IT engineer creates rooftop garden for his children

On a 36 m2 rooftop, 42-year-old Tran Minh Phuc cultivates snake cucumbers, heart-shaped bitter melons, and Korean king pumpkins for his children to explore nature.

Phuc and his wife often wake up at 5 a.m. to exercise and tend to the garden. Their children have learned the names and harvest times of various vegetables like choy sum, mustard greens, water spinach, Malabar spinach, spinach, and bok choy.

Phuc, an IT engineer at a tech company, grew up in Ho Chi Minh City with a passion for gardening but lacked space. Ten years ago, he started growing vegetables on a one-meter-wide balcony, enough for a few potted plants and leafy greens for his child's meals.

Last April, the family moved to a new house in Go Vap district. Phuc and his wife transformed the 36 m2 rooftop into a vegetable and fruit garden, providing a green space for their children to connect with nature.

Phuc divided the rooftop into two sections, 24 m2 and 12 m2, to grow vegetables and fruit trees. He planted over a dozen pots with about 30 common varieties such as bok choy, gourds, pumpkins, cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes, and kale.

As his children (10 and 8 years old) began learning about plants, Phuc added unusual varieties like snake gourds, white and green heart-shaped bitter melons, king pumpkins, snake cucumbers, white tomatoes, and Japanese sword cucumbers.

The children's favorite is the snake cucumber, which grows 70-80 cm long. However, it's susceptible to thrips and spider mites. Thrips often attack new growth, causing mosaic virus, which dries and hardens the leaves and spreads quickly. Once, an infestation led to Phuc losing over 10 plants.

Spider mites are also a major threat, rapidly draining the plants' sap within three days. To combat this, Phuc uses neem oil, extracted from the neem tree of India, spraying continuously for three to four days.

After school, the children help with watering while their parents select seeds and maintain the garden. Phuc prioritizes visually unique but safe varieties, accepting lower yields to provide fresh produce and engage his children in observing plant growth.

One such variety is the heart-shaped bitter melon, which is only one-fourth as bitter as the common variety. It flowers easily and fruits quickly but with a lower yield, about 80% of the standard variety.

Rose cabbage is a hybrid with leaves that form a spiral, resembling a rose, changing color from green to purplish-pink as it matures.

Phuc emphasizes three key elements for a successful rooftop garden: proper soil mixture is 50% of the battle; leafy greens require at least 3-4 hours of sunlight daily, while root vegetables and fruits need 5-6 hours; and fertilizer should be diverse, including chicken, cow, worm castings, and bat guano.

Since starting the garden, the family rarely buys vegetables.

According to Phuc, water spinach is the easiest to grow, ready for harvest 25-30 days after sowing. It regrows quickly after cutting, yielding 5-7 harvests per season, making it a year-round vegetable.