Terrace Gardenening — Journey
Nature is the Nurturer of Life.
During the lockdown, my family and I started terrace gardening. If you didn’t know already — it’s a gardening technique where plants are grown on top of the house. The plants are provided the requirements they need on the terrace. Anybody can start terrace gardening without any prior knowledge. The only required thing is the interest in gardening and love towards plants.
Firstly, we did not have a plan of making a terrace garden rather we started just by growing small plants like — Mint, Coriander, and some Veggies. We planted them in small pots with sufficient soil and water that is required. After all this, we were happy for getting the harvest out of these small plants. We wanted to take it to the next level by planting more of what we know and what we can plant. Parents started researching from their end on various other plants & seedlings to grow them all.
The interest arose so much that we bought some basic gardening tools like scissors, soil mixer tools, gloves, cutters, etc for evolving the same.
My brother and I started getting more soil to keep more plants. We visited a nearby nursery for purchasing some fruit giving plants such as grafted mango, grafted orange, pomegranate, lemon, and other similar plants. When we purchased the plant from the nursery, we were given a very limited pot (base) with space for roots. We had to do repotting by mixing other natural manure along with some extra soil and provide enough nutrients for the plant to sustain.
It is always good to have support for the plants especially for those that are kept on top of the terrace. We can see one pipe stand that is kept under the pots. If we neglect to keep a supportive stand, there is a chance of extra drained water getting accumulated below the pot which can create a new problem (terrace leakage). Slowly, we invited creeper plants into the plant family. A picture of the same can be seen below.
We also started collecting the kitchen waste which can be decomposed into natural compost. It should be mixed in a certain ratio while repotting a plant.
Creepers or Climbers take anything that comes in their way as a support to hold tightly. Initially, we had provided extra supportive stands for them in order to hold tightly and freely. We did not know even that gets limited at some point. They started holding branches of other plants and thus created a total mess.
The ridge gourd plant is a creeper or climber plant. We planted that along with other creepers like bitter gourd and bottle gourd. We were getting a good amount of ridge gourd harvest until the day monkeys started to ruining them in search of food. They started visiting our terrace garden for food. They were not only feeding on the ridge gourd vegetables but also destroying other plants. We started to look after the plants on a timely basis by taming the monkeys. The whole process was not going according to our wish. Finally, we decided to put a fence around the terrace which was the only permanent solution.
The above picture is not a fully fenced picture. Poor monkeys — they could not have a chance to get anything. There was no problem when they were eating the veggies. The problem arose only when they started ruining other plants. Now that it was all fenced, we started planting other similar creeper plants with confidence and there was no worry at all.
With this, we invited other plants in this small family. We invited fig (anjeer) plants, grape plants, and other ayurvedic (medicinal) plants. We provided extra support for the creepers or climbers by tying plastic strings connecting the stem and the fencing rod.
The plants are growing so beautifully that it really feels like a child growing in front of parents. The creeper plants easily take hold of these strings without the need for other branches for support.
Seriously, gardening is so addictive that one really feels less no matter how many plants one has in one’s own garden. In fact, we still feel to grow more plants, fill up space with plants.
If a person is having a garden irrespective of its size, he/she feels close to Nature. This is the same feeling I am undergoing with. I sometimes sit in my garden observing my thoughts and meditating. I observe the flowers and the bees that come for nectar.
We are all connected. We cannot sustain with one being destroyed. Let’s all flourish the Earth starting from flourishing our homes.
I am Mohammed Sameeruddin, will be sharing my gardening experience through this publication.
