The pear tree in Trish Scott’s garden is in blossom, and budding honeysuckle is unfolding across a trellis. The air is filled with the sweet scent from a rainbow of flowers, including pansies, tulips and viola, and potatoes are growing in Trish’s home-grown compost.

But this tranquil oasis is no suburban garden or rural idyll – it is six floors up on the roof of Bradford’s Gatehaus apartments, overlooking the city centre and busy ring road traffic.

Trish has created a vibrant urban garden, growing everything from fruit trees to vegetables and herbs, on the rooftop terrace of her city apartment.

The garden is entirely organic – Trish even makes her own compost from, among other things, banana skins and coffee grains – and produces vegetables such as spinach, carrots, cauliflowers and courgettes.

What makes this green, self-sufficient space in the sky even more remarkable is that Trish didn’t take up gardening until she moved in to her sixth-floor apartment in October 2010.

“I thought I’d just have a small balcony, I never thought I’d have an outdoor space of this size,” she says, leading me onto the terrace where containers of flowers and sapling fruit blossom trees are dotted about.

“I grew up on a farm on the Isle of Man but I’ve never done much gardening, I’ve only ever had pots of flowers. When I got this terrace I decided to make the most of it, so I started reading up on gardening and taught myself! I was inspired by a magazine article about a garden on a garage roof. It got me thinking about what could be achieved with an urban space. I gave it a go – and now I’m in my fourth year of sewing, planting and growing vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit trees.”

She adds: “I grow everything organically, and the taste of the vegetables is amazing. I grow potatoes, carrots, spinach, courgettes and tomatoes, and my fruit trees will bear pears and apples.”

Under tenancy rules, everything grown in the garden must be in containers. “Pots can be expensive so, as I’m on a limited budget, I use any container I can find. I found one in a skip recently, and I use carrier bags, vegetable bags and potato sacks,” says Trish. “As the seasons change, everything is moved around. I try to maintain a colourful display all year round.”

Being on the roof of a tall building, the garden is exposed to extremes of weather. “It’s south-facing and is fairly sheltered, so has its own micro-climate,” says Trish. “It gets pretty hot up here when the sun is out and it can get very windy too. When it’s windy down there, on the street, it’s wild up here. I used to have greenhouses but the wind destroyed them.

“Because we’ve had mild but wet weather some flowers, like viola and cyclamen, have lasted all winter. The crocuses started to flower in February. It’s been very cheering to look at on grey, rainy days.”

The terrace is a riot of colour, with the range of flowers including pansies, tulips, heuchera, dianthus, clematis, primula, pear blossom, apple blossom and heathers. Trish is in the process of planting summer bulbs, and is looking forward to seeing sweet peas, gypsophilia, alchemilla, phlox, sea lavender, Californian poppy, marigolds, dwarf morning glory and dwarf asters, some from bulbs and some from seeds, over the coming months.

The greenery consists of ivy, cineraria (silver leaf) and curry leaves, and Trish also grows mint, thyme, rosemary, sage and parsley in pots. Crocuses are flourishing in a glass cabinet, which has protected them from winter frosts.

“In the summertime the space attracts lots of bees and other insects,” says Trish, who enjoys unwinding in the garden. “I find gardening extremely fulfilling and theraputic. There’s a great sense of achievement in seeing flowers and vegetables grow at different stages of the year, and I love eating what I produce. It’s all fresh, organic and with a superb taste, much nicer than shop-bought veg wrapped in plastic. I threw a spud-tasting barbecue last year!

“There’s a lot of work involved; I have to keep on top of everything and if I go away I have to arrange for the plants to be watered, but it’s very satisfying and a great way to unwind and alleviate the stresses of modern life.

“It’s a bit of a responsibility and I’m very protective of my plants – they’re like my babies,” she adds.

Trish has recently been sowing carrots and courgettes, and planting potatoes in her home-made compost. The ingredients include vegetable peelings, egg shells, paper, teabags, coffee grains and plant material. Trish also uses dried chicken and manure pellets and puts farmyard manure and chopped banana skins in a pillowcase, soaking overnight before spraying onto flowers. “It’s like a giant tea bag,” she smiles. “The potatoes take about ten weeks. When the potato flowers arrive it means they’re ready to eat. They look really pretty and smell divine.”

Instead of pesticides she uses soapy warm water to get rid of greenfly, peppermint oil for fruit flies, and a solution of bicarbonate of soda to treat powdery mildew on courgette leaves.

“Last year my crop of cauliflower was devastated by the cabbage white butterfly so this year I’m putting tubs into a frame covered in butterfly netting. It’s a constant learning process,” says Trish. “One thing I’m not plagued with is slugs! I don’t tend to get weeds either.

“You don’t need a big garden to grow your own fruit and vegetables, or have flowers all year round. I hope I can inspire other people to make the most of an urban space, and show how easy it is to grow so many things organically,