Feeling claustrophobic within the four walls of this concrete jungle? Missing out on the green? Well, a 41-year-old software engineer from the city, P Kalirajan, has a solution. He can turn the small space in your kitchen, balcony or open terrace into a patch of emerald, lush vegetables and fruits. And voila! Your kitchen garden is ready.
Kalirajan says he came up with the concept of ‘kitchen gardens’ in an attempt to form a green society. He started it on an experimental basis six months ago, helped by a group of five friends. He says, “Chennai’s green spaces are fast depleting. Even the fruit and vegetables we buy from the market are poisonous, grown with the use of excessive chemical fertilisers. With kitchen gardens like these, people can cultivate the plants they want without hassle.”
All that is required is a designed ultraviolet bag, which is cheap and easily transferable. The bag is filled with cocopit, a light weight base for the plants, made up of wastage of coconut trees. Being porous in nature, the cocopit retains water for a long time and supplies water to the plants drop by drop. The seeds are sowed and germinated with the help of purely natural fertilisers like cow dung, curd, buttermilk and palm sugar. A period of 35 to 40 days is required for the plants to grow.
Kalirajan enthusiastically claims, “Nearly five varieties of vegetables can be grown in a single bag, the quantity of which will be enough food to sustain three people for one whole week.”
He has so far used 50 varieties of native seeds like kodo millet, proso millet, barnyard millets and urad dal, and has grown an array of vegetables like beans, coriander, drumstick, ladies finger, bottle gourd and lime. “The first kitchen garden I set up was at my yoga centre. I also have one in my own house,” he says.
Over the months, Kalirajan has designed kitchen gardens for nearly 15 homes and it seems more offers are pouring in, owing to its eco-friendly and cost-efficient factors.
Kalirajan, who is a founding member of the Jeevanalaya Welfare Trust set up in 2010, says that though he started designing these gardens out of interest, he wants to expand it into a profitable business. “I now charge `1,500 to `2,000 to design a garden. The entire amount goes into my trust.”
If you thought he was an amateur, Kalirajan clarifies, “I have undergone hands-on training for almost a month at an organic firm owned by one of my friends in Arcot, before I started doing it on a professional basis. Now I am also a member of a society called the Chennai Green Commune.”
Ask about his future plans and Kalirajan says with a chuckle, “Setting up kitchen gardens has become my my hobby. After slogging out the entire week in office, I usually devote my weekends to this. I love indulging myself in doing so.” Does he wish to expand this hobby beyond personal pleasure? “As of now, no such plans but I definitely wish to supply my home-grown kitchen garden products in wholesale markets sometime in near future,” he says with aplomb.
Kalirajan can be contacted at 9940404319