Talk, sing and cry to your plants, they respond
CHENNAI: Divya Valli Rajaram (45) is a homemaker and an avid terrace gardener. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, she underwent chemotherapy and needed to express her pain. And so she found gardening, which turned out to be the best way for her to drown her sorrows. “It was a tough treatment no doubt, but my passion for gardening pulled me through it,” she says.
Inspired by her mother, who used to have a beautiful garden, Divya now has more than 100 plants, ranging from flowering plants to a few vegetable plants. She initially had a small collection of plants, but it grew quickly within a year and later she bought as many plants as she could. These include cactus plants, which she always been fascinated by and she has 6-7 varieties. “I did all the gardening on my own, although I had some help with the manual labour for moving my pots and putting soil in the bags,” she says.
She also finds support from the Organic Gardening Group on Facebook, which has around 5,000 active members who educate each other on innovative methods for growing plants. She cares deeply for what she grows, and cried when her first plants died. “I believe I have a green thumb, because wherever I plant something, it grows. Instead of buying sarees or ornaments, I spend my money on buying plants,” she smiles.
Divya’s passion for gardening has also led to her educating others on proper gardening techniques. People request her help starting their own green spaces. “I want to conduct workshops for children to teach them the basics of gardening, such as creating their own fertilizers. I believe that if kids are attached to their plants, it will help them understand Botany better,” she says.
“There’s a lot to gardening. I don’t just water my plants, I sing, talk and cry to my plants. Plants grow and bloom better when they listen to you,” says Divya. She makes her own vermicompost and fertilizers using cow dung, vegetable waste, dead plants, worms, etc. These natural ingredients keep her plants healthy in all aspects. One such concoction is ‘Panchagavya’, which is made out of five ingredients — cow urine, curd, garlic, milk and ghee. She makes her own pesticides from a paste of garlic, ginger and green chilly mixed with water, and sprays that on her plants once every 10 days.
Divya is trying to find ways to grow plants better. She has partnered with different vendors for purchasing soil, seeds and manure. She recently partnered with a coconut vendor — instead of throwing away his coconut shells, he gives them to Divya to use as a base for growing plants. “I keep experimenting with gardening. I buy seeds from my friends, local markets and also online, which sometimes work and sometimes don’t,” she adds.
Being a housewife, it is difficult for her to manage time between her gardening, home and children. “I don’t have any plans and take life as it is. There are some days when I do absolutely nothing, but
life needs some adventure, hence I do gardening,” says Divya.
Apart from gardening, Divya loves to sing, and is learning Carnatic music and Sanskrit. She is a dog lover and has as many mongrels as friends. Divya describes herself as an opportunist, and wants to seize every moment in life and never give up.