Harvest of Avala |
Harvest of beans |
"The happiest moments related to my garden are when we get to eat what I planted", Jyoti Bhave was not into gardening too much. She is a housewife. Till the year 2000 she lived in a flat on third floor. at Dadar. She had some plants in window grill like many of us do but that was it. Later, she moved to a ground floor flat in a quiet neighborhood. Last year, she decided to join a gardening course at Thana College. The interest started building.
Her own harvest of Spinach, Lady Finger and Bottle Gourde made her happy. She tried to grow some other plants too but couldn't. She soon discovered that mixture of red soil, dung, and coco pit that she was using didn't provide enough nutrition to plants. This was when she started looking for other resources and found Urban Leaves on the web. You can find her blog on Urban Leaves about her initial experiences. She still uses the old method for some plants but Amrut Mitti has been a big hit in her garden!
The door to the house is hidden by her hefty garden. List of her garden crops is long and diverse. She harvested 10-15 Cucumbers from just one vine earlier this year and currently has some good Papayas hanging from a tree. She has also planted Drumstick, Jackfruit, Banyan and Jamun trees. Flowering plants such as Anant, Red Passion Flower, Parijatak, Bakul, Sonchampa, Ratrani and Roses adorn her veranda. Being from a Zoology background, I was also delighted to see a large container for water. Her ground floor flat with space around it and her zeal are the reasons I feel that her garden can also have a nice butterfly plant section as well as a frog pond.
She wants to enhance her garden further. This month, her Papaya plant gave her some nice coconut sized Papayas and some petite Bananas. Plans of planting some 'winter special' crops are already on the way.
She has also spread this developing hobby to her friends and relatives. She says that that there are no sacrifices for harvesting crops of your own. She spends daily just half an hour tending to it. The only money that she invested was in the containers or pots for plants. Her city-farm not only gives food but also gives enjoyment and happiness. The flowers on her plants give her immense satisfaction. The only
negatives are rare scolding by family. Treatable...