two 

 scarlet geraniums and two scarlet verbenas: 

 explaining to the German florist, who insisted 

 on giving prices by the dozen, that only a few 

 for a roof-garden were needed. "Ha!" said 

 he, "a roof-garden. You are quite like 

 city folks! Well, there is one good, the dogs 

 will not walk over it." 



The second summer, a cucumber barrel, 

 and various boxes were added. "You never 

 come in without half a bushel of dirt!" was 

 a neighbor's comment on the basket filled 

 with leaf mold and fern roots that always 

 accompanied a return from the woods. 



An old iron sink waked up one morning 

 to find itself ennobled to the production of 

 mint. The sink proved itself superior to 

 the wooden cases, in that it does not leak 

 water nor earth, and the old drain is sufficient 

 to keep the ground sweet. 



The third summer (1905) we had one very 

 successful bed of china asters, raised from 

 seed and showing profuse, many-colored, 

 chrysanthemum-like blooms. 



The bird visitors were frequent. One of 

 the ever-present English sparrows was seen 

 one day despatching a wasp, from the colony 

 under the eaves. Robins listened vainly for 

 earth worms. Screeching, inquisitive jays, 

 with a lovely blue, lit up the wire now and 

 then. One humming bird has been seen 

 — by two witnesses — and the kingfishers fly 

 by, springing their rattle on their way to 

 the river. 



I have had periods of thinking our plant 

 opportunities very limited. The vines espe- 

 cially have never made the sturdy growth of 

 those rooted in old Mother Earth, yet they 

 have added shade, fragrance and beauty. 



I have grown and trained over the win- 

 dow frames with varying success, wild 

 cucumber, flowering beans, Chinese yam or 



