Autumn maintenance for your living roof
With autumn on its way and the end of summer officially ending on the 22nd of September its time to think about those autumn jobs for the garden. I often don't think about my roof being part of the garden but its important to look after your Green roof so that it will look its best the following spring.
If you only do two things to your green roof it should be a bit of spring and autumn care.
The main difference is in the feeding and weeding!
You don’t need to feed your Sedum roof in winter! Leave it until the spring to feed it so that all the nutrients are there when your Sedum begins to grow.
Its really important that you weed your roof in Autumn to remove any unwanted plants that may have established themselves over the sunny summer months, especially plants like tree seedlings and Dandelions, which can easily take over.
It is much easier to remove these plants whilst they are small and before they cause any damage to your root barrier.
Another important job is to remove any fallen leaves so that they don’t suffocate the Sedums trapped below and to make sure that the gutters are all clear as a lack of drainage will easily kill your plants if they are sat in water and unable to drain.
Remove any unwanted plants and weeds
You don’t have to remove any Sedum dead flower heads as these will help to protect the plants and any new growth over the colder months and will naturally die back.
It is also the perfect time to check the waterproofing of your roof and make sure there are no small cracks that water could get into.