First things first. Interest in vegetable gardening seems to be on the rise during lockdown. Here are two random examples pointing in this direction — Raghu Kumar of Organic Garden Foundation reports that calculating the first thirty days of the lockdown, point to a spurt in membership that is three times the average monthly increase. Prakash Rajasekharan of Inspiring Organic Terrace Gardens talks of a gallop in the numbers.
It may have to do with the desire for self-sufficiency, fuelled by the ongoing hardship in purchasing vegetables; and two, availability of time due to the lockdown as a factor encouraging fledgling home gardeners to pick up new skill.
But now, resources for beginner and fledgling gardeners won’t be readily available. Those with green thumbs, especially those engaged in regenerative farming, however say it is a problem that can be tackled, effortlessly and cost-effectively – we’ll get to that in a bit.
Here are two stories, both rooted in the lockdown – one from a terrace in Jafferkhanpet and the other from a balcony in Nungambakkam – that prove home gardening is an environmental, social and civic intervention.
For Lakshmi Venky, a terrace gardener, her 1,500 sq.ft terrace at her house in Jafferkhanpet defines self-sufficiency during these times.
“All the summer veggies are available at my terrace garden, and I step out only for very few vegetables,” says Lakshmi. That can be a great blessing during the lockdown.
Lakshmi reveals she shares some of the produce with friends and neighbours, which strengthens social connections.
However, the most powerful and now-pertinent point of social caring she is driving home is how gardening can make things easy for conservancy workers.
Civic & social action
Every terrace or home gardener worth their salt compost at home. Wet waste makes up the biggest portion of household waste, and if families compost, that will be taken care of at the household level itself. Such a situation can be a great help to conservancy workers especially during the COVID-19 crisis when they are stretched to their limits, points out Lakshmi.
Besides, there is a lot of recycling that can happen on account of terrace gardening, adds Lakshmi. Old discarded mugs and pet bottles can be used as pots, thereby preventing them from polluting the environment.
From kitchen waste
Maya Ganesh, a regenerative agriculturist, had cleared the plants in her balcony garden in Nungambakkam, relocating them to another place, as she was going to be away from Chennai for a long time.
Her plans fell through unexpectedly due to the COVID-19 crisis, and then the lockdown happened.
That is when she raised a garden from the scratch, on the same balcony.
“I just used the cuttings from what was meant for the kitchen — Pasalai Keerai / Malabar Spinach stalks, Mint stalks, Ceylon Pasalai Keerai stalks/ Ceylon Spinach, Karpooravalli / Indian Borage cuttings. And then bulbs and root vegetables,” says Maya, adding, “small onions can be grown for onion chives (the leaves); garlic chives; beetroot tops for edible leaves; pineapple tops, sepankazhagu bulbs, shooting ginger roots can be grown. For seeds, you just have to look in the fruits basket: You have fresh papaya seeds, musk melon seeds, methi/ vendayam/ Fenugreek greens from seeds, and mustard seed microgreens.”
For the pots, Maya used takeaway containers plus whatever empty pots that she already had. She explains, “You need to make a hole at the bottom of the takeaway containers, plug the hole with a stone or any broken piece and fill it with whatever soil or compost you have.”
