Tag: terrace garden

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3 garden trends to follow in India

Terrace garden set-up for growing organic food

A garden has limitless possibilities when it comes to creativity and functionality. 

It can be a space which you can share with your loved ones or spend your quality me-time. It can be a space where you can pluck your own food or flowers that fill your room with unadulterated fragrance. It can also be a space where you invite and integrate nature – be it the symphony of birdsongs or the sight of fluttering butterflies. A garden has many things on the menu to offer you beyond just greens.

In this age of rapid erosion of our natural environment, you can look at these emerging trends which are now taking centre-stage in landscapes worldwide: 

Foodscaping

Contrary to popular beliefs, kitchen gardens or orchards can serve your individual needs but can also integrate well with your landscaping aesthetics – if designed ad planned well. Imagine plucking your own organic food straight from your front-yard or backyard. By incorporating edibles into an ornamental garden, one can transform your perception of the gardening experience.

Be it everyday vegetables, fruits or the rare, seasonal crops, your garden can be the source of your well-being and health. If maintained organically with sustainable farming principles, this small investment can prove to outweigh every other option.

Rain Gardens

Keen to do rainwater harvesting and worried about the associated costs? This simple and most effective technique to capture rainwater run-off on your land, can be your answer. Rain gardens can help in recharging groundwater with beautifully designed plant beds.

A rain garden is a landscaped area that collects, adsorbs, and filters stormwater runoff from roof tops, driveways, patios, and other hard surfaces that don’t otherwise allow water to soak in. It is the most cost-efficient and aesthetic way of channelizing stormwater and recharging your land’s groundwater easily. Every year, the intensity of storms keep intensifying and rain gardens can be your solution to address the flooding in a controlled way.  

Water bodies

No, I am not talking about fountains. Water bodies are not just an interesting feature of any landscape but can help regulate the micro-climate of your land. Aspects such as lotus & lily plantation, fish, natural rocks can add so much value to your garden design.

There are several types of aquascaping that fits a landscape design theme. From a natural or jungle design that mimics a natural habitat such as a pond or river stream to a more detailed Japanese or Dutch design that its symmetrically defined. However, while designing any such aquascape, one must pay attention to regulate water flow at all times.

The next time you want to add any garden element, think of the above that might help you and our planet both.

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blog Sustainable Gardening Basics

How to start and maintain your own organic kitchen garden

Terrace garden set-up for growing organic food

What is luxury living?

To different people, it may mean different things. From home, car, décor, apparel, other exclusive lifestyle choices, the word ‘luxury’ has several connotations. However, in this rapidly changing environment, where nature is increasingly getting out of reach, luxury would be soon measured with the way we grow, consume, and interact with our food.

Growing your own food organically without using chemicals and plucking what you need, when you need epitomizes luxury today.

Now, one may argue that you would require acres of land to make this a reality. The fact is that even the smallest corner of your home, can be a potential kitchen garden. All you need to consider are the following factors:

Plants: Depending on the available space viz. window, balcony, terrace, or farm, decide the size and type of your kitchen garden. For instance, in window gardens, one can grow edibles that are smaller in size, tend to grow vertically and won’t require much space as compared to a terrace or farm. A few examples include day-to-day herbs and leafy veggies such as pudina, basil, oregano, methi, spinach, green chilies, lemons, et al. The size of your space will determine the type of edibles you can grow.

Materials: In balconies and terraces, one can create a more elaborate set-up to grow veggies v/s a window. From larger pots, fabric grow bags to raised vegetable beds, there are several ways in which an easy-to-maintain vegetable garden can be set-up. For instance, an open terrace can be more fitting for raised vegetable beds to grow space-consuming root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, beetroots, among others. Combined with the use of trellises for climbing veggies such as gourds can even add an aesthetic appeal to the garden.

Light & Air: While a lot of emphasis is laid upon the sunlight availability for a successful kitchen garden, we often miss out on the ventilation and circulation of fresh air. Even in the absence of direct sunlight, it is possible to grow certain kind of edible plants with the help of artificial, spectrum lights. If the space receives direct sunlight, it is important to keep the are clutter-free. For instance, often ornamental plants are thrown in the mix which tend to overgrow and overtake the kitchen garden space. This may not only invite pests but also reduce the overall growth of your produce.

Preparation: Once the above factors have been considered, it is important to get the fundamentals right. Quality and type of soil, efficient drainage & easy access to watering with drip irrigation as well as organic fertilizer such as vermicompost or cow-based manure will eventually make or break any garden. For terraces and balconies, it is important to ensure waterproofing as well as easy drainage from pots, raised beds.

Schedule: Above all, keeping a calendar of crops and herbs to grow as per the season can ensure a steady availability of produce in your kitchen. Practices such as crop rotation, mulching, timely use of organic pesticides and fertilizers can ensure good soil health and a bumper harvest for your own consumption.

As someone wise once said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Rethink your space and start your own kitchen garden in the space available today.

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How to set-up a low-maintenance home garden?

Low maintenance home garden

You have been thinking of bringing plants home for some time. But you’re confused or hesitant on which ones to get, where to keep, how not to kill them. Or, you already have plants in your garden space (window, balcony, terrace, lawn) but keep jostling with their survival from time to time. Well, this is a journey for most of us. Starting your garden with the right knowledge and materials is the key to addressing your concerns.

With the help of the internet especially Instagram, one may argue that choosing houseplants is simple and straight-forward today. Nursery operators have elaborate sections inundated with “indoor plants” they claim are maintenance friendly. And to take care of them, we now have mobile apps powered by AI that can help us to identify the names and diseases and perhaps, better take care of them.

While all this may be true to some extent, the challenge lies in getting the right information meant for your own garden space. Not generic rulebooks meant for all. Before you decide to buy any plant or pot, you must consider the following factors in your house:

Light condition For spaces or corners that receive direct sunlight, choose plants that can withstand it such as flowering plants such as Ixora, Jasmines, Desi Hibiscus, Kaner, etc. Or herbs or edibles such as Pudina, Oregano, Lemon, Ajwain. Certain foliage plants include Rubber Plant, Schefflera, Palms, etc. Even exotics like Fiddle Leaf Fig or Radermachera thrive in direct light against popular belief. Depending on the hours of sunlight that space receives, you can pick the desired plant that won’t burn out in the sun or won’t wither away in its absence.  

Ventilation This is a very important factor to consider given the hot, humid, and unpredictable weather of Mumbai. Lack of fresh air can degrade the health of plants, just like ours and invite pests, diseases which make them high on maintenance. Instead of keeping plants in zero ventilated areas, choose a spot which allows fresh air at least for a few hours of the day. Or move the plants is breezy spot at least twice a week.

Materials If your house lacks bright daylight, then avoid using non-porous materials such as plastics or ceramics as they don’t allow water to evaporate easily. In turn, use fabric grow bags as inner liners in place of plastic pots or simply use the age-old terracotta planters to always keep your plants healthy.

Watering This is the most critical aspect which can make or break your garden eventually. Whichever material you choose, watering the plants should be regulated and personalized to each plant’s need. Terracotta needs lesser water as the clay keeps the soil moist and aerated for a longer period. Plants which are kept in direct sunlight always, may need water daily v/s plant which are kept in indirect light.

Above all, use native plants that are indigenous to our land, climate, and environment. Such plants by default make a garden low maintenance yet maintaining its natural beauty. While setting-up a home garden seems daunting, the tougher part is the post set-up maintenance.  

Plants make a great addition to décor. However, this experience can be daunting if style takes over sustainability. Hence, it is imperative to strike a balance between science and aesthetics.

Simple techniques such as selecting plants to suit light + space conditions, reducing clutter, choosing the right materials, can help in creating a self-sustaining home garden.

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5 reasons why you need a sustainable landscape

We are surrounded with landscapes in our everyday life – be it backyards, balconies, parks, public green spaces, roads, and even office spaces.

Using sustainable practices in your garden, no matter where you live – whether you create a garden in a balcony, your housing society or farmhouse, can do good for you and our environment. Sustainable landscapes enhance our environment’s ability to clean air and water, reduce flooding, combat climate change, and provide all the other natural benefits that support life on earth. Sounds big?! Let’s break it down in simple words.

A sustainable landscape works with nature, not against it. Irrespective of its size, it maximizes environmental and health benefits for the current and future generations. In short, a sustainable landscape is a beautiful garden that protects or restores the benefits nature provides us that are essential to our everyday lives. It can be a space for outdoor recreation, gathering with family and friends, stormwater mitigation, plain relaxation, or a home for wildlife. The choice is yours to make.

5 benefits of creating sustainable landscapes:

This approach not only benefits the environment but also enhances the quality of life for you and community at large. It offers the best of both worlds, blending beauty with practical benefits.

Clean Air Plants naturally remove pollutants from the air, take in carbon dioxide, and provide the oxygen we breathe. Rapid concretization in urban cities is taking a toll on public health and mindful landscaping is one of the key factors to protect it.

Clean Water Plants and healthy soils capture, break down, and bind water pollutants. Stormwater runoff from developed land is the leading cause of water pollution of urban areas.

Build Healthy and Fertile Soil Maintaining soil health and fertility is one of the foremost benefits of this method. Turning landscape trimmings into compost or mulch benefits landscapes and minimizes waste materials in the landfill

Control Erosion and Sediment Runoff On terrains which are prone to soil erosion, landslides, a sustainable garden can offer more than concrete can. Vegetation holds soil in place and decreases the likelihood of erosion and sediment runoff

Mitigate Urban Heat Island Vegetation helps to moderate air temperatures by providing shade and releasing moisture into the air. Sustainable landscapes shade dark surfaces and use light-coloured or porous materials to mitigate urban heat islands.

Urban development and the replacement of vegetation with dark impervious surfaces such as conventional roofs, roads and buildings can absorb and trap heat which causes cities to have warmer temperatures than their rural surroundings. This phenomenon, known as the urban heat island effect, increases the demand for cooling energy in buildings and accelerates the formation of ground level ozone and smog.

Above all, sustainable landscape provide habitat – plants and soils fuel the dazzling diversity of life on this planet. There are more soil microorganisms in a teaspoonful of soil than there are people on the earth! Sustainable gardens can provide habitat for a variety of plant and animal species that are paramount to human life, too.

Home gardeners or not, you can work with nature and as a part of nature to support and build biodiversity in your way. Even a small garden, can have a big impact.

By Dipti Agarwal Founder and Chief Gardening Officer, Peepal Resident of Kemps Corner
Mobile: +91 7400XXXXX| Email: dipti.agarwal@peepal.one | Website: https://peepal.one/ | Instagram: peepalindia
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FAQ: How to create a sustainable garden?

Such balanced, consistent, and self-sustained ecosystems require minimal or no intervention, resulting into ecological conservation at a macro level.

At an individual level, choosing eco-friendly materials, native plants, optimising time and resources to create your home garden, makes it sustainable.

Such methods encourage natural ways of –

Growing

(with no frills attached)

Fertilization

(where the kitchen is the gold mine)

Pest control

(when the job can be done gently)

Watering

(when less is more)

Creating a sustainable garden at home requires a holistic approach towards incorporating natural ecosystems at a smaller scale. From the choice of planter materials to the type of plants and maintenance of gardens, one can create a self-sustaining microcosm within the confines of one’s home.