CHENNAI: Kalpana Ramesh, a 46-year-old interior architect and furniture designer, recalls how she started on gardening more than four years ago. Her mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and was given four and a half months to live, and that’s when Kalpana started an organic kitchen.
“I believed that she contracted the cancer from the chemicals inside our body, which come from the food we consume. I decided to have my own and organic kitchen-garden, so that my family will not have to consume pesticide-laced vegetables from the market’’ she says.
Baby Steps
Her first patch of garden was in a plot at Chilkur and Kalpana continues to nurture it.
Her terrace garden is just seven-months-old. From potatoes, tomatoes, radish and gourds to basil, ginger, lemon grass and grapes, her terrace garden at Gachibowli (Hyderabad) is a delight. Interestingly, this IT hub has a rocky terrain.
Her backyard also has banana trees and ornamental plants, which keep the surroundings fresh and cool. Pests pose the biggest challenge for her.
“I use neem oil or neem cakes and paste of chili powder, turmeric and garlic to keep them out,” she says. “It is important to understand how much sun your plants need because each terrace is different.”
Kalpana says the best is to keep the garden natural, with honeybees and birds for pollination and controlling pest populations.
“For watering the plants, I use pitcher irrigation,” she says, “which does not waste water.” She has also used lessons she caught on YouTube, such as planting onions in jars or pots placed at a height from the ground. “This keeps out ground pests... It is called upside down gardening,” she says.