Jamila Mohamed Ahmed never buys pickles from the market. She does not have to as her roof top garden on St. Mary’s Road gives her plenty of lime, mangoes and other vegetables that cater her kitchen needs. Herbs, veggies and fruits sprout on her terrace farm. This year, she is concentrating on regularly used vegetables. Some exotic varieties like Chinese bok choy , seedless lemon and tomato seeds sourced from London have already started sprouting.
“You won’t believe in less than one month since I planted the seeds I brought from London, table radish has borne fruit,” says Jamila. Her garden has four varieties of pomegranate and water melon.
“It is not difficult,” says Jamila, who does interior designing and travels a lot. The secret behind the rooftop garden, she says is, “Lots of care and hard work. The manure is from my kitchen. This apart, I dump cheap fish. Fish emulsion is the best manure.”
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In the narrow and congested Triplicane, Uma Jayagopal has become every neighbour’s envy. Last year, her roof top garden gave plenty of gourd varieties and broad beans. “There was so much that I distributed to my students,” says Uma, who runs Satyananda Yoga Centre. This time, she is getting ready to plant leafy vegetables. “It grows fast and does not require much maintenance. Three varieties of keerai and palak is my immediate focus,” Uma says she spends an hour a day. She gets the seeds from the Horticulture Department in R.K. Salai. “They are cheap and of good quality,” says Uma, who plans to plant in recyclable covers instead of pots.
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Sulochana Ramabadhran started her rooftop garden after the doctor said not to buy keerai from the market. Since then she has been experimenting on one vegetable after the other. All the chilli varieties she planted were successful.
This time, she plans to further experiment on capsicum. “I use capsicum in almost every dish I prepare, so growing them should come handy. But, I want it to grow like the ones available in market,” says the RA Puram resident who works as a special educator. She uses the same seeds from the vegetable. “Last year, I got a good yield. Yellow and red varieties I will be trying this time.”
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Alwarpet resident Jalendar Reddy has been propagating about growing adeniums, commonly known as the desert rose, for the last eight years. This year, he plans to produce five lakh plants at his farm near Red Hills and promote it as a return gift at weddings and other events.
“Adeniums require very little water and care. You can be out of station for six months without pouring water, it will still grow,” says Jalendar, who plans to focus on the green variety. These are priced from Rs. 100 onwards. To know more, visit www.adeniumsindia.com