David Courteau's rooftop garden
A rooftop garden...
Now this is amazing. Being rooftop farmers ourselves, we were insanely excited to find a kindred spirit in one of our subscribers, David Courteau, who set up his own rooftop garden this summer. We wanted to share his story.
David Courteau: urban gardener & Lufa Farms subscriber
In summer 2012, Courteau and his wife had to redo the roof of their house on on Papineau Avenue in Ahuntsic. They opted for a white EPDM roof, instead of a conventional roof that uses black paper and asphalt (which contributes to the heat island effect). In spring 2013, Courteau started growing seedlings in his basement. When the time came, he brought pots up to the roof and installed a water dripping system to turn it into a full-fledged urban garden. Courteau planted tomatoes, eggplants, peppers on his roof, which completmented the zucchini and tomatoes he was growing in his front yard.
I wanted to dig a little deeper into their approach and experience with rooftop garden. David's wife, Michelle-France, answered my questions.
What inspired you to build this rooftop garden?
David almost always had a vegetable garden on his mother's land in Ste-Thérèse-en-haut, but since she's in a nursing home it's no longer accessible. Last year, he did his best with the front of the house, but it wasn't big enough for him! So last summer, when came time to renovate our 30-year-old roof, we opted for a white roof (EPDM) that was more environmentally-friendly and perfect for planning an urban garden. This year, David was finally able to realize his project. His next dream? Cover the roof with a greenhouse like Mohamed's [Lufa Farms' founder and CEO], whose creativity and innovation we greatly admire!
What do you grow?
60% tomatoes [Italian varieties: Picus and San Marsano. Other varieties: Campbell, Tribune, and American Banana] that we use in our summer salads and also in sauces and soups during for rest of the year.
20% red peppers (Varieties: Mahi, Sweet Diablo, and Zsa Zsa)
20% eggplants (Varieties: Santana and Nadia)
What are you going to do with all these vegetables?
We eat most of them (especially the tomatoes, which we use for canning). We'll also share them with our daughter and her family and with our friends.
How inspiring! Are you a proud gardener? E-mail me your pictures at l.deschamps@lufa.com. Happy harvest!
If you're looking to start your own garden, we have Lufa Farms compost and a bunch of other local treasures (including our own rooftop-grown veggies) on the marketplace.
