Give your hands some rest from video games, smart phones and iPads and treat them to soil and plants. With time at your disposal, a vacation is the perfect time to put your green thumb to test and become a gardener.
Have an under-used balcony, an abandoned backyard or barren windows? Convert them into colourful spots of greens and flowers. You can even grow your own fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants, reducing your parents’ shopping bills to a large extent.
But first, you need to plan your garden:
Identify space: Look around for unused space that has access to sunlight. If you have a terrace you can create a garden using gunny bags and clay pots. Remember, outdoor plants require five to six hours of direct sunlight, indoor plants need only three to four hours.
Prep the pots: Besides the traditional clay pots, also scout for old plastic bottles, shoe-boxes, unused mugs and tin cans that you can fill with soil and plant your seeds or saplings. If you are using plastic or tin containers, make sure you punch some holes at the bottom for water to drain. For the artistically-inclined, have some fun painting these containers to add some colour to your garden.
Soil science: Prepping the soil for gardening is fun. Pack the soil into the pots loosely for the roots can grow easily, to ensure there are air spaces and allow for water to seep in easily. Add organic fertilizer, vermicompost or kitchen compost (bio-degradable vegetable waste) to make the soil nutritious and healthy.
Plant seeds: Plant the seeds under a layer of the prepared soil. If they are sowed too deep, then they will not receive enough sunlight to germinate. When you can finally see the sapling, push the seeds deeper into the soil.
Water right: Watering your garden must become a part of your daily routine. The soil mix must always be damp, but not soggy, to prevent the seeds from rotting. Once your seedlings have grown into plants, use a spray or water can to keep the leaves moist.
Indoor garden
Money plant is the easiest to grow. It requires a lot of moisture and very little sunlight.
Basil ( tulsi ), mint and rosemary also make for good indoor herb garden. These saplings are easily available in the market.
Mustard seeds and coriander seeds can be grown in smaller cans and boxes. You can start by growing them on cotton pads, and then add soil after the seeds begin to sprout.
Different kind of cacti can also be planted in mugs, and then placed on your window sill for a decorative touch.
Outdoor garden
For beginners, gooseberry and avocado are the easiest to grow and they bear fruit all year long.
Neem seeds might be difficult to find, but the presence of a neem tree in your backyard is extremely beneficial to your home. Their leaves exhale oxygen, and are of high medicinal value.
Flowering plants like marigold, hibiscus and rose are also perfect for an outdoor garden. Just remember to plant rose saplings at the end of summer so they reap the goodness of the monsoon, and come winter, roses will bloom and make your garden fragrant.
Art attack (Courtesy: Jyoti Parekh, Co-Founder of Bonsai Study Group of the Indo-Japanese Association)
Bonsai is the Japanese art of gardening, which literally means “miniature tree”. Any tree or shrub can be cultivated in a six-to-eight inch deep ceramic container and grown into personalised works of art. In the 14th century, Japanese priests and aristocrats started doing this as a hobby. Today, it has become one of the most popular artistic pursuits in the world. Get acquainted with bonsai
Select a plant: As beginners, you can choose smaller flowering plants like ixora and ravenia. They flower through the year and have pink, white, orange and magenta flowers. The plant can be grown from seed as well as seedlings and younger trees.
The right container: Select a ceramic container that suits the tree in terms of the size of the roots, shape and colour. The depth of the container should be approximately equal to the thickness of the trunk.
Soil for bonsai: The soil for bonsai is different from regular potted plants because of the addition of brick pieces and gravel to garden earth and manure.
Regular watering and four hours of direct sunlight is a must. About 30 spoons of fertilizer must be added every month and the plants should be re-potted once a year.
They must be regularly pruned and shaped according to how you want them to look. Sometimes, you need to bend branches with wires or cut them off altogether so that they remain healthy.
Remember, a bonsai is not only your artwork, but it is also a reflection of the love you shower on the plant.
Did you know?
Mint and ginger are not only first-rate remedies for stomach ailments, but they are easy to grow and have a high medicinal value.
Worms, the red wigglers that gross you out, are a must for good soil.
Basil is an excellent fly and mosquito-repellent.
Garlic repels rabbits and a variety of insects.
Stevia is a good substitute for sugar — one spoon of its leaf powder is as good as 100 gms of sugar.
You can make medicinal oils out of neem and tulsi leaves, but make sure to get an adult to help you.
Long pepper and Indian borage ( doddi-patre/ajwain ) are great remedies for cold and cough; likewise, aloe vera is soothing for wounds.
Betel leaves ( paan ) can be grown in your backyard and contain a lot of calcium.
