Diagnosis
We read the site before we prescribe
Sunlight hours, slab condition, water access, wind exposure and what the soil is already doing. The plan follows the reading.
Kathmandu · 1,400 m
Everything above the soil line depends on what’s below it.
Strata Agronomy builds rooftop and urban growing systems in Kathmandu. Soil first, structure second, planting last — with thirty years of field agronomy behind every diagnosis.
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Decomposing leaf litter and compost. Thin, dark, biologically loud — this is where a rooftop system is built or broken in the first season.
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Where roots and biology concentrate. Most of what a grower calls 'the soil' is this layer, and most import mixes fail to replicate its structure past one monsoon.
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Mineral accumulation with less organic matter. On a rooftop, this band is engineered, not inherited — it is what actually holds water without waterlogging roots.
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Weathered base material. On the ground this is bedrock; on a rooftop it is the slab and drainage layer — the part System Architecture is really about.
The practice
Structure
Built to outlast the people who built it
Drainage, load and waterproofing resolved at the start. A system that needs rebuilding in three years was never designed properly.
Transfer
You end up knowing how it works
The point is not a garden you depend on us for. It is the judgement to run it yourself, and to fix it when a season goes wrong.
Cultivating success
How a rooftop becomes a system that lasts.
Four stages, in order. Skipping one is the most common reason a productive first season turns into a failed second.
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01
Read the site
Light, load, water and access — measured, not estimated. Most of what determines whether a rooftop can grow food is fixed before anyone chooses a single crop.
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02
Build the soil
Structure and biology first. At 1,400 metres with a hard monsoon and a dry winter, a growing medium has to hold water without drowning roots.
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03
Engineer the system
Beds, drainage, irrigation and waterproofing as one design. This is the part that decides whether the rooftop is still productive in year five.
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04
Hand over the judgement
Seasonal rhythm, what to watch for, and when to intervene. Knowing why a system behaves the way it does is what makes it yours.
Field notes
What we’ve been writing about.
The first guides are being written now.
Soil preparation, rooftop structure and what actually grows through a Kathmandu winter. Subscribe below and they’ll reach you first.
Workshops — coming soon
Fifty people. One rooftop. Two days.
We’re running our first hands-on workshops on structural setup and soil mechanics. Waitlist members get dates and tickets before anyone else.