Angela Lambert
9th May 2013 

Why you must feed your green roof

A sedum green roof in need of a feed

There is no such thing as a no-maintenance green roof.  However, if the plants are kept in good health and have been selected for their suitability to the micro-climate on the roof, the maintenance regime will be simple and speedy.

Viewed from above, a green roof may look like a flower bed or a lawn but in actual fact, it’s a great big container garden.  Just like a plant pot, the growing medium has a finite depth and roots can neither go deeper into the subsoil or spread laterally to find water and nutrients.  The only source of nourishment is what is contained within the growing medium, and, because of the nature of green roof substrates, this stock of nutrients could very well be used up within the first year of being planted.

Just like people, plants need the right balance of nutrients for optimum health, strong growth, good looks and successful reproduction.   If there are too few nutrients in the soil, plants will not thrive, they’ll look sickly for a while before dying and ultimately, they won’t generate the benefits that we associate with green roofing. >more on green roof benefits

The solution is to make a date in your diary, every spring without fail, to feed your green roof.   Spring time is when the plants are at their hungriest and the soil nutrients are at the lowest levels. 

sedum roof after feeding

What nutrients do green roof plants need?

For best results, use a slow release feed that is specially formulated for green roofs.   Slow release means you won’t need to apply it more than once or twice during the growing season.   

The feed should be relatively low in Nitrogen (7 or 8 percent is plenty) because you don’t want lots of lush, sappy growth that is susceptible to damage by high winds or late frosts. 

Make sure there is plenty of Phosphorus and Potassium (P and K) to build strong root systems and support flowering; and look for a good range of trace elements, the equivalent of vitamins and minerals. 

A granular feed is definitely easiest to lift on to the roof and apply.

A good choice of green roof feed is Enviromat Natural Green Roof Feed.   It’s available to buy online and comes in easily carried 2.2Kg buckets.

It’s also used by Kevin D, who manages Enviromat’s green roof maintenance service and he thoroughly recommends it for easy application and reliable results.

Components of a sedum green roof

A sedum green roof is a build-up of component layers that sit on top of a conventional roof surface. The layers work in partnership with each other to provide a whole host of benefits for the building, its occupier and the environment.

Protecting the waterproofing 

On a green roof shed, the first layer of the green roof system (the one that sits closest to the waterproofing) is normally a sheet of strong polythene or butyl pond liner.  This layer ensures that plant roots cannot damage the waterproof layer. It also gives protection from boots, dropped tools and other hazards associated with building work or DIY.

A quick tip here from David Fisher, one of our most experienced green roof installers; polythene can be slippery to work on, which is not ideal when working on a roof.  If you douse the poly with water before starting to install the next layer, you'll find it much easier to get a good grip on the surface.

Green roof drainage layer

On a flat roof - that is to say one with a slope of 3 degrees or less - the next layer needs to be a drainage mat to make sure that excess rainwater is channelled swiftly away from the plants' roots.  Sedum plants are particularly well adapted to living in dry soils and they simply cannot cope with soggy soil. The drainage layer helps keep them comfortable and it also has a bonus function; few plant species other than Sedums, saxifrages and sempervivums can survive for long in shallow soils unless they have a really good water supply. The drainage layer on an extensive sedum roof actually helps prevent weed infestations by 'droughting out ' most of the impostors that manage to germinate in the inhospitable rooftop conditions.

On a pitched roof there is no need for drainage mat- rainwater will run off naturally.

Water retention fleece

Before installing your sedum matting, you must spread out a layer of water retention fleece.  This is a lightweight blanket that can absorb up to 9 litres of water per square metre. It ensures that the plants will have enough water available to see them through the average UK summer.

Sedum matting

The sedum matting sits on top of the water retention fleece.  An edging of your choice will ensure that everything stays in place and there you have it………a living sedum green roof. 

Click here for your free sedum roof installation guide

Sedum mat  to feature in Stevenage Show Garden

ARCH Community Group will be using Enviromat sedum matting for a show garden at the Letchworth Food Festival on 18^th and 19^th May 2013 and at Stevenage Day on Sunday 9^th June 2013.

The group's mission is encourage the people in Stevenage, Letchworth, Hitchin and surrounding villages “To make the towns we live in a pleasant place to live. To get everyone young and old, able and less able into the garden and to make the most of the environment we live in” ; 

The show garden, designed by Maxine Tricker of Max Your Garden will demonstrate how Enviromat can be used as low maintenance ground cover.   In this case, as a pond surround, but of course, Maxine has used sedum matting in several of her designs and is a great advocate of pollinator-friendly planting.

To find out more about using sedums as groundcover, download this guide from the growers of Enviromat sedum matting.

Green roof design: choosing the right plants

Any experienced gardener will tell you that if you want to grow plants cheaply and easily without making yourself a whole lot of work, make sure you match the plants’ needs to the conditions you are planting it in.

A deep rooted plant won’t survive in shallow soils without irrigation and supplementary feeding; a sun loving shrub will languish and die in the shade, a tender exotic will struggle to survive a winter similar to the one the UK has just had.

When designing a green roof, the ‘right plant right place’ rule takes on a new level of importance.

In broad terms there are four types of plant that are candidates for establishing on to green roofs.  Trees and shrubs are totally unsuitable for all but the most complicated living roofs – so they’re not being considered in this blogpost.

Annual Plants

An annual plant germinates from seed, grows to maturity, flowers and sets seed all in one year.  Good examples of UK native annuals are cornflowers, field poppies, chickweed and corn marigold.  As colourful and pollinator friendly as these plants are, they’re not ideal as the dominant choice of vegetation on and extensive green roof.  But by all means sow some seeds every spring to add extra colour and interest to the roof but consider them as a supplement to the evergreen planting that will keep the roof functioning through the winter.

Annual plants are not often seen at all between November and april and they either seed themselves a bit too vigorously – so they produce a thick, disease prone covering in year 2 – or the seeds fail to germinate and the roof is vulnerable to invasion by less desirable plant species.

Herbaceous Perennials

Herbaceous perennials are typically found in formal planting schemes or in cottage gardens.  This is my favourite group of plants but I would be very wary indeed of using them in a green roof planting scheme.  In general, these plants like humous rich soils and access to plenty of water and nutrients.  Most have luxurious, sappy growth that would suffer terrible damage in the extreme temperatures and windy conditions on a roof.  Another disadvantage is that they tend not to be evergreen and so would contribute very little towards insulating the building in the winter time.

Herbs

Next we have the herbs.  Some herbs such as thyme, oregano, sage and chives will thrive very nicely under green roof conditions and would offer a great source of pollen, nectar and shelter for minibeasts.  There is a chance that over time the plants will become overgrown and woody, in which case they will need pruning or replacing from time to time.  If you include these plants in your green roof design, be sure to factor in some extra money for ongoing maintenance.

Hardy Succulents

Hardy succulents are the UK’s number one choice for green roofs and with good reason. Sempervivums and Sedums are well suited to rooftop microclimates.  They only need a shallow layer of growing medium and therefore impose less loading on the building.  Their needs are simple; a light feed in spring, plenty of sunshine and a very – and I mean VERY – occasional watering should the UK experience a lengthy drought.  Perfect.

Sedum Matting

Sedum matting is the green roofer’s easiest option.   The plants are already growing and give good coverage from the outset.  Species have been chosen to give a long flowering period, good frost hardiness and all year round foliage.   Plus:  sedum matting is a doddle to install on to a green roof.

More about sedum matting

How to put a green roof on your shed using sedum matting

Using sedum mat to hide a pond liner.

Sedum mat is most often associated with green roofing, but it also makes a fabulous edging for a pond.

The edge of a pond liner or the “lip” around a preformed pond can look quite unsightly, especially if you are trying to create a natural looking water feature.

At the 2013 Letchworth Food and Garden Show, Maxine Tricker designed a show garden using a preformed pond disguised with Enviromat sedum matting.  For this project, she was ably assisted by Noodles, the inquisitive Hungarian Puli.

Noodles checks the quality of the sedum mat.  She's  particularly impressed by the texture.

Maxine cuts the sedum matting to size before constructing the show garden

Newly installed sedum matting around a pond.  This will grow and flower through the summer

Download Enviromat's  free guide to using sedum matting as ground cover

Turfland and Q Lawns new 36 page Product Guide is now available. The A4 brochure covers the complete range of Turfland and Q Lawns products as well as featuring installation and aftercare information. 

As well as three grades of turf we supply MeadowMat Wildflower Matting, Enviromat Sedum Mat for living roofs, EcoGreen reinforced turf, soil, compost and bark as well as a number of associated products. Everything you need to know is here. To order a copy please phone or email, alternatively you can click on the image below download a PDF version here.

Green roofs aid water and biodiversity

May 22nd is The International Day for Biological Diversity and in 2013, the theme, which has been chosen to coincide with the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation, is Water and Biodiversity.

Water is of course essential to life.  Not just for drinking but for food production (crops, meat, fish), sanitation, manufacturing and economic wellbeing. 

Water often features in the UK News.   From floods to hosepipe bans, loss of water quality in our rivers and streams and the ever increasing costs of providing households with drinking water, it seems as though us Brits need to think harder about how we look manage our rainwater.

Biodiversity – in particular plantlife – is Nature’s own way of managing rainwater.  In a world that is unhindered by human activity, water falls from the sky, some is filtered through soil layers, and trickles into waterways; some it evaporates and is returned to the atmosphere.  On the way it is used by plants, plants are eaten by animals, animals return nutrients to the soil and the circle of life continues.

When humans get involved, we lay down roads, construct buildings, put in sewerage systems and completely disrupt natural systems.

Green roofs counteract this disruption to a certain extent by allowing plants to exist in harmony with construction.   A green roof, collects rainwater, and through the plant system of evapotranspiration, allows most of it to evaporate back into the air rather than being directed into sewers.  Excess rainwater is filtered through the growing medium and can be collected and used as grey water or it can be sent into SUD’s (Sustainable urban drainage systems) where it benefits wildlife.

By adding a green roof to your garden shed, you will be doing your bit for biodiversity by helping to manage rainwater and by providing food and shelter for the minibeasts that are vitally important in the food chain.

National Barbecue Week is from 27th May until 2nd June 2013.  Everyone at Meadowmat loves a good Barbecue and so we've got together to bring you our favourite BBQ recipes using our favourite ingredient - honey.  

Barbecued Spareribs

From Amy Hilsdon

About 1.8Kg (4lb) Pork Spareribs

Salt and pepper

100g (4 oz) clear honey

60ml (4 tbsp) dark soft brown sugar

60ml (4 tbsp) tomato ketchup

30ml (2 tbsp) Worcestershire sauce

30ml (2 tbsp) prepared English mustard

30ml (2 tbsp) red wine vinegar

1. 1.       Place the ribs in a single layer in 2 roasting tins and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast at 190 oC (375 F) mark 5 for 30 minutes
2. 2.       Meanwhile, put the remaining ingredients in a jug and stir well until mixed together.
3. 3.       Pour the sauce into the tins and turn the ribs until well coated.  Return to the oven and roast for a further 1-1 1/4 hours, until the meat is tender and the sauce syrupy.  Turn the ribs in the sauce several times during cooking and swap oer the shelf positions of the 2 roasting tins, if necessary, to ensure that the ribs cook through evenly.
4. 4.       Serve hot, with the sauce poured over the ribs

Accompany with plain boiled rice and a dish of mixed stir-fried vegetables such as thinly sliced carrots, shredded leeks and baby sweetcorn.

The deliciousness in this recipe is mostly down to pollinating insects, especially bees. The tomato (in the ketchup) and mustard plants would have been pollinated by insects and the honey is 100% attributable to bees and so it's important that we continue to support our stripey friends.  Maybe install a green roof or plant some wild flowers to help them along.

In the meantime, you might like to cook up Chantall's recipe for Honey Roast Plums as a really nice dessert to follow your spare ribs.

Black Redstarts on Green Roof at Olympics Site

Great news! Black Redstarts, an endangered bird species have chosen the largest green roof at the London Olympic Site to start a family.  

The Black Redstart is one of our rarest birds.  It’s on the amber list of Birds of Conservation Concern and its thought that there are fewer than 100 breeding pairs in the country.

In terms of habitat, this is quite a fussy creature.  It likes to live in towns and cities where the tall buildings resemble the cliffs and gorges that are their natural habitat in continental Europe.  These birds favour places with lots of nooks and crannies for nesting and with high points where they can sit and sing.

Photo: newswatch.nationalgeographic.com

Food wise, stony ground for foraging on is the order of the day and a stretch of river where insects abound is also useful. 

Some of the green roofs in London, particularly on the Olympic site have been designed to provide black restarts (as well as other species of insects, birds and plants)  with exactly what they need – and it’s worked.

Hats off to the designer who have proved that Green roofs are great for biodiversity.

>more about green roofs and wildlife

Honey bees simply adore sedums.  The star-shaped flowers have easily accessible nectar that the bees can gather and take back to their hives to make honey.

We all love honey and so for National BBQ Week between 27th May and 2nd June 2013, the team at Enviromat are sharing their favourite recipes for the sweet stuff.

Honey Syllabub

A lovely rich dessert that is very easy to prepare.  Serve with home baked biscuits or unfilled brandy snaps.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons clear honey

2 tablespoons dry sherry

2 tablespoons brandy

1 tablespoon fresh orange or lemon juice

Grated rind of 1 orange or lemon

300ml double cream

Mix the honey with the sherry, brandy and orange or lemon juice in a bowl.

Stir in the orange or lemon rind and the cream. 

Whisk until the mixture becomes thick and light,

Spoon it into tall glasses and chill the syllabub thoroughly before serving.

This would be a great follow on to our BBQ spare ribs with honey.

If you would like to help support honey bees, why not think about putting a green roof on your shed? 

Manchester Green Roof Targets Black Redstarts

Manchester City Council’s town hall extension has a 500 square metre sedum roof with a small foraging area to attract Black Redstarts.

The black redstart is a small songbird, about the size of a robin, who likes to live on brownfield sites that are reminiscent of the steep gorges it inhabits in Scandinavia.  Sadly there are less than 100 breeding pairs of redstart in the UK, mainly in London and Birmingham.

Green roofs attract and support a wide variety of wildlife, including spiders, insects and minibeasts, and they are a great source of pollen and nectar for butterflies and bees.

Manchester has 11 on-going commercial green roof projects in the city all to benefit wildlife and help reduce the urban heat island effect.

All about sedum green roofs

A sedum roof is one type of living green roof. 

A green roof is a layer of vegetation (living plants) deliberately put on top of a conventional roof surface and bringing a whole host of benefits to the building and the environment.  On a sedum roof, the majority of the plants are low growing succulents from the sedum, or stonecrop, family.

A newly installed sedum roof

Why choose sedums for a green roof?

The wonderful thing about using sedums on green roofs is that they are very shallow rooted and therefore don’t need an awful lot of growing medium.  In fact the word “sedum” comes from the latin word “sedeo” which means “to sit”, because it seems as though sedum plants are just sitting on top of the thin, rocky soils that they naturally grow in.  The romans knew Sedum acre as “wall pepper” because it grows on walls and has a bitter, peppery taste.

Why don’t we want a lot of growing medium on a roof?  Well, for one, the deeper the growing medium, the more weight is added to the roof and secondly – it’s a logistical nightmare to be lifting bags of substrate up on to a roof.

The other wonderful thing about sedums is that they are drought tolerant.  Most roofs are difficult to access and so it’s not practical to climb up there two or three times a week to water the plants and do a bit of pruning and weeding.  A sedum green roof is reasonably low maintenance.  It doesn’t need watering, deadheading or mowing.  All it wants is to be fed once a year, have stubborn weeds pulled out and the surrounding gutters and drainage outlets kept nice and clear.  Simple.

sedum roof in flower; June 2012

Establishing a sedum roof

There are various ways of establishing a sedum roof; hydro-seeding, plug planting, cuttings or sedum matting.  Of all four methods, sedum matting is by far the quickest and easiest and it will give instant results.

Enviromat sedum matting has a really good mix of sedum species so as to provide colour and interest all year round, it is also the only UK grown sedum matting with a reinforcing mesh woven into the growing medium to keep substrate and plants from being displaced by heavy rain or mechanical damage.

Enviromat is used in conjunction with specially engineered, lightweight drainage mat and water retention fleece in a proven green roof system.

Scroll down to watch a video of an Enviromat sedum roof being installed or

Download our green roof installation guide

National Shed Week Finalists are Announced    

I’m very pleased to see that amongst the finalists for the 2013 Shed of the Year competition are at least two sheds with green roofs.

Syd’s Stencil Shed in Malmsbury, Wiltshire boasts a green roof with sedums and grasses.  Apparently Mrs Stencil Shed was adamant that no planting space was to be lost when the shed was built.   In that case, a green roof was the only logical solution.

The Eco Hoose Bike Shed in Camden has a wild flower roof.  The owner, Marcus Shields wanted to avoid looking out of his house window on to an ugly shed roof and so he has planted sedums, wild flowers and spring bulbs on top of his home made shed roof.

The winner of the Shed of the Year Competition will be announced on 4^th July 2013.  Fingers crossed it will be one of the green roofers.

In the meantime, if you would like to see how easy it is to add a green roof on to a shed.  Watch our video.

Colin Brown's green roof shed in Norfolk.

What a shame he didn't get around to entering it in the 2013 shed of the year competition

Enviromat sedum matting creates a lovely topping on this recycled shed. Pictured June 2013

The same shed in July 2012.  See how 2013's late spring hasdelayed flowering

close up of the texture of the sedum matting used to create this shed roof

sedum matting flowering on a different roof.  this picture was taken in mid summer.

If you would like to know how to fit a sedum roof onto your own garden shed, download our free green roof installation guide.

Download installation guide now

Why sedum plants are so drought tolerant

One of the reasons that sedums are used for green roofing is that they are incredibly drought tolerant.   A sedum roof will need the bare minimum of irrigation and even then, only in extremely dry conditions.

Sedum plants have evolved to live in exposed conditions where soil is very well drained and sun and wind dry everything out very quickly and so, over the centuries, they have developed some inbuilt coping mechanisms.

1.  They store water in their leaves and stems.  One of the characteristics of sedum plants is that they have really fleshy leaves – as do their close relations the aloe vera plant and the pineapple. The plant cells are like little tiny water bombs, stowing H2O to use when rainfall and ground water are in short supply.
2. They have a waxy covering on the leaves – a bit like a sealant to try to stop water evaporating from the surface of the leaf and to protect it from wind damage.
3. They are CAM plants.  CAM is a super special mechanism unique to this plant family that helps prevent water loss and it’s really rather clever:

 CAM and Photosynthesis

All green plants use a process called photosynthesis to harness energy from the sun and turn it into carbohydrates that they can use for life processes.   Photosynthesis involves the plant absorbing carbon dioxide through little holes in its leaves called stomata.  Sunlight then powers a chemical reaction to combine carbon dioxide with water to make sugar.  The waste product is oxygen – which we can breathe in.

Photosynthesis can only happen during the day because it needs sunlight.  But, if a plant opens its stomata during the day it risks losing water through evaporation.  That’s why so many non-CAM plants wilt on hot days.

Sedum plants have managed to overcome this problem by keeping their stomata tightly closed during the day and only opening them at night time when there is a reduced risk of losing water.  The carbon dioxide they need to photosynthesise the next day is drawn in and then, because it’s not easy to store a gas, the CO2 is converted into a liquid called malic acid.  Next day, malic acid is converted back into CO2 and used to produce sugar.

Sedums, and other plants from the Crassulaceae family are the only plants to use CAM or Crassulacean Acidic Metabolism and that’s why they have superior drought tolerance.   Incidentally, it also makes the leaves taste AWFUL.  The Roman name for Sedum Acre is “wall pepper” because it will happily grow on walls where there is no soil and it tastes very bitter indeed.

Learn more about Sedum plants

drought tolerant sedum plants are ideal for a green roof

For those awaiting an opportunity to get out into the garden and lay some new lawn turf this weekend was very welcome and produced the warmest day of the year so far for many parts of the UK. Temperatures peaked in the high twenties across most of England and Wales although conditions were a little cooler and cloudier in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

So how long is this fine weather expected to last?. Well the good news is that the rest of this week is expected to be dry, warm and sunny for most. Monday and Tuesday have been glorious with the highest temperatures found across central and southwestern parts. It will cool off slightly by the middle of the week with Scotland due cloud and patchy rain as the week progresses.

The rest of Britain should remain fine and dry with plenty of sunshine and rising temperatures.

The great news is that the good weather should continue beyond that with settled weather everywhere but northwest Scotland. This could easily continue until the start of August. so the aren't any excuses for not getting out into the garden and doing all those jobs you've been putting off.

Sedum Flowers in July

During hot dry weather, many traditional garden plants can wilt and wither, but drought tolerant sedums will defy the dry and carry on blooming providing pollen and nectar for bees and butterflies.

These pictures were taken on the Enviromat sedum matting production field in early July 2013.  Look closely and you'll find several different species of bee enjoying the blooms.

Sedum spurium, Sedum kamtschaticum and Sedum sexangulare side by side in Enviromat sedum matting

A buff-tailed bumble bee makes the most of these nectar rich flowers

Sedum album and Sedum sexangulare look good together

Sedum album flowers as far as the eye can see

Enviromat sedum matting is grown in Norfolk UK and makes great low maintenance groundcover that is particularly bee-friendly.  It's also rather good for creating a living green roof on a shed or garden building.   

Find out more about Enviromat Sedum Matting

In view of the extremely warm weather we are currently enjoying, and the forecast of more to come, the Turfgrass Growers Association has issued a press release to re-enforce its “Brown Lawns are Cool” message. 

 The Turfgrass Growers Association, whose members produce more than 70% of the turf grown in the British Isles, says that during hot weather, the watering of established lawns is, in most situations, wasteful and unnecessary. 

“Our message to homeowners is not to worry if your lawn goes brown during the summer”, says its Chief Executive, Tim Mudge. “Going brown is the natural survival mechanism of grass. When water is in short supply grass responds by shutting down. The brown colour shows that it has stopped growing until more favourable conditions return. Grass is remarkably resilient, and as long as you follow a few basic rules, most lawns will recover completely when the rain finally arrives.”You

1. You can increase your mowing height to 35-40mm which creates deeper roots and more shade and shelter from higher temperatures.
2. Try not to concentrate wear in one place by moving barbeques and toys like slides around your lawn.
3. The is no need to feed grass as it won't be growing in hot, dry conditions.
4. Avoid blanket weedkillers as these may damage the grass and use spot weedkiller instead if necessary.
5. Keep mower blades sharp as blunt blades bruise the grass leaf and it loses more water.
6. Apply a light dressing of compost to help keep moisture in the soil and protect the grass from higher temperatures.
7. Scarify your lawn once a year to remove matted and dead growth, if this is allowed to build up it can act as a barrier to rainfall.

You can find tips for looking after established and newly-laid lawns during the summer are available on our website.

Green Roofing just got easier

Q Lawns, the growers of Enviromat sedum matting have introduced a new online product that will make sourcing and ordering green roofing materials a whole lot easier.

Enviromat sedum matting has always been easy to install, but for the untrained buyer, working out which of the layers are needed, which are not, and what the final cost will be has, in the past, been a little complicated. 

For that reason, Q Lawns have introduced Green Roof Kits.  Each kit contains the right quantity of the right materials to create a sedum roof on either a pitched roof or a flat roof.   All the buyer needs to do is measure the roof, decide whether it is flat or sloping and click on the green roof kit that’s the right size.  Simple.  All of the components are tried, tested and subject to Production Manager Robert Allen’s rigorous standards of quality control.

A sedum roof is not only a beautiful adornment to a garden building, a porch or an extension; it’s a practical one too.  It will double the life of the waterproofing, insulate against heat, cold and noise, help manage rainwater and, very topically, provide a rich source of food for pollinating insects such as butterflies and bees.

Provided that the building is good and sturdy and the waterproofing is in good order, a sedum roof can normally be installed in a matter of hours and, with a simple maintenance regime, will stay beautiful indefinitely.

The Enviromat green roof kits are competitively priced and come complete with an instruction sheet and the support of the technical team at Q Lawns.

More details about green roof kits

For more information on green roof kits for flat roofs, visit http://www.enviromat.co.uk/sedum-flat-green-roof-kits/

If your roof has a slope of 3 degrees or more, you will need our green roof kit for pitched roofs

Take a look at our green roof gallery

Satisfied customer, Mr John Kershaw, loves his new sedum roof. He has provided a testimonial which has to be one of the best ever. Why would anyone have a plain, boring felt roof when you can cover it with sedum. Sedum not only looks amazing it encourages pollinators.

Dear Angie

The sedum roof is beyond my wildest dreams. It all seemed so complicated before I talked to you, yet all we needed in the end ( once the roof was up and waterproofed) was a moisture layer ( which turns out to be like underlay and just as easy to put down) and then this miraculous kind of giant carpet roll made out of living things, which I just cut with a pair of scissors to the right size, then humped it up on to the roof, chucked some fertilizer over it, watered it, and that was it. It lost any sense of newness in about 2 weeks, everyone was saying how lovely and green and fabulously textured it was. Then suddenly (July) the whole thing became a carpet of flowers, beautiful little white and yellow flowers, smothering the whole roof, so its like a roof of joy. It stopped raining about 3 weeks ago and has been fearsome hot, but the sedum seemed to just love it. Yesterday, having no real knowledge of their resilience, I started to worry about them getting too dry so as night fell I gave the roof a gentle hosing down, and I swear I could hear the million little sedums going aaaaaahhhh.

As soon as I can afford it I'm going to plant the little flat roof over the kitchen ( which from Danny's room will then look like a garden) and the garage. Roofing felt is basically just ugly. Now there is no need ever to have ugly flat roofs again. Thanks so much for your vision.

John Kershaw

Manchester