CHENNAI : When Neema Karthik moved to her new house in Porur, Chennai, in 2011, she terribly missed the fields in her hometown of TirunIelveli. Fortunately, her terrace at the new address embraced her to recreate a similar environment.As she walks us through her terrace, we find traditional vegetables like drumsticks, lemon, curry leaves, capsicum, chillies, varieties of gourds and fruits like guava, chikoo and mango. Only one half of the area has been used to plant vegetables, fruits and flowers.
The other half is connected to the pipe for rainwater harvesting. “I am used to seeing fields, and a lot of vegetables in my kitchen back in Tirunelveli came right from our fields. I go to the market to purchase vegetables like onions, which I can’t grow here,” says Neema.
This, along with her aquarium, is a way of keeping herself busy, when her son is away at school and her husband leaves for work. At Neema’s garden, waste is upcycled. Empty water cans, a broken aquarium and waste plastic bottles are used as pots to plant trees. In order to stop water from seeping out of the make-shift pots and bags, red-brick or clay are placed beneath the pots.
A barrel is used to store kitchen waste which is used as manure. The broken aquarium stores dry leaves which is used as compost for the soil. The coconut shell is used to keep the soil healthy. “As Chennai’s climate is on the hotter side, I grow only plants that can withstand the heat,” she says.
Neema doesn’t have any formal training in gardening. Her mother-in-law, who is a farmer in Tirunelveli, frequently gives her tips to keep her garden healthy. Some of the seeds she sows are given by her. Not just her garden, Neema also cultivates other open spaces in her plot. She grows aloe vera, banana and some medicinal plants in her garden. Some of the flowering plants in her garden include roses and lilies, and they attract a lot of birds. Neema gives these flowers, especially roses, to guests who come home.