My Terrace Garden and the Shade Net House!

This week I was so busy setting up my shade net house on my house terrace, I thought I will write about it. Ever since I moved to the upstairs portion of my house, around 2008, I have been dreaming of a terrace garden and growing vegetables and greens on my terrace. More so because the ground was now not accessible except to park the car and go out of the house.

The dream came true in 2013 when I met a lady at Forum, who was dealing with trays and coco peat, and setting up of the terrace gardens for beginners like me. I grabbed the opportunity and bought some 10 trays, filled them up with coco peat and dribbled the seeds, ably assisted by that lady and her assistant, in this case her own driver!

Wow, very soon my terrace garden abounded with tomatoes, brinjal, chillies, beans and greens like spinach, mint, coriander, and root vegetables like carrot, beet and radish. I merrily went harvesting every now and then, used them and also distributed them to my dear friends! I felt so abundantly blessed! I even grew cabbage, green capsicum and cherry tomatoes!

I set up a ‘Kamba,’ three mud pots stacked up one above the other to dump all my wet kitchen waste, and was set on my way to make my own compost at home! I wouldn’t let any kitchen waste go ‘waste,’ but wait for to fall, and gather them as if they were the precious gold itself!

By late 2015, I wonder whether it was my interest that waned or the plants started to wilt under pest attacks, the terrace garden was not doing very well. My ‘Kamba’ was also not doing great as fruit flies abounded and settled in my kitchen and I can assure you it was not a pretty sight.

I had very bravely kept the ‘Kamba’ on the balcony, and accumulated kitchen waste for a day or two in the kitchen itself, before emptying into it. That must have given the flies an opportunity to multiply and spread! So that venture stopped for all practical purposes, by last September.

In the meanwhile I had started to grow flowering plants in pots on the terrace. There were different varieties of hibiscus, geraniums, and some bougainvillea. It was disheartening to see some of these plants wilt in the scorching summer heat of March and April.

These two months are unusually hot in Bangalore, even hotter than Chennai! However by May 15^th temperature in Bangalore will usually come down due to South-West monsoon showers, whereas the temperature in Chennai will shoot up due to ‘agni nakshatra!’ (the fiery star!) This is a point of great debate and show down between my brother, who lives in Chennai and me!

So this summer, when the heat seemed to cross 32 degree Celsius even in February, I planned to put up a shade net for my dear terrace plants. By the beginning of March efforts were taken to procure the material and so on, but it started shaping up only during the Holy Week and was finally put up by Easter.

By March 15^th the temperature shot up to 36 degrees, unheard of in the recent past! It was higher than Chennai at least by 2-3 degrees! But then my plants are under the shade right now and am sure will weather the heat of the oncoming April month. Am I glad and satisfied! Yes definitely! 

Now I can get more flowering plants and also grow some of my favorite vegetables, after I renew their soil by applying fresh coco peat mixed with compost. My failure to do so might have resulted in the stunted growth of the vegetable plants and the pest attack. Well, time to rectify that.

I went and bought some hose pipe today to water all my plants upstairs. Added exercise of course! All set to have a great terrace garden and abundant supply of vegetables, greens and flowers, all under the protective shade of the shade net house!

Living in a concrete jungle of a city? Not to worry, you can grow a lovely garden on your terrace! Got no terrace, but live in a flat sandwiched between two floors? No problems, you can always use the available balcony space to grow a garden! Even that is not available? Then you just wait for idea of the vertical gardens to become popular, and then you can grow plants on your very walls!

God given fresh air and sun are there to grow fresh vegetables and be healthy by eating them, the very organic vegetables. In Bangalore it is a rage today to have a terrace garden and grow one’s own vegetables and even fruits like banana and oranges.

There is a movement in Bangalore, started by private individuals like Dr. Viswanath Kadur and encouraged by government in the Horticulture department, called ‘Oota from your thota.’ It literally means ‘food from your garden.’ Quite a popular venture, I would say, looking at the number of people successfully adopting this all over Bangalore.  

Want to dirty your hands with gardening, wherever you are? Go ahead and do so, you lose nothing but chemically treated and colored vegetables and greens.

Hurrah to home gardening and all the resultant healthy living!

May God bless you in your new endeavor!