Every terrace holds a treasure

Many working professionals now raise their own fruits, vegetables and herbs from the comfort of home.RANJANI RAJENDRA garden-hops to trace the trend

Wouldn’t it be nice to dish up some crusty bruschetta with fresh tomatoes and basil from your garden when friends drop in? Or, maybe, pick a few sprigs of methi from your balcony whenever you felt like adding a little zing to your food?

Several Chennai professionals certainly seem to think so. With a mushrooming concrete jungle replacing once-green backyards, and growing reports of food safety concerns, several Chennaites are exercising their green thumbs with enthusiasm. Right from tomatoes and green chillies to beans and drumsticks, and even fruits, one can find them all in a friend’s backyard or balcony.

Take, for instance, Saimeenakshi Sankar. The software professional specifically rented an independent house because she wanted to grow fruits and vegetables. “Come home, and you will see that I have converted everything from my backyard to the terrace, into a vegetable or fruit patch. I grow everything from brinjal, okra, tomatoes and broad beans to even herbs such as basil, thai basil, lemongrass and carom seeds. Currently, I have cabbage, chillies and greens ready for harvest,” she says. Saimeenakshi grew up watching her grandmother pick fresh vegetables from her backyard in Madurai for day-to-day cooking. “I wanted to create a similar eco-system wherever I lived. I spend most mornings, evenings and weekends in my garden.”

Then, there is Sumithra Srikant, an interior designer, who, a decade ago, converted her then new home into a mini farm of sorts with all kinds of vegetables and fruits.

“For the first year or so, we had a gardener, but he’d spray chemicals to keep pests away and that disturbed me, since my family consumed the produce. Gradually, I switched to tending to the garden myself, and have adopted the organic way of growing fruits and vegetables. The idea was that I wanted to give my children fresh and healthy food. What began as a small patch now covers every square inch of free space in my house,” she smiles.

Sumithra has also begun composting kitchen waste — aerobic, anaerobic and vermi-composting. “Social responsibility must begin at home after all. I recently also launched a store called Aapti Gardening Solutions in Abhiramapuram, where I conduct workshops on gardening and composting. A lot of young professionals turn up for these sessions,” she says.

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And, when there’s bountiful produce, Sumithra shares them with friends and family. “It’s the best gift I can give,” she says.

According to Alladi Mahadevan of Green Embryo, the trend stems from the fact that people are looking to move away from pesticides and chemicals. “It’s becoming a community drive of sorts. We’re often called by individuals to service their balcony gardens. From there on, we’ve seen the word spread and entire apartment communities utilise open spaces to grow fruits and vegetables. I think people are beginning to realise the importance of knowing what food they’re consuming and where it is coming from. For example, it isn’t uncommon to see the market flooded with unseasonal fruits and vegetables. It is obvious that they’ve been artificially ripened and are probably not as fresh, since they may have been brought from afar,” he says.

These gardens are a great way to familiarise children with fruits and vegetables and teach them about pollination and butterflies. “Text books will not be able to provide this kind of practical exposure. In fact, we’ve seen schools in Chennai opt for a vegetable patch over Korean grass on their campuses. A lot of them even involve students in the procedure.”

Often, first-time vegetable growers opt to grow greens — they are low-maintenance, easy to raise and grow in even a basic trough.

Sruti Harihara of Goli Soda and Ashvita Bistro also launched a terrace garden at the bistro. She also conducts monthly garden workshops, and says that it was her childhood summer vacation at her grandparents’ in Kerala that influenced her love for growing vegetables. “There, gardens are not just about beauty but also sustainability. My grandmother would ask us what we wanted for lunch and we always had a variety to pick from our garden for her to cook us a feast. So, I’ve always been close to Nature that way and had always thought that I’d grow my own vegetables once I retired. But then, why wait for retirement when I can do the same now? It all began with a lot of trial and error; now, I have a thriving kitchen garden,” she says.

These enthusiasts say growing their own food also makes them respect food more. They’ve also devised ways to keep pests at bay using regular kitchen staples. “For instance, diluting one spoon of ginger, garlic and green chilli paste (ground with oil) in a litre of water and spraying them on your plants can keep pests away. Why pick chemicals then? Then there are other things like neem oil and pungam oil which work wonders too,” says Sumithra.