Harvested this beauty today and thought it deserves some ❤️ too (before I eat it 😏)

In the last 2 years, I have been working on a multifunctional roof in 2 slopes:

• On the south side, I have installed solar panels,
• On the north side, I have built a small vegetable garden.

The roof has a single layer, meaning there is NO tile under the solar panels, nor under the pots in which the vegetables grow!

The main reason for which I initiated this project is that roofs have large surfaces, but they are used for only one purpose: to protect the house from rain and snow. We should have more benefits from these large surfaces! For example, we could get electricity and food from these surfaces!

A secondary motivation was that, typically, solar panels are mounted on top of the tiles. There are 2 layers basically. This is a waste of material, because solar panels are resistant enough to protect the house from rain and snow. They can be used as tiles. But it needs to be well insulated!

The building on which I built the roof has a footprint of 15x7m. Currently, on the North side, I have installed solar panels spanning a width of 6.5m. On the south side, the hanging garden is 1.3m wide and 4.5m long. The rest of the roof is covered with sheet metal tiles. I plan to extend the ideas to the entire roof, depending on the test results.

I started with an old roof, which was another reason I built the new one.

I made the roof structure of iron. I tried to avoid wood as much as possible. Trees have a much more important function than being used in construction: to produce clean air! I did use wood for the laces under the tiles, for the support of the plant gutters, and on the front side (OSB).

Initially, I intended to build everything in Lego style, without welding, only by mechanical fastening. The beams, rafters, etc. should have been connected only by screws. I built 2 trusses in this way, but then I gave up because the iron at that length (7m) was deforming and the components were no longer joining properly.

The trusses (queen type) are built from an 80x40x3 profile, but with a 60x40x3 base and interior elements. One truss weighs approximately 100 kg. I used 13 supports along the entire length of the house.

The solar panels are placed between T40 metal profiles. I attached the panels to the T40 from inside the attic. Between the profiles and the panels I left a 3-4mm space in which I put silicone. Due to the incorrect application of the silicone (a beginner's mistake), a few holes were left through which water entered. So, I had to put a bituminous waterproofing tape, which would not have been necessary if I had applied the silicone correctly.

The vegetables are grown in rectangular gutters (cisterns) (120x90) made of 0.6 mm sheet metal. The angle of the roof (38 degrees) is calculated so that these gutters fit together perfectly (the bottom corner of one ends where the top corner of the next begins).

The gutters are placed on two wooden supports (a board 4.5m long, 14 cm wide and 4cm thick) cut in steps. The insulation between the gutters is made with a 75mm wide bituminous tape. I attached the gutters to the wooden support with self-tapping screws. Inside the gutters, I put (only close to the ends) pieces of wood so that I could step on them when I climb up to take care of the vegetables. But in the future, I will put some pieces of 80x80 pipe as a support for the leg.

At the moment, I have grown tomatoes and peppers, which have borne fruit. I have also sown lettuce and spinach, but they have come out very poorly (I only sowed them in July) and the few days ago I threw some wheat grains on them, which have sprouted very well.

There is a lot to say about this project. Some details (but not all) can be found on the project website. It took me personally 2 years to implement it (from the moment I started designing), and I was helped (ideas+work) by several friends. I have changed the design several times, and I have bought many materials that I have not used later. It also requires many machines (for cutting, drilling, welding, milling, etc.), without which I could not have completed the construction.

The electrical installation (solar part) in the house I did myself using Victron equipment. I haven't connected it to the grid yet, but I'm using some Pylontech batteries. The switch from solar to the grid is done automatically when there is no power from the solar/batteries.

The roof is located at: str. Gh. Lazăr 9, Cugir town, Alba county, Romania.

A video with the exterior and interior of the roof can be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZRalp4EQG4

The website for this project can be found at:

https://github.com/f-roof

The CAD files for this project can also be found there (but they don't currently contain all the details). The license is MIT.

P.S. I personally do NOT build roofs. I did this project out of a personal passion.

This is my first year gardening and I had pulled a few zucchini, a couple of tomatoes and bell peppers last week and didn’t know what to do with them so I made ratatouille. I’ve never made it before nor have I ever even seen the dish in real life but it turned out really well in my opinion!

The only vegetable in it that I didn’t grow is the garlic. I made the sauce with my rosella cherry tomatoes and I was not upset about it whatsoever.

Mortgage Lifter, Ananas Noir, Porkchop, Sugar Bombs, Black Cherry, Unknown Cherry, Black Strawberry, Black Beauty, Alice’s Dream, Brad’s Atomic Grape, Rebel Starfighter Prime, Lillian’s Yellow, Painted Lady, Purple Bumblebee.

It seems like my tomatoes thrive on neglect. I had very little time for gardening this year so the tomatoes were just left to crawl on the ground, shaded by the weeds.

This is the second batch and there is plenty more to come. So I guess I'm canning today!

In the garden today and noticed some hornworm poop/damage. Found the culprit, right as a yellow jacket (??) did. I know it’s beneficial for wasps to lay eggs on them, and was curious to see what happened (although ultimately wasn’t going to let the hornworm feast for any longer—my chicken was anxiously awaiting this juicy treat). Their battle was fascinating.

I was looking forward to my courgette harvest - I forgot one of my plants which was overawed with sweet peas - my harvest has turned into 1 giant beast.

There don’t seem to be anymore flowers so I think this is it for that plant.

Any recipe suggestions?

Didn’t take that many pictures this summer. Tomatoes were a struggle, cucumbers overwhelmed me, the vine borers were as destructive and relentless as ever, cabbage brought all the possible pests, and much more in the comments!

By far my biggest harvest. Everything else has been 1 tomato or pepper at a time.

Beefsteak, Roma, and Sun Gold tomatoes.

White and green jalapenos.

Thiccboi carrots.

Onions were grown from sets, so they're kinda small.

Garlic was from cloves that started to sprout on the counter from to grocery store... They're essentially one giant clove each 😅

But it all tastes good!

After years of planting too late or picking too early, I've finally grown a successful sugar baby.

Tendril got snapped earlier in the season and wasn't drying out. This probably got picked right before it was too late.

First time growing cucumbers and I'm hooked! Already planning next year in my head ... (FYI these are small varieties, I picked them at the right size according to the growing directions).

It’s my first time planting sweet potatoes also first year gardening.I didn’t know when to harvest and was afraid of root rot since rainy season is coming so I tried harvesting one plant and left the other to see if it’ll survive till fall. I didn’t expect them to be this big! I’ll be planting more of them next season ☺️

WDYT?

I’ve got a cayenne pepper hot sauce and roasted halved tomatoes I water bath canned. Super nervous but excited and hoping all the instructions I followed were right😂

Not the first harvest but definitely a good one! Still a lot more on the vines too. Sauce today and I see more salsa in my future!

My garden is mostly overgrown with weeds at this point, but still producing for us. Now, the eggplants are about to go into overdrive.

Th is my second year of having my indeterminate tomatoes run amok on my balcony...i had read about tomato training and picking off suckers and 1 stem and 2 stem methods, decided that 2 would be manageable since we already had two on my larger seedlings anyway and here we are 2 stems turned into 3 turned into 4 turned into 6 turned into probably 10 i dont know...

But, I had also planted a couple dwarf varieties (Tasmanian chocolate, dwarf sweet sue, and glacier) this year and in particular Tasmanian Chocolate (pictured) has me singing its praisest...i planted one in my container garden and the rest in-ground for an older relative and in both cases they have been very well behaved, easy to manage, and produced some huge delicious tomatoes. Which begs the question...why do I insist on unleashing demon vines on my balcony?

Since my eyes have been opened, I'm wondering what else people have had success with/found to be delicious in the dwarf tomato category... Tasmanian chocolate is a keeper for sure, but I got a couple spots open

The 2nd pic tomato might be Tasmanian chocolate or it might be black Krim (yes, that's the culprit running WILD AND AMOK on my balcony), the Tom's from both have been similar in appearance and came in shapes of all kinds of ugly but they were so delicious I didn't really remember to do much photography or comparisons before I ate them, yolo

Good season so far our third tomato haul of this size

He denies spraying pesticides near the plants but I know he sprayed herbicides for sure. All that soil and those plants are contaminated now and I don’t even know what type he used.
I flushed the raised planter box as that was the only one I felt safe eating from after a while until I noticed what seemed some spray drifted onto my peas.

Now I don’t feel safe or comfortable eating anything and that was months of work and trial and error.