BENGALURU:The moment I laid eyes on this (approximately 18’/25’) balcony of my husband’s office, my face lit up with joy and I conjured a vivid image of a lush, colourful, aromatic and thriving garden filled with vegetables.
When Sam, my husband, spied the glint in my eyes, he understood. His convincing abilities, his company Akvo’s green attitude and my intrinsic need to grow food, saw me hauling the first few bags of soil and vermi-compost up the lift to the fifth floor on July 17 last year. The entire staff were a hands-on part of the initial setting up. Barely forty days into our green journey, Shiv, the office cook, had started harvesting fresh organic vegetables every other day and the staff were also taking home some vegetables.
Apart from brinjals, tomatoes, mint, palak and lettuce, we soon added chillies, pak choy, three varieties of beans, okra and cherry tomatoes to our regular harvests.
Converting this beautiful harvest into food was an amazing feeling. Along with bountiful harvests, we experienced a fair share of pests which we managed with some simple organic solutions. Come winter and we will have our patch sported loads of new crops like coloured radishes, rockette, potatoes, beets, more greens, cabbages, cauliflowers and broccoli. Sumptuous winter browns apart, we were filled with a huge sense of accomplishment and a renewed sense of faith and hope.
In the middle of all this, The daily dump composting “Khamba” quietly made it’s entry. This January, our garden completed a bright, beautiful and eventful "Half-year”!
A staff Ravi, accounts manager says, “This initiative has led to not only cutting down of purchases of vegetables, but also healthy eating.”
Sam, a consultant, adds, “The sights, smells and tastes from a garden, especially one's own, is rejuvenating. However, a garden done really well, like this one, makes the workplace relaxing and happy.”
The chemist Pradeep recalls his childhood days when he used to have fresh vegetables. “When I see this garden, especially when I eat the tasty cherry tomatoes and the chutney made with the green tomatoes, I feel good.”