CHENNAI : Imagine sitting at the dinner table all set to relish the scrumptious fare without having to fear for one’s health. Well, breakfast, lunch and dinner have been a happy affair for ARS Vadhyar’s family for more than 17 years. At a time when terrace farming was yet to catch up with green enthusiasts in Kochi, Vadhyar, who is a builder by profession, developed one on the roof of his house.
“I always had the itch to set up a garden of my own. However, instead of going in for a flower garden, I had plans for a vegetable and fruit garden. I still remember the day I discussed it with my parents,” said Vadhyar. “They teased me and said ‘Oh! As if you are going to harvest a bumper crop’,” he added. But Vadhyar went ahead and converted the entire terrace into a well-planned vegetable garden.
“The day I harvested a bumper crop from my roof-top garden, my parents praised me. It was a wonderful experience,” said Vadhyar. Today, he also has a few coconut trees growing on the terrace. “We have every type of vegetable. yams, colocasia and okra besides other vegetables grow abundantly. We also have fruit trees like papaya, guava and chikoos,” he added.
The vegetables are organically cultivated with cow dung, peanut cake and vegetable waste being added as manure. “Watering the plants with the broth which is left over after draining cooked rice increases the nutrient content of the soil and hence is beneficial for the plants,” said Vadhyar.
What makes Vadhyar’s Yasoram Vegetable garden a very nostalgic place is his choice of vegetables. “I grow all the varieties that are endemic to Kerala. Tubers like kachil, which are fast disappearing from the countryside, find a space in our garden. I also have a section for herbs that are used in karkidakka kanji,” said Vadhyar. Spending time in the garden is the only exercise that keeps Vadhyar and his wife Jayasree spright.
“Everybody goes out for morning walks. But my wife and I spend nearly two hours every day in our terrace garden watering, weeding, manuring and picking out pests,” said Vadhyar, while pointing out that the whole endeavour provides exercise, pleasure along with saving money. According to him, before setting up the garden, they used to buy vegetables for more than `400 every week. “But now, we get all we need from the garden,” he said.