Parking Garage Rooftop UPGarden P-Patch Almost Complete in Seattle

The <a href="http://www.upgarden.org/" target="_blank">UPGarden P-Patch</a> community garden is located in the shadow of the Space Needle in Seattle, atop a parking garage. Designed by <a href="http://www.kistlerhigbeecahoot.com/?portfolio=upgarden" target="_blank">Kistler Higbee Cahoot</a>, the UPGarden P-Patch is part of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods' <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/ppatch/locations/86.htm" target="_blank">P-Patch program</a>, which helps manage almost 80 urban community gardens across the city. Volunteers have been working hard to convert the rooftop space into a beautiful oasis, and it will soon be complete.

UPGarden P-Patch is located on the rooftop of the Mercer parking garage on Mercer Street between 3rd and 4th Ave N.

Back in 2008, Parks and Green Spaces Levy, Uptown was designated as a priority area for new community garden development, but space for the garden was limited in this dense urban area.

The garage's rooftop was underutilized and was chosen as a perfect site for the garden.

While <a href="http://www.kistlerhigbeecahoot.com/?portfolio=upgarden" target="_blank">Kistler Higbee Cahoot</a> designed the garden layout, community members have added a lot of input and have been volunteering to build it.

Sticking with the theme of the parking garage, an old Airstream trailer was craned onto the roof and repurposed to become the new tool shed.

An old 1963 Ford Galaxy was repainted and hollowed out to serve as a planting space for crops such as corn and pumpkins.

While parking garages are designed to hold a lot of weight, the designers worked to ensure that the structure could hold up under the weight of all the soil, which can get quite heavy when wet.

To minimize weight, the garden features shallower terraced planting beds and a lighter-weight mix of potting soil.

The landscape design also features small seating areas, a planted trellis and an educational kiosk at the garden’s entrance.

The garden is almost finished and some of the first plantings are in with an expected harvest later this summer.

Unfortunately, this is only a temporary project because the garage is expected to be demolished in three to five years. Hopefully whatever replaces the structure will include a permanent garden space.