CHENNAI: For Chitra Ravi Sankar, gardening is a passion. Living in a flat, space was a constraint, but she found a smart solution. “The terrace of my flat measures 1150 square feet, so I have converted it into a garden,” smiles the proud owner of a terrace garden. At first, she grew fruits, and later transformed the terrace into a proper garden. “In 2010, I first started growing fruits and then gradually, within a year, I moved to other varieties of plants,” she says.
At present, her terrace garden has 700 different kind of plants. From fruits to vegetables and flowers to rare varieties of herbs, Chitra has it all in her terrace. “Among fruits and flowers, I grow hybrid lemon, malta orange, custard apple, jasmine, marigold, zinnia, lavender as well as different kind of roses. I also have around 10 varieties of basil herbal plants in my collection,” she says. Among the herbs that she has, many are known for their medicinal value. “I have amruthavalli, seenthil, stevia herbs that can cure diabetes in the long run. Along with this I have thippili, galangal, omavalli, that are great for managing congestion, cough and cold, kesavardhini, karisalankanni, henna and indigo that promotes hair growth, madukathan, elumbotti and pirandai that have medicinal properties to treat arthritis,” she explains adding, “Apart from this, I grow varieties of thulasi plant such as Thai basil, Italian basil, karpoora thulasi, vana thulasi, among others in my garden.”
In spite of having a time crunch, this government employee manages to take out time to care for her plants. “I get up around 5 in the morning, water my plants and trim them. During the weekends, I add in manure and other nutrients for their optimal growth,” she says. However, she doesn’t buy the manure — she prepares it naturally.
“I use only organic manure and fertilisers… I mix cow dung, cow urine, ghee, milk, aloe vera, jaggery power along with other natural ingredients, ferment them for a week and then spray it directly on the plants. Also I use groundnut cake after soaking it for two days as it is a good nitrogen fixing agent for plants.” She also advocates using natural pesticides.“I use repellent like neem paste, neem leaves and nila vembu (Andrographic Paniculata) to keep pests away,” she smiles.
