Terrace and Rooftop Vegetable Farming in Chandigarh

We plant the main vegetable rounds from October, once the summer heat has broken, since winter is the strongest vegetable season in this region for crops like spinach, methi, coriander, radish and peas. Raised beds hold their moisture better than the ground during this season, so watering can drop to every second or third day once the weather cools.

From April to June, when temperatures can cross 45°C, we shift the beds to heat-tolerant crops and raise the watering frequency, and shade netting over part of the bed keeps roots from cooking in the afternoon sun on an exposed roof.

Managing the roof through monsoon and frost

The monsoon between July and September needs strong bed drainage, since a waterlogged raised bed on a roof rots roots within days, and December-January frost can damage tender crops left uncovered overnight, so we plan the crop list and any row cover around both risks rather than around the summer growing window alone.

Pests and compost on a rooftop bed

Leaf-eating caterpillars are the most common pest we see on rooftop vegetable beds here during the July-September monsoon, when humidity and fresh leaf growth both peak at once, and we check the underside of leaves on every visit in that window rather than waiting for visible damage to spread.

We feed the beds with compost rather than relying on synthetic fertiliser alone, since a raised bed loses nutrients to drainage faster than ground soil does, and a bed topped up with compost before the winter growing season holds its fertility better through the following summer heat.