Yes, it’s hot. And humid. And you have had a long day at work. The tensions and stresses have built up. And all you want to do is go home and relax. You head out and walk to the subway station. You dash for the train, even though it is bursting at the seams. Packed like sardines, you are nevertheless too tired to even jostle for a seat.
You grab hold of the overhead handlebar and start dreaming about your “back home” rituals. The cool, refreshing shower. The comfortable cotton loungewear. A cup of tea or, better still, a glass of iced lemonade.
What will add to the euphoria is if you could do this “chilling” sitting in your own garden. But let’s face it, how many of us can afford to have our own little patch of green? Perhaps those can who live in the still extant sprawling bungalows or luxurious mansions tucked away in some of the esoteric locales of the city. Or those who journey to the suburbs, where nature has not yet been fully uprooted.
But don’t despair. The good news is that even if your dwelling is just a crampy little apartment in a congested corner of the city, you can create your own garden. Like an oasis in a desert. And no, you don’t need to hire an expensive interior decorator to do this for you. You can do it yourself.
The ideal space to grow your garden would be a balcony or verandah, which, thank God, most promoters and developers today provide, even with tiny flats. Alternatives would be your terrace, if neighbours allow you to create a rooftop garden or even a little green patch on the sides of your driveway. You get the idea. We are talking “outdoors”. The reasons are obvious. Plants need sunlight for photosynthesis. We don’t need to be scientists, far less rocket scientists, to know that this is the process by which plants feed. The chlorophyll present in leaves, which gives them the green pigmentation, helps absorb light from the environment, and the energy it creates converts nutrients that the roots have drawn from the ground into plant food. This brings us to the other very important element of growing a garden: H2O. Yes, that’s right, water! Everyone knows that you need to water your plants. This keeps the ground on which it grows hydrated and allows roots to freely travel through the moist earth, collecting nutrition.
“All this is rudimentary knowledge,” you may be scoffing. Yes, of course, it is, but sometimes you just need to hear the basics, the most obvious, in order to realise that you can keep it simple.
Now that you have identified the region, the next step is to go out and get a few tubs. Don’t go for the plastic or synthetic variety. Opt for the clay pots because plants love natural. Fill your container with soil, either bought from the local nursery or collected from the different construction sites strewn around the city, which appear to be perennially dug up for some reason or the other.
Preparing the soil needs a little care. Often, it is a dry mass of lumpy earth. You need to gently break it down using your hands until it has a grainy texture, like flour, which can pass through your fingers like sand. At other times, it is a thick, muddy consistency, which is not conducive to roots getting a grip. You nevertheless need to smoothen it out using your fingers, drying out the extra moisture in the sun.
Pour this dehydrated soil into the tub and sprinkle it with just enough water to make it moist. If you sniggered at the obvious information provided earlier, you would know that you needed to have gone out and gotten yourself a sapling or two of your choice of plant. Don’t want to keep telling you the obvious, you know.
Now, using your finger, dot the soil with a few tiny holes, into which you will plant the saplings. Don’t plant the sapling too deeply into the earth. The top of the sapling ought to peep out, or else it will not be able to absorb light. Once planted, gently tap the soil around the exposed bottom of the saplings in order to close the gaping holes. This is to ensure that the saplings are not too loosely attached. Not too tight, nor too loose, is the key.
For those who want to start a garden from the seed stage, instead of planting saplings, sprinkle your choice of plant, flower, or even fruit seeds over the soil. “I have had date trees shoot out of a tub of potted plants after I carelessly threw the seeds into it, not to mention mango, jackfruit, and even orange trees,” says a woman with a green thumb. “Though these did not grow into fully-bloomed trees, they look pretty.”
While plants from fruit trees are less common, flowers and other plants are quite common. From hibiscuses to marigolds, from roses to jasmines, you can be surrounded by it all. “Though I live in a tiny flat, every evening I come home to the scent of jasmine, and when I sit beside the flowering plant and sip my tea, the stresses and tensions disappear into thin air,” says another garden grower.
As far as plants are concerned, the choices are limitless. “I decided to grow a money plant when a superstitious friend told me it was the only way to grow my bank balance,” laughed a man who finds the salary increase at his job too slow. “While it didn’t really help as far as raking in the moolah is concerned, it is delightful to return home to the beauty of this evergreen foliage spreading its shoots all over my balcony.”
Well, now that you have the idea planted in your head, go and plant your own garden.