Mitigation of Climate Change for Urban Agriculture: Water Management of Culinary Herbs Grown in an Extensive Green Roof Environment

Urban Farm DB summary

An experiment at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, USA, evaluated culinary herb production on an extensive green roof (about 8 cm deep) under twice-weekly, weekly, and fortnightly watering (1 L per plant), testing perennial garlic chives, lavender, lemon balm, and winter thyme, plus annual basil. All perennial herbs produced more dry biomass and greater overwintering potential under the two more frequent watering schedules, and basil grew well with weekly watering, but weekly watering was required across all perennial herbs to achieve commercially viable growth, vigor, and overwinter survival.