Terrace Gardening: A Step-by-Step Complete Guide for 2025
Terrace gardening is simply gardening on terraces, or rooftops, or balconies. Nowadays, terrace gardening is gaining popularity in urban areas as well as rural areas, because a terrace garden can transform unused rooftops and balconies into a productive green garden. In this blog, we will learn about terrace gardening, the benefits of gardening, what plants we should plant, and how to plant and take care of them.
Understanding Terrace Gardening
What Is Terrace Gardening?
A terrace garden is growing various plants and vegetables on your rooftop and balconies. For plating on rooftops, we can use containers [plastic pots, ceramic pots], growbags [plastic, geobags], raised beds, and now hydroponics is getting popular in 2025 for growing vegetables in small places
plants we can grow on terraces-
- Flowering plants
- Fruit plants
- vegetables
- dwarf tree
- decorative plants, and various others.
How Terrace Gardening Works
A terrace garden is designed to grow various plants and vegetables safely and sustainably. So, it needs planning for maintaining the roof’s strength, managing water, and growing plants successfully.
How plants are grown –
- For rooftop gardening, both soil-based [in pots, planters, or beds] and soilless [hydroponics] systems can be used according to available space and budget.
- For soil-based gardening, we can use a lightweight mixture of garden soil, cocopeat, perlite, and compost.
- For soilless gardening, we use a hydroponic system. In hydroponics, we grow plants in water enriched with nutrients and balanced fertilizers.
Drainage and Waterproffing –
- Waterproofing – It is the first and most important step, which is sealing the roof with materials such as PVC sheets, EPDM rubber, or liquid coatings to protect the roof from water. so that the strength of the roof can be maintained and the damage to the building can be minimized.
- Drainage – After proper waterproofing, there should be proper drainage to drain excess water from planters towards the roof drains. A proper drainage system mainly helps to minimize roof damage from water.
Benefits of Terrace Gardening in 2025
Environmental Benefits
terrace garden plays an important role in making our house cooler, cleaner, and aesthetic through-
Pollution reduction –
- The leaves, flowers, and plants in the terrace garden act as a natural air filter by trapping various pollutants and dust.
- Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis.
- Growing some foods and vegetables in our terrace garden indirectly reduces pollution from delivery vehicles.
Heat reduction –
- Gardens on the rooftop and balconies give a cooling effect through a plant process known as transpiration, where plants release moisture into the environment.
- They absorb sunlight and provide shade.
- Plants in the terrace garden can lower the indoor temperature [average – 0.4°C].
Health and Lifestyle Benefits
Terrace gardening can improve mental well-being and supply organic, chemical-free food.
Mental health–
- Various gardening activities, such as caring for plants and watching them grow, can relax the mind, reduce stress, and anxiety.
- Working with soil and plants can improve focus.
- Finally, seeing flowering and fruiting from your own plants gives you mental peace and confidence.
Provide Organic and chemical-free food –
- You can grow your own fruits, vegetables, and herbs on your own rooftop through organic methods [ not applying chemical fertilizers and pesticides].
- Homegrown foods are more nutritious and fresh.
Pro tip – Gardening daily, even for 10 – 15 minutes, can improve mood and reduce stress levels.
Economic and Aesthetic Advantages
Terrace gardening has various Economic and aesthetic value, such as –
Property value – A beautiful and well-maintained terrace garden can improve your property value, as in cities, we don’t often see lush green spaces. So, a nice terrace garden can make your property attractive to buyers.
Reduce grocery bill – Harvesting nutritious foods and vegetables can reduce your grocery bill, depending on how well you maintain your garden.
Home aesthetics – rooftop gardens give a beautiful, lush green look, and colorful flowers and plants can make the home beautiful and fresh.
How to Start Terrace Gardening at Home
Step-by-Step Setup Guide
Step 1 – Terrace Preparation
Proper rooftop preparation is important for a healthy gardening environment. It includes rooftop cleaning, proper waterproofing, and a good drainage system.
- Rooftop cleaning – It includes removing excess furniture, cleaning debris, and dust. Then clean it with water and let it dry completely before proceeding to the next step.
- waterproofing – After the proper surface cleaning, inspect the rooftop for any cracks or damage and repair them. Then apply some waterproofing methods.
- Drainage system – After the waterproofing, inspect your place and plan the garden in such a way that there is a good drainage system for draining excess water.
Step 2 – Planning Your Garden Layout
Garden layout planning involves – pot placement, seating area, and walking paths, such that the garden gives an aesthetically pleasing view.
examining your location or place –
- Measure the length and breadth.
- Identify areas in your terrace fully exposed to the sun, partially exposed, or shaded throughout the day.
Design your garden –
- Place the pots and planters according to the sunlight requirements of the plant.
- plan sitting areas in a comfortable place.
- Walking paths should be wide enough for movement.
- For small terraces, you can consider vertical gardening or hanging pots.
- Use a lightweight container such that the rooftop or balcony won’t be damaged.
- Place longer plants in such a way that they won’t shade smaller plants.
Step 3 – Selecting Containers and Soil
Selecting the right type of container and making a good soil mix for healthy and durable gardening.
There are various types of containers, like plastic pots, clay pots, grow bags, etc. Their comparison are given below-
Selecting Containers –
| Container Type | Features | Best Use |
|---|---|---|
| Clay Pots | Durable, breathable, heavy, naturally beautiful, allows air to the roots. | Herbs, drought-tolerant plants |
| Plastic Planters | Lightweight, affordable, durable, and can degrade in strong sun | General use, lightweight use, and beginners. |
| Grow Bags | Breathable fabric, lightweight, flexible, promotes healthy root growth, easy to store | Vegetables like potatoes, carrots |
| Vertical Planters | Space-saving, grows plants upwards, adds visual interest | Herbs, flowers, and small vegetables |
Soil mix –
A good and healthy soil mix can vary according to plant, but for general use, it should be lightweight, fertile, contain nutrients, and retain moisture, but not store water.
components of soil mix –
- Garden soil – General soil available in your area, or you can buy soil in the nearest nurseries or from online sellers. [You can use sand according to your soil texture.]
- Compost – It provides essential nutrients and increases soil fertility.
- cocopeat – Lightweight component, retains moisture, improves air circulation.
Step 4 – Choosing the Right Plants
You should choose the right plant according to your available space and resources [sunlight, shade]. A comparison between various types of plants according to their need is given below –
| Plant Type | Sunlight Needs | Maintenance Level |
|---|---|---|
| Herbs – Basil, Mint, Coriander, Rosemary. | Full sun to partial sun (4-6 hrs) | Low to medium |
| Vegetables –Tomato, Chili, Spinach, Carrot. | Mostly full sun (6-8 hrs) | Medium to high |
| Decorative Plants –Marigold, Petunia, Bougainvillea. | Varies widely: sun-loving [bougainvillea] need full sun (6+ hrs), shade-tolerant[succulent] need 2-4 hrs | Low to medium |
Step 5 – Watering and Maintenance
Watering and maintenance for a terrace garden can be managed by a drip irrigation system or by following a manual watering schedule based on need and your observations.
Watering-
- Drip irrigation delivers water to the roots, reducing water wastage.
- Maintain the drip irrigation system regularly to prevent clogging.
- For manual watering, water plants in the early morning or evening so that plants can absorb more water.
- Assess soil moisture before watering to prevent overwatering, which can harm your plant.
- Group your plants according to watering needs for easy and efficient watering.
- Mulch the plants to reduce evaporation during the day.
Maintenance –
Maintenance of plants includes pest monitoring, assessing plant health, and determining watering needs.
- Regular inspection of pests and diseases.
- Avoid using chemical pesticides. Instead, you can use neem oil to repel pests.
- Remove affected leaves or plant parts to reduce disease spreading.
- Try to understand the watering needs of plants by observing their symptoms.
- Maintain plant health through proper watering and fertilization.
Best Plants for Terrace Gardening
Best Vegetables and Fruits Plants for Terrace Garden –
Ideal vegetables and fruits that grow well in terrace conditions are-
Vegetables–
- Tomatoes
- Spinach
- Chillies
- Carrot
- Coriander
- Onion
- Capsicum
- cabbage etc.
Fruits –
- Strawberries
- Guava
- Lemon
- Mango
- Pomegranate
- Sapodilla, etc.
Herbs for Terrace Garden
Some low-maintenance herbs for everyday use are given below-
- Mint
- Basil
- Coriander
- Origano, etc.
Best Flowering and Decorative Plants for Terrace Garden-
Flowering and Decorative plants –
- Marigold
- China Rose
- Rose
- Bougainvillea
- Petunia
- Ixora
- Dahlias
- Jasmine, etc.
