Terrace garden or roof gardens are gardens in which vegetables, fruits or flowers are grown on terraces or roofs of buildings. The kitchen garden, a standard in every Indian household up until the earlier century, has now shifted to the roof due to constraints of space specially with the advent of builder floors and condominium living. We asked Vastu Acharya Manoj Srivastava, whether the same rules of Vastu would apply in the terrace gardens as they do when the garden is developed on the ground. Here is what he has to say regarding Vastu principles for terrace gardens.
Vastushastra does not explicitly mentions about terrace gardens simply because they did not exist when tenets of Vastu were written. However, the same rules would apply in this modern context. If you are converting a part of the terrace into a garden, make it in the East, North and North-east of your terrace. Stand at the center of the terrace and identify these three directions. If you want to convert the whole terrace into a terrace garden, go ahead and do it however, take the following care in placing the different plants.
The South-West, south and west are three directions which should be heavy. Use big earthern or concrete pots while in other directions you can use plastic pots. Though tall plants may not be that feasible on the terrace, use plants which grow longer in these three directions. These days some people employ a terrace garden designer or landscape architecture for their terrace garden and he sometimes suggests different levels in different directions. If such is the case have higher floor levels in South, West and South-West. If you want to keep an open kitchen or barbeque place it in the South East or North West of the terrace.
Vastu Acharya Manoj Srivastava says, “There is Vastu and there is Astro-Vastu and as per astro-vastu there are several precautions which one must take when deciding what plants are grown on the roof-top garden.” Astro-vastu is a branch of Vastu where the space is designed as per the birth charts of the residents. In short, you can say Astro-Vastu is personalized Vastu. If the planet Mercury is badly placed in the horoscope and specifically if it is in the twelfth house of the horoscope, then special precautions are required. Do not put rubber-plant, money plant, tulsi or vines in the terrace garden. In general avoid growing any broad leaved plant on the terrace when the Mercury is so placed in the birth chart. You can place as many flower bearing plants on the terrace as you want. Those with malefic Mercury should also avoid bamboo partitions on their terrace.
If you plan to grow a terrace garden, Vastu Acharya Manoj Srivastava suggests that you consult a qualified astrologer and Vastu Consultant before doing so or just avoid these plants in your terrace garden irrespective of the position of mercury in your chart.
