Chennai: “With my husband and I working in the IT field, we wanted to start something that would relieve our stress. The result was this,” says Pammal resident Ramya pointing to her terrace garden.
This gardening enthusiast who has since resigned her job and is successfully cultivating vegetables, speaks to News Today.
A SMALL START
“When I gave birth to my son, my husband Clement and I decided that, if we both remain in the same field, it’s not going to work, because of alternative shifts and late night projects. This was when we got interested in organic farming and terrace gardening,” Says Ramya.
Though they faced a few setbacks in the initial stages, Ramya says they eventually learnt about terrace farming. “Initially, we bought tomato, ladies finger and tested them, which failed. We then got to know about the Organic Garden Foundation (OGF), and participated in their workshops. Now, three years later, we have over 200 plants,” she says and adds that they started conducting workshops and awareness programmes about terrace gardening and provide free seeds.
NATURAL MANURE
Ramya expalins that since they want to grow their plant organically, they completely relied on natural manure.
“For this, Nammalwar’s NGO helped us. They taught how to make manure from household products like dry leaves, sugarcane waste and coconut brushes. Even the sand we get, is from our locality. The mud, where the roadside plants grow, have enough nutrients in them. Mulching is done using all these without any expenses. Vermicompost is done by grinding the vegetable waste and old curd. They can be diluted and used,” she says.
Speaking of the various varities of vegetables in their terrace garden said, Ramya says, “We have Tomato, Brinjal, Ladies Finger, Ridge Gourd, Manathakkali and seven varieties of medicinal plants like Tulsi, Mudakathan, Thoothuvalai, Pei Miratti, Manjal, Aada Thoda leaves, Lochi leaves and more. We even have varieties of Tulsis like Clove, Lemon, Paneer and Mint.”
SOURCE OF SUPPORT
Ramya says it was her husband who boosted her to start a garden and grow organic vegetables.
“But, what pushed me more was the film 36 Vayathinile. So, both my husband and the movie are the two sole reasons why I started this,” she says.
PRACTICAL LESSONS
Ramya says the entire process has impacted their son in a good way. “He realises how difficult it is to grow a vegetable and because of this, he never wastes food,” she says proudly.
Ramya can be contacted at 7448911116.