This year has been particularly challenging for all sectors of agriculture. Urban gardening, however, has been relatively less affected. At the Institute of Horticulture’s (DI) research center in Pūre, we experienced damage mainly from spring frosts, especially in basil plants and also in tomatoes. Fortunately, by June, when consistently warm weather arrived, the plants recovered and are now thriving beautifully.

At the AREI experimental site on the rooftop in Riga, frost damage was less severe. Recently, the weather has become wetter, and we’ve observed that snails enjoy sheltering among the tomato plants in DI’s growing boxes - particularly because this balcony-type tomato variety produces small but very dense plants.

In terms of environmental sustainability, it is worth noting that unlike the first and second experimental years - when substrates were freshly mixed each season - this year we reused last year’s substrate blends. The plants are thriving equally well in all three substrate variations: peat/coconut fiber, peat/perlite, and peat/leaf compost.

From July 7–11 this year, a Demo Week was held as part of the project. During this time, the rooftop garden on the AREI building in Riga opened its doors to the public to showcase various cultivation technologies suitable for rooftops, highlight the benefits of rooftop gardens, and present the latest project developments.

The Demo Week began with an informational seminar where visitors had the opportunity to hear the latest project findings, gain practical knowledge on rooftop garden maintenance, get inspired by examples from rooftop gardening in Paris, and taste produce grown on the rooftop. The event attracted over 55 participants.

At the end of the year, all findings from the research will be compiled into guidelines for rooftop vegetable cultivation. Stay updated and learn more about the project here:
🔗 https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/664a245d49dd44618f1f05e4fbf72d4c/

Fundamental and Applied Research Project, Nr. lzp-2022/1-0395