When a few of Mysore home garden enthusiasts came together on a Saturday evening to visit TWO interesting home gardens, our objective was to interact, learn and get inspired. The visit accomplished that goal and much more. It has laid the foundation for a future network of home gardeners who are willing to work for bringing more goodness in their food and surrounding. The visit to the two home gardens narrated below:
Mayya’s home garden
Mr. Mayya, a retired Karnataka bank manager has converted every possible space in his house into a garden (parapets, space below the solar panels etc). The liveliness of the garden matched the liveliness of Mr. Mayya. He enthusiastically explained how he started his home gardening after his retirement, his patient 3-4 hours of watering the plants daily from morning 4 AM, how he’s earning more than Rs. 10,000.00 from his home garden etc. His pallav plant leaves are in great demand from the restaurants where he sells each leaf for Re. 1. He was also encouraging the visitors to cultivate as there’s a huge demand for it.
His simplicity was evident in his garden very much – He uses the second quality plastic containers bought at a cheap price from the shivrampet market for the plant pots; his saplings are lined up in used milk covers; His home garden was a good demonstration of how to set up an elaborate home garden at a low cost?
The only thing required in abundance is Time and Love for the plants. He re-pots the plants every 6 months and he never buys manure from outside as his home waste and garden waste was quite sufficient. The 5 year old curry leaves plant bearing fruits which are left for ripening (to collect seeds) caught everyone’s attention. His home garden taught us that home gardening can be joyful and helps you keep healthy and it can be economically rewarding too.
Veena’s community garden
When the nearby plot is a waste dump yard breeding mosquitoes and snakes, many of us might get frustrated and keep complaining. But Veena converted the problem into an opportunity. She got the consent from the owner and has worked hard to convert into a beautiful kitchen garden which is rewarding her in more than one way. Apart from the healthy food for her family, her mosquito and snakes problems have vanished. It has become a go-to spot for her whenever she feels dull and down. She says plants have taught her to give good things to people whatever problems one might go through. On top of all this, this initiative has brought together the likeminded people in the street and slowly the entire street is in the verge of becoming no-waste Street as everyone is happy to come and dump their organic waste and get a few kanthes of soppu in return. A few more of such initiatives can truly make Mysore a better place to live!
The visit was concluded with a notes-sharing session and a self-intro roundup. The positive energy among the group was quite visible and everyone suggested to have such occasions planned once a month from now on. Mr. Maruthee’s suggestion to organize a seed bank was appreciated by all. Mr. Maruthi also suggested to use the daily composting unit for composting the kitchen waste instead of dumping it directly in the garden. A custom made composting unit will be made by the potters in Thoora village near Mysore at a nominal cost and will be made available to all soon.
Every one of us left with a resolution taken in our mind to take small steps that shall make this a better world to live and makes us happy! After all, sukhi jeevana is our birth right!!
Attendees’ list:
Gananath, Balachandran, Gitesh, Subramanyam, Mrs. Surbamanyam, Mrs. Dhanalakshmi, Alok, Maruthi, Vishwa Vinyaas, Meera, Anshul Vinyaas, Meera's mother, Nagabhushan, Mrs. Nagabhushan, Selvam, Mrs. Selvam, Dorine, Sandhya Iyer, Niranjan Murthy
