VIJAYAWADA: During the Covid-19 induced lockdown, when getting day to day necessities such as vegetables and fruits become hard, 65-year-old K Rajyalakshmi in Padmanabhapuram colony in Poranki of Vijayawada thanked herself for her decision to start a terrace and backyard garden in her house. The terrace garden, which she started with help of the horticulture department around January last year, came in handy for her during the lockdown.
“I never expected such a pandemic and had started the terrace garden a few months before the lockdown. For those three months, I got all the vegetables needed for my family of two — my husband and myself — from the garden. Even some of them were given to my friends and neighbours,” she said. Rajyalakshmi has been growing fruit trees like mango, jackfruit, guava, sapota, papaya and water apple. She said now she has made it a point to distribute water apples grown in her backyard to people every now and then. Her terrace and backyard garden has become her favourite hobby and she shares photos of her garden with her two children living abroad often.
“When we learnt that the horticulture department is encouraging terrace and backyard gardens, five families in our colony approached the department. We were provided one-day training and a seed kit at subsidised rates,” Rajyalakshmi recalled.She cultivates five varieties of leafy vegetables, climber vegetables like snake guard, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, long beans, cucumber, radish, different varieties of capsicum and chilli. In her backyard, she cultivates tomato, red cabbage, cauliflower, brinjal and a few other types of vegetables. “I never had to fear contamination or pesticide residue in vegetables,” she added.
There are several people who prefer the way Rajyalakshmi has taken, which is evident from the fact that the terrace garden group started by her and her friends now has around 50 members in Vijayawada alone. Some of them chose to grow ornamental plants, while most are particular about growing their own vegetables.
“We estimate that there are more than 100 people doing terrace gardening in Vijayawada alone. We have provided training to around 100 people in the last two years and supplied them horticulture kits at 50 per cent subsidised price (Rs 3,000 per unit),” said a senior official of the horticulture department. Unlike rural areas, in urban households, space for cultivating own vegetables is less, hence terrace gardening is being encouraged, he explained.
Want to grow veggies? Dept will help you
The horticulture department provides 3-4 types of bags containing soil and manure
The horticulture kit has four bags of soil, a seed kit of 8-10 types of different vegetables that is sufficient for 500 sq meters for nearly one year
Those who want to grow trees are provided with saplings of curry leaves, papaya and drumstick and others
Apart from one-day training, periodical technical advice will be provided
In the last two years, since the department started the project, the response has been very good in Vijayawada and Vizag and now, there is demand in Guntur, Kurnool and other cities