Terrace gardens bloom in Vizag
Terrace gardeners say that the hobby of growing vegetables and flowers on their terraces using organic methods is financially and emotionally rewarding, especially at times when vegetable prices are skyrocketing
A terrace garden grown using organic farming methods, in Visakhapatnam.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The culture of terrace gardening is picking up in Visakhapatnam city and about 2,000 such terrace gardeners are seen actively sharing their experiences with each other on various social media platforms, inspiring many others to take up the financially and emotionally rewarding hobby.
A majority of these growers are homemakers and students who have picked up the hobby of growing a variety of flowers and vegetable plants using organic farming methods, on their terraces.
Through this practice, they are achieving twin goals of promoting the consumption of organic crops and also reducing the financial burden on their families, especially when the vegetable prices are skyrocketing these days.
Among terrace gardeners found on Whatsapp and Facebook groups, about 1,500 have their gardens at their own houses, and the others are growing their gardens at rented houses they live in.
People living within the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) are sharing their experiences and ideas by creating digital groups on social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook.
With an emphasis on less usage of chemicals and pesticides, these terrace gardeners have been using kitchen waste to make organic fertiliser for the plants right at their houses.
S. Prabhath, a BCA student of Aditya College here said, “I have been growing vegetables and flowers on my terrace for the past seven years. I invest a maximum of ₹100 in the garden, and I get a yield of vegetables, worth ₹2,000, that meets the monthly requirement of our family. I spend a maximum of an hour tending to the plants. Spending an hour in my garden gives me satisfaction and peace.”
P. Swathi, a housewife at NAD Kotha Road said, “Apart from vegetables, we grow valuable and rare species of plants. My daughter Satya Yukta discovered a shrub called Indian Snowberry (Flueggea leucopyrus) in the Simhachalam hills here. We began growing it and it is now blooming. Terrace or any type of gardening is a great stress relief activity. We can learn a lot about nature, the insects, plants, birds and animals. Spending time in the garden helps us increase our imagination and know a great deal about nature.”
Some enthusiasts who have experience in terrace gardening and organic vegetable cultivation have also created social media groups to train newcomers to the field and help others.
Speaking to The Hindu, M. Aishwarya, head of Nature Gardeners, a WhatsApp group, said terrace gardening has many benefits; for example, home-grown fruits and vegetables are pest-free, the plants improve air quality, promote a healthy lifestyle, expand green cover and we can recycle kitchen waste for compost.
“However, terrace gardening is currently limited to those who live in individual houses. We also need this kind of interest from apartment dwellers as apartment complexes have a lot of space to grow many plants. We have also tied up with the GVMC and other government bodies to actively participate and share our experiences and lessons learned in this activity,” Ms. Aishwarya adds.
The president of an apartment owners’ welfare association at PM Palem said, “There is an idea to take up a terrace garden on the terrace of our apartment. We are reconsidering the proposal. But the problem here is that not all people have the same inclination. There may be chances of differences cropping up or issues in sharing the produce. So, we need to keep these things in mind and come up with alternate solutions before taking up such works.”
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Andhra Pradesh
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