See How Gardening Newbies and Their Neighbors Transformed a Brooklyn Rooftop into an Outdoor Oasis
It was surprising and delightful to see how well Andrea and Brian Cotlove and their baby share a mere 380 square feet of living space. Not only does their Brooklyn home look beautiful, but it functions perfectly for their family. And they created their home on a budget by DIYing plenty of projects around the small space, like building a storage bed, wall shelves, and more. With plenty of light and lots of plants, it’s easy to see why they enjoy their rental apartment so much. But though their indoor space might be tiny, they lucked out with an amazing rooftop garden.
We saw a few photos of their amazing rooftop space in their house tour, but Andrea says the gardening season was wrapping up when the photo shoot took place, and viewers didn’t get to see the communal outdoor space in its full glory. Now that gardening season is back, Andrea says she wanted to show off the flourishing space. Even if you don’t have an entire rooftop space to stretch out in, you’ll find plant and garden inspiration from all the ways they’ve made use of their outdoor space, which they share with neighbors in the building.
“We are very proud of the community garden we’ve built, as it has not only grown delicious produce, but also brought the neighbors in this NYC house together,” explains Andrea.
Andrea shared more of the garden’s backstory:
“When we moved into our home, the roof space was empty and full of opportunity, so we decided to start a rooftop garden. My husband and I scoured the city for wooden pallets and I stopped at grocery stores and bodegas on my way home from work to collect milk crates as planters. With our neighbors, we carried up bag after bag of soil and diligently planted our seeds.”
“And then we waited. I think I must have had 60+ seedlings growing inside our apartment at one point. Four years later, the garden is still growing strong and has some exciting additions such as a composter and irrigation system. Last year we made beer using our hops!“
“I have learned so much from this project and it has been so satisfying to eat the food we grow. None of us had any prior gardening experience, so when our first strawberry grew, we cut it into six pieces, so we could all get a taste. We’ve grown, tomatoes, figs, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, lemons, peppers, squash and all sorts of herbs.”
“On the other side of the roof, we built a bar and have an area to eat and relax.
Best of all, our garden brought us close with our neighbors who have now become dear friends.”
“Sadly, this will be our last season, as we are moving to a bigger space with our growing family,” Andrea reports. “We are actually moving together with our neighbors!”
See all of Andrea and Brian’s home in their house tour.