CHENNAI: Lavannya Goradia, a principle architect at Studio Alaya, blogs about her gardening experiences. She says she was always drawn to this hobby, growing up around a grandmother who tended to her garden all her life with utmost care. “But, the incident that actually triggered my gardening attempt was moving into a house that was extremely hot to live in,” she says. “I am an architect and practise sustainability. Therefore, I came up with the idea of having a few plants on the roof. I figured that the plants would absorb the heat and that the house would be much cooler to live in.”
She loves all kinds of plants and has grown over 50 different vegetable plants and over 40 types of herbs. “I also like growing flowering plants that are butterfly-centric,” she says. “These plants are hosting and feeding plants for the butterflies and the increase in the number of butterflies essentially increases pollination.”Lavannya says that one thing she has learnt along the way is not to hurry nature. “Keeping huge expectations from a plant will only lead to disappointment. If you let go you will be surprised by how much nature can give you,” she says. “The best way to garden is the lazy way.”
She gives as example of the mass of ants that descend into most gardens in a certain season. “They are all over the garden and unearth a lot of soil, this usually happens right before the monsoon season,” she says. “This bothers a lot of people as some plants are eaten up and use all kinds of insecticides to get rid of these ants. However, ants are actually helpers. Firstly, they indicate that the monsoon season is about to start and secondly, they start mixing up and loosening the soil that has been hardened during summer. This makes the soil penetrable and suitable to absorb moisture during the monsoon. All you have to do is grow mint where the ants have made homes for them to disappear.“
In the beginning, she used to refer books but now she simply logs into Facebook. “I found a very interesting community on it called Organic Terrace Gardening,” she says.
Lavannya has no favourite plant, but if you push her to name one: “Brinjal… I love eating it and would end up buying a lot of it from the market so I love growing it at home as well.” She takes inspiration from Jamie Oliver, on growing food organically at home and using it in the kitchen. She says she keeps away from plants that are exotic and complicated to look after.
Tips
● It is extremely important for people to let go and believe in the doings of Nature.
● Compost, it makes all the difference.
● Mulch, collect all the dry leaves and cover your soil with these dry leaves. There should be at least a 2cm thick layer of leaves on your soil. It provides a continuous supply of nutrients to the soil. The roots of the plants are also protected even if you water them with force. It acts as a protective layer. The number of weeds will also significantly lessen.
I am like a rain lily...
“The rain lilies don’t need watering they wait for the humidity in the atmosphere and then bloom. I feel I’m equally sensitive to the happenings in the environment,” she says.