Building a 14 sq m rooftop garden, with six or seven square meters entirely devoted to growing flowers

The house isn't even renovated yet, and I already can't wait to start building the garden. Calling it a garden is a bit much - it's really just a rooftop terrace of about 14 sq m, and half of it has already been made into an anti-corrosion wood deck, leaving me only 6 or 7 sq m to grow flowers.

I didn't know how to lay the geotextile, so I laid it very messily, and there wasn't even enough. I bought the drainage boards and geotextile online, and I actually bought 3 sq m more geotextile than drainage boards, yet I still had a few drainage boards left over and the geotextile still wasn't enough to cover everything. I'd bought the stuff a month ago and only opened it to use it now, and there was no way to complain that the seller had shorted me so badly, so at noon today I spent the whole lunch break wandering the building materials market, planning to buy a few square meters to make up the difference. Fine - out of dozens of building material sellers, not one sold geotextile. The funniest part was asking a lady I used to buy flowers from often. I asked her if she sold geotextile, and she just looked at me blankly and asked, do you want soil or a soil pot?

In the end, I never did buy the geotextile, so I'll probably have to restock online.

The tire is for planting Golden Celebration, and the square pot next to it is also for planting roses.

The trellis I made for Golden Celebration

Unfortunately, the area where I filled the soil basically gets no sun, while the anti-corrosion wood deck gets sun almost all day. But it was only after the deck was finished that I realized this. I could cry - grid flower trellis

It's already standing. It was my first time making one myself, so it's a bit crooked, but still fairly sturdy. I really didn't know old tires like this were so cheap before - I bought them at a repair shop, only one yuan each.

The planting boxes I bought online in the morning arrived, and at noon I couldn't wait to carry them over and assemble them. After assembly they're fairly sturdy. They felt a bit pricey - they say they'll last 10 years. Any flower friends who've used them? I hope they'll last several more years, otherwise they won't be worth that price.

Planning to plant Pink Dragon in it; length, width and height are 80*40*40 respectively

Planning to grow vegetables in it; length, width and height are 280*40*23 respectively

Here's another shot of everything

Today I also assembled the box for growing grapes, 50 wide and 36 high

My rose army: Milky Dragon Sand, Arabian Nights, Golden Celebration, Blue Storm, Pink Dragon Sand, Stardust, Phantom, Botticelli, Old Rose - all small seedlings, but they're the hope of my terrace.

One succulent is coloring up, so I moved it to the terrace too. I only just found out it's called First Love.

The restocked geotextile finally arrived, so I went and laid it at noon, and then looking at it myself I thought, how did I lay it so pitifully badly? This is a skilled job too! Tomorrow or the day after I can fill in the soil. Special praise for my dad, who got someone to haul soil from the countryside for me. Then I told my dad, what if there are bugs? I'm scared of bugs. But my dad said, get my granddaughter to catch them, she's only 5. I said that's so scary, and my dad said she doesn't understand yet so she definitely won't be scared.

Afterwards I looked into it for a long time and planned to first scatter quicklime to kill the bugs, then add organic fertilizer. I wonder if that will work?

The soil has finally been delivered. Waiting for the workers to move the soil, waited all through noon, and only just sat down to eat. So hungry.

Filling the soil is half done. The pots are full, and the flower bed just needs a bit more, but it's already looking good. Tomorrow I'll fill in the rest of the soil. The soil is garden soil with a bit of potting soil and perlite added.

The remaining soil has been filled in, a bit full, but they say the soil will sink a little after it rains, so it should be just right then.

It rained for several days in a row, so the plan to plant the seedlings got postponed again and again. Last Sunday, with my family's help, I finally planted the first batch of flower seedlings. Especially my daughter - the day we planted flowers happened to be her birthday, so the flowers she planted are sure to grow very well.

Grown from seeds shared by a flower friend - little hibiscus; in the tire is Golden Celebration

A whole row of rose seedlings, all already sprouting

Both plants grew from seeds shared by a flower friend, and they happen to be Blue GG and Blue MM

Lisianthus sown last spring; some of them already bloomed last year, the purple single-petaled ones, very beautiful

Panoramic view

Two golden osmanthus planted together

Busy again for a whole noon today, and the little garden has welcomed new members.

Purple String of Bananas, grown from a shared leaf. I'd always left her in a corner of the windowsill without paying attention, and yesterday when I took her out to look, she'd actually grown such long hair, and also...

Today the garden gained some more flowers and plants, so I took a photo to show my husband, and he said it's starting to feel like something

The day before yesterday I lined the stepping stones with white stones to keep mud from splashing onto them when it rains. It rained yesterday, and when I went to look today, they weren't dirty at all, and it looked really pretty