The long period of COVID-19 lockdown may have brought most of the activities to a standstill, but it has certainly helped in reviving several terrace gardens in Bengaluru. Some residents have taken to terrace gardening either to beat the boredom or to make the best use of leisure time.
“Thousands of terrace gardens in Bengaluru had been left unattended due to their busy schedule. Now, the lockdown has provided them an opportunity to revive them. According to different estimates reaching us, anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 of them have been revived so far,” says Dr. C. Aswath, Principal Scientist and head of the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research’s (IIHR) Division of Floriculture and Medicinal Plants. Freshers too are taking to terrace gardening during the lockdown, he adds.
“Everyday, I have been getting calls from garden enthusiasts for advise ever since the lockdown has been imposed,” says Dr. Aswath, who conducted an one-day scientific course on terrace gardening during the IIHR’s National Horticulture Fair held in February at its Hessarghatta campus.
“I tell them to make use of locally available materials like old saris in place of shadenets as they are not available during lockdown. Also, it is possible to get seeds from the matured vegetables or fruits which we buy from the market . Only in the case of tomato, it may not be possible to sow the seeds if they are F-1 hybrids,” he says. He also advises people to use their kitchen waste to grow plants by decomposing it along with dried leaves from trees on roadside.
He says the 240 participants in the IIHR workshop have not only taken to terrace gardening, but have also helped their friends, relatives and neighbours to take to it.
Sunitha, a techie who recently quit her job, is one among those who have revived their old terrace gardens. “Due to paucity of time, we could not maintain the terrace garden earlier. But now we have,” she says. She has about 30 pots of vegetables and green leaves on her terrace with an area of about 1,100 square feet. “We are getting vegetables from our own garden at least for one time in a day during the lockdown,” she says proudly. “It gives a lot of relief to see greenery on your terrace,” she remarks.
