To help people under lockdown get into easy urban gardening, Lazy Gardener has started doing live sessions on its YouTube channel. From demostrating how to grow microgreens and herbs to activities for kids, founder Vinayak Garg does a 30-minute live session daily, which are available on the channel. The 33-year-old says, “Our predominant audience is on Instagram, so during the initial days, we did sessions there. But then, we started getting requests for the videos from those who had missed out watching these.
Therefore, we settled for YouTube because it’s the easiest for people to attend. Post every session, I stay for 15 more minutes to take queries from people.” Garg, till now, has shown how to grow lemons, chillies, capsicums, microgreens and cucumber. “Gardening is a great support system for mental well-being...You have something that is growing every day.
For these sessions, we focus on things that you have at your home,” says the IIT graduate, who has been gardening since childhood. He says this season is perfect to grow bitter gourd, tomato, coriander and fenugreek. “These seeds can be sown in eight-inch planters. But, one mistake that people make is that they let all seeds grow in one pot. Ideally, let only one plant grow in one pot because only then the plant will grow better and give you fruits.
The other thing to keep in mind is not to water them too much. Water should be given according to the size of plants and not the planter. Crowding and overwatering can kill the plants,” says Garg, who started Lazy gardener in May 2019. “My sister and I started thinking of challenges that keep people away from gardening, and we identified nutrition as one of the things to begin with.” The two came up with fertiliser sticks that can be inserted in the soil to provide nutrition to the plants. He also advises to keep young plants in the shade to prevent loss of water.
When more than two leaves grow, they can be shifted to a sunny area. Another kind of live session Lazy Gardener recently did was one where they invited viewers to show off their gardens. “Everyone has a different way of managing their garden, and people get ideas from them. We also did sessions to generate kids’ interest in gardening such as growing carrot tops in a plate, or showing how onion roots grow in a glass, and how kidney bean seeds germinate. We have moved on to doing sessions on the basics – how to water your plants, take care of money plant, light for plants,” says Garg.
Green thumbs, take note
Only let one plant grow in one pot because only then the plant will grow better and give you fruits.
Do not overwater your plants. Water should be given according to the size of plants and not the planter.
Keep young plants with not more than two leaves in the shade to prevent loss of water.