CHENNAI: I used to be like many urban people, dreaming of moving to the mountains, owning an acre of land, and growing food,” muses Anita Tikoo, a landscape architect by profession, urban gardener by passion, and home chef and blogger by delight.
Her home in Delhi is a microcosm of possibilities. “Once I started gardening, I realised an acre of land was too much. If you’re planning to avoid waste, you simply cannot process that much food,” she reflects. Her journey, deeply rooted in her modest urban garden, has been transformative — showing the potential of small spaces to cultivate big dreams.
Built in 1981 as a single-storey house, Anita’s home has evolved into a functional and aesthetic three-level space. The ground floor remains the family’s sanctuary; the first floor houses her architecture studio, and the third floor serves as a haven for gardening, community gatherings, and an extension of her blog, Mad Tea Party. The garden winds through these levels, embodying her belief in the power of green spaces in urban living.
Garden as a laboratory
Anita’s is no ordinary urban home. “My garden has been an incubator for many of my landscape concepts,” Anita admits. “Most clients prefer clipped, manicured lawns, but I’ve grown increasingly disenchanted with that aesthetic.
If you keep a lawn super clipped and neat, birds won’t come. They need places to hide and nest. In Indian aesthetics, we had van (forests), not parks. Even in old Pahari or miniature paintings, you see wild meadows, not perfectly manicured spaces.” Her approach draws on these ethos, creating landscapes that harmonise with Delhi’s arid climate.
She describes the interplay of light and shade with poetic precision. “In summer, a curtain of yellow jasmine shades the south-facing windows of our architecture studio. In winter, the plants recede, allowing sunlight to pour in.” This relationship between design and nature reduces energy consumption while enriching the home’s atmosphere.
Pergolas on the terraces, wrapped in grapevines, offer additional shade. “The landscape is dynamic, responding to seasons and nurturing habitats. Low-maintenance perennials provide nesting opportunities and act as natural curtains,” she adds. Carefully chosen plants play specific roles: ornamental varieties attract pollinators, while edible plants provide sustenance. Raised planters for edible plants minimise water use, with soil depths tailored to the needs of specific plants.
Catching water
Each floor is designed with intentionality. “The roof slope prevents water from stagnating, and surfaces have been waterproofed,” she shares. “Sixty percent of our front yard is pervious, with sand-set bricks, planting beds, recharge pits, and a rain garden.”
Her rain garden integrates functionality and beauty. “The rooftop water flows into a five-foot-deep dry infiltration pit, and when saturated, it overflows into a small garden,” she explains. Plants like wandering jew, arrowleaf, and ferns thrive in low light and wet conditions. “Even when flooded, it’s not an eyesore. An hour later, the water is soaked back into the soil.” This modest intervention has far-reaching implications. Her design captures the first 1.25 inches of rainfall — a solution that could transform urban landscapes.
The ground floor remains the family’s heart — the living room, opening onto the porch with a swing. “The living room is my favourite spot,” Anita confesses, where she knits by the window as she watches butterflies and sunbirds flit through her garden.
The third-floor barsaati is a gathering space for her community. “I organise poetry evenings, tea parties, and cooking sessions here,” she says. Her workshops on sourdough bread and fermented foods draw food enthusiasts eager to learn. “The second-floor kitchen’s double doors open widely onto the terrace, creating a seamless indoor-outdoor experience.”
Learning by doing
“Gardening is the easy part. Growing something is easy — it grows,” she laughs. “But when you grow it organically, you don’t want anything to go to waste. That’s where the work begins. Processing the food takes time. If you grow cauliflower, you don’t just get the head — you get the leaves too.” Her small kitchen churns out artisanal preserves, sourdough bread, and other exquisite delights.
The terrace garden, with over 200 plants, is a microcosm of biodiversity. “I started with grow bags, but monkeys ate everything. I then switched to greens. Now, I grow everything because the monkeys have stopped coming,” she shares. Last year, peacocks visited the terrace, prompting the installation of nets in certain areas.
“Urban gardening is about understanding microclimates. Every corner of my house has a different story, so I adjust plants accordingly. The front yard, shaded by three mature street trees, creates a cool refuge but can’t sustain common houseplants. The terraces, drenched in sunlight, become varying pockets of growth,” Anita says.
Her advice for urban gardeners? “Start small. I began with a few grow bags, and later, repurposed grocery sacks. The first year was tough. But I adapted, growing only greens, and slowly expanded. Gardening is all about learning by doing. You can’t grow everything, but you get more in tune with what is there, and how things work in nature.”
Her house and garden, a masterclass in possibilities, demonstrates how retrofitting small urban plots can lead to functional, ecological, and beautiful spaces. By integrating recharge pits, rain gardens, and productive landscapes across three levels, her home offers a micro-solution to macro issues like urban flooding and ecological imbalance. “People ask how I manage this. I tell them, first of all, I don’t have small kids to look after. Second, I’m okay with a bit of mess. If there’s a heap of something, it can wait until I get to it,” she says.
The result is a house that breathes — gardens weave through its bones, offering shade, food, and sanctuary. Rainwater stays where it falls. Soil is nurtured, not ignored. Her home and garden is an invitation to slow down. To reconsider what beauty means in urban spaces. To cultivate small patches of green that give back to the earth. At the same time, it is a space where her blog Mad Tea Party isn’t just a blog but a philosophy.