Implementation
Location of Garour Cafe
Garour Cafe is located at rooftop in order to well use the space of PolyU.
Advantages of Rooftop Garden Cafe
- Save space
- Crops in our garden provide the ingredients for our own use
- Temperature control:
- Summer : the green absorb the heat and reduce temperature of the building, reduce the electricity on air conditioning. - Hydrological benefits:
- It reduces storm water runoff and discharge. It reduces runoff by 17.0-19.9% and 11.8-14.1% for 18 mm and 28 mm rainfall events, respectively (Gill et al., 2007) - Architectural enhancement:
- Instead of a concrete on the rooftop, it sparkles us with green - Habitats for wildlife
- Recreational opportunities:
- Our cafe is inside one of our green garden - Ecological benefits:
- It converts CO2 emissions and produces oxygen.
- It reduces temperature surrounding it as well captures and harvests rainwater
Crop Rotation of Veggie Garden
Our Phenomenon, we grow our crop according to the seasons, follow what nature giving us, organic, no pesticide to protect the environment and our heath. We adopt Crop rotation: growing different types of crops in the same area in sequenced seasons. We will divide our crops into 2 seasons: Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. During Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter we grow only those vegetable and fruits suitable for the Hongkong Spring/Summer weather and Autumn/Winter weather respectively.
As different crops absorb different nutrients, the soil of our roof top garden will not be continuously used for only one set of nutrients so as to reduce soil erosion, which is able to increase the soil fertility and crop yield.
| Spring / Summer Crop | Autumn / Winter Crop |
|---|---|
| Avocados | Broccoli |
| Bananas | Beetroots |
| Basil | Brussels sprouts |
| Beans | Cabbage |
| Bitter Melons | Carrots |
| Carrots | Chives |
| Corn | Choysum |
| Cucumber | Coriander |
| Eggplant | Kale |
| Melons | Kohlrabi |
| Lemons | Leeks |
| Lemon grass | Lemons |
| Mints | Lettuce |
| Papayas | Mustard greens |
| Peppers | Parsley |
| Pumpkins | Peas |
| Rosemary | Potatoes |
| Summer squash | Radish |
| Sweet potatoes | Spinach |
| Tomatoes | Thrives |
We use organic fertilizer in our garden. That type of fertilizer is mixed by a fine dust-free, organic and organomineral microgranule formula. It contains cacao shell, grape seed meal, corn gluten meal, blood meal and bone meal. The biodiversity of the raw materials produce a balanced fertilizer. We purchase it from a Hong Kong garden products provider.
Eco-friendly Design
The decoration of our cafe are all made from recycle materials. After last September Typhoon Mangkhut's attack, in view the pile up of the broken tree trunks without anyone taking care and lying on the road, we collected those suitable for furniture. After a year’s work, our cafe is fully equipped with the wooden trunk tables, chairs, partition, reception area.
Renewable Energy
We install Solar Panels as the ceiling aiming at protecting the environment with renewable energy. We purchase the solar panel from an Hong Kong official authorized distributor of the world's largest solar panel manufacturer Jinko Solar. The solar module is Cheetah HC 60M which offers a better aesthetic appearance, making it perfect for rooftop installation. We will also sell the electricity generated by our Solar Energy System to China Light Power by the following FiT rate, which will be reflected in our monthly electricity bills:
Three kinds of FiT rates will be offered according to the generation capacity of our Solar Energy System:
A solar system with a generation capacity of about 1kW in Hong Kong can generate around 1,000 units of electricity a year.
Eco-Friendly Business Practices
Electronic Menu and Self-ordering Kiosk
We only provide electronic menu, you can find our seasonal menu HERE! We install self-ordering kiosk in Garour Cafe, you can simply click on the screen to place the order and pay it via electronic payment such as PayMe or Octopus.
Eco-friendly Discount
As long as you bring your cups, you are able to have free drinking water provided by us. If you bring your own eating set as well as cup, you are able to enjoy $5 discount.
Eco-friendly Dining Rules
We do not provide any napkins and tissue paper. You have to clean your tables and chairs after the meals. If you don't want to spend time to clean up your dining area, please take your food carefully!
Leftover food Policy
We provide small portion and standard portion for all dishes except Appetizers/Salad, the whole idea behind is to encourage our clients do not waste food.
Since the crops from our gardens are for our own use, we will donate the leftover fresh crops as well the leftover cooked food to Food Angel. In this way we are able to help to protect the environment by having less waste as well helping people in need.