CHENNAI:Protect nature and it protects you,” believes Sathya Pamula, a senior officer in a PR and advocacy firm. He says he’s a phytophile and loves to spend time in his 150-yard garden, which is spread around his independent house, in Saidabad, Hyderabad. He spends his time nurturing the baby plants and taking care of them.
His alluring 17-year-old garden has a wide variety of plants ranging from giant trees such as mango, two varieties of banana – raw and sweet, betel nuts, guava, jackfruit, Indian gooseberry (amla), henna. There are even small shrubs such as aloe vera, curry leaf and lime. Apart from these, there are various flowers such as china rose – pink and red, jasmine, pinwheel flower or crape jasmine and narcissus which blooms only in December. Hanging and fixed pots at the garden carry small medicinal plants. The flowers are an added point of attraction here.
He says, “I spend 30 minutes here every day, watering, cleaning and admiring my plants and trees.” Earlier, he used to grow a variety of vegetables, which has now reduced to only spinach and tomatoes. This is because, when the big trees grow, their shades create an hindrance for small plants to grow. With the help of his wife, he takes care of the garden, and when they’re out of town, their domestic does the needful. Sathya is conscious of plants to the extent that he ensures that the gardener assigned to trim and take care, does the job right, he says.
The small flower plants and vegetables that need to be well manured and protected, are done purely with the use of organic manure, instead of the chemical ones. “We use cow dung, goat dung and vermi compost as organic fertiliser and neem cakes to protect them from pests,” he says.
These plants and trees produce fruits and vegetables which are a handful for them. They use these personally and even distribute them among neighbours and relatives. “We made Avakaya, the mango pickle, this year from the mangoes we got from this tree,” says Sathya.