Gardening - part 2 - Terrace garden

I always wanted to have a little garden area next to our family lounge... a place to relax tired eyes and escape to enjoy the fresh air, drizzles to drenching rains and the shining stars on clear nights. Here are few pics of our terrace garden taken during yesterday's rains in Bangalore....my beautiful dream turned into reality :-)

Before constructing our house, I had few requirements in mind for our terrace garden:
- A Rock garden with water fountain for a surreal appeal
- Plants that require less maintenance and water
- Tiles that give a natural look... especially black flooring (settled with Cuddapah black limestone)
- Big pots on the wall to keep the floor area clean and empty, which will, at the same time, retain the feel of greenery
- Open ceiling to see the stars
- Small pergola to hide from the heavy rains and hot sun, and enjoy a cup of coffee or a cold drink under its shade
- A Windchime for that pleasant feel
- Hanging lights for nice chats at night
- Water lilies to provide ambience
- Couple of traditional rope cots to relax under the night sky (the only pending item :-))
- Wooden sofa or wooden chairs with coffee table

Before jumping into making of my terrace garden, few pics of the blooming flowers....

Now coming to the creation of the terrace garden....:-)

A lot has gone into planning....I still remember those sleepless nights...drawing designs in my dreams... going back and forth with design changes to the architect.... deciding on the right elements... visiting plenty of shops to procure the right and reasonable material...etc..etc..

Each step executed as per the plan in mind and on paper:

Step 1: As it is a terrace garden, extra caution has been taken to prevent water leakage. The entire floor has been water proofed twice to prevent ingress of water.

Step 2: After the design was finalized, a granite stone hedge was made for the rock garden.

Step 3:Tile work for the rest of the area was completed using Cuddapah black limestone....my #1 choice :-)

Step 4: Metal Fabrication work was done to hold the big pots on both the sides of the parapet wall and also for the Pergola. After that, glass work was completed for the pergola roof.

Step 5: I was very picky regarding the colour of the pots...I wanted  them to be of black and white texture. We almost finalized purchasing fibre pots in the Lalbagh nursery mela of Bangalore. But we were not sure about their durability in a terrace garden. So, we decided to go with concrete pots...but big question....how about black and white texture? Do I need to settle with terracotta or natural concrete coloured pots?

I was a bit frustrated on the way back home, but a glance at the beautiful decorative pieces near JD Mara bus stop captured my eyes. I had a long conversation with the street side sellers and convinced them to do this color texture for me.. it costed a bit more than expected, but I was happy to get what I wanted :-).

Step 6: With almost all the prerequisites complete for the terrace garden, we took the help of an experienced gardener to buy the right kinds of plants that require less water and minimal maintenance. Spent more than two days roaming on the streets of Lalbgh Siddapur area. After the plants landed at home, the garden work started in a couple of days.

Step 7: A layer of jelly(crushed stone) was laid first and then a portable water fountain which we got from Pune was placed.

Step 8: After that, the gardener laid red soil and natural rocks. We had a hard time finding those rocks :-(. With a tip from our neighbours, we got some from nearby Jigani quarries. I still remember the pain we had gone though to find the rocks and then load and unload them to make them reach their destination.

Step 9: With the plants making their way into the rock garden, I could see my dreams taking shape....some of the beautiful moments of constructing a house.

Step 10: After the terrace garden work was complete, the next item in the list was to enjoy it :-). We visited many places in Bangalore to find out the right garden chairs, but finally settled with a design from Bombay. We ordered them from a vendor and got them delivered in a week.

Step 11: The last and the most important step was the LIGHTS ...HANGING LIGHTS :-). Gosh...only God knows how many shops we stepped in to find the right choice. After almost two weeks of rigorous search, we finalized them from a shop in the BVK Iyengar street of Bangalore. And here is our garden with windchimes dancing to the rhythms of the wind and making us aware of its presence... 

 

This is the story of our Terrace garden....lots of lessons learnt through its making :-)