Strawberry Plants on the Breaking Ground Green Roof
Strawberries on the roof??? Wow, that takes me back to when I was a child growing up in Tampa, FL, and my family used to pile in the station wagon
Strawberry blossom
for a short trip over to the fields of Plant City to pick red, ripe, juicy strawberries growing fresh as far as the eye could see. I’m not sure if we put more in the cartons, or in our mouths, and we picked so many strawberries that we would clean them for hours at home and pack ‘em up in freezer bags to eat throughout the year. Ahhh, summer. That was one of my first experiences with the power of nature and what could be produced. I was reminded of this as I planted some of our very own strawberry plants on the roof here at Breaking Ground Contracting. I acquired these starter plants from Tim Armstrong (www.eatyouryardjax.com) who has also set us up with 1,000 red wigglers for our new worm composting bins, which I will detail in a separate blog post.
After almost a year into our green roof project, I am still amazed at the amount of things we can grow up here in this small space on an industrial roof in the middle of urban Jacksonville, FL. And then I am immediately reminded of why this roof is so important. Just think of all of the
A strawberry in the making
otherwise wasted spaces on the roofs of warehouses and offices that could serve to grow food for our employees and our community and create habitat for numerous species of insects, birds and other living creatures. Not to mention, continuing our outreach to the next generation exposes them to something they may not otherwise see…a roof that can be used to grow native plants, flowers, grasses and food!
We will look forward to seeing our strawberry blossoms become ripe, beautiful strawberries, grown on a roof, with no pesticides, and fertilized with WORM JUICE!!!! Stay tuned for that post!
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Video: Stonewall Jackson Elementary Students Plant for Winter on the Breaking Ground Green Roof >