If you have a green thumb and have a penchant for gardening then this snippet would be of interest to you. As Kochi is struggling to accommodate more and more people, residents of this city are facing the pinch of space in every sphere of their life.
From crowded roads to fully booked apartments, kochiites are reeling under severe space constrain. The houses lack space for a patch of green or a vegetable garden as most of them live in towering skyscrapers, hundreds of feet from the ground level!
However, true to the adage ‘if you have a will there is a way’ the terrace can be used to cultivate anything from capsicum to pumpkins, drum sticks and coconut trees – provided you have the will and facilities to remove excess water. The terrace garden of the managing trustee of the Yasoram Charitable Trust, A.R.S. Vadhyar, has grabbed the headlines for being a full fledged terrace garden at his office-cum-residence at Convent Road.
Set against the dreary high- rises, this terrace garden has indeed become a feast to the eyes to many. Apart from an impressive line up of vegetables and fruits, this terrace garden also has a 10 feet coconut tree.
Mr. Vadhyar said that he has strengthened the roof with a 3 cm layer of cement, sand and baby metal mixture in the ratio 1:1.5:3 with sufficient slope to drain off the water. A plastic sheet should be used at the bottom to prevent seepage. Set up in the year 2000, this garden ensures fresh organic vegetables 24×7 for the household.
The surging vegetable prices during festival seasons or transport strike leaves no impact on this family. The garden also makes use of the kitchen waste apart from refreshing the air, making it an ideal place to relax and unwind. It goes without saying that the green canopy reduces the intensity of heat during summer and the interiors are cool and breezy thanks to the greenery atop this 20 year old building. Gardening is a good pastime and relaxes you after a hectic day’s work.
The trust is striving to popularize setting up of vegetable gardens in schools and homes of students. In the initial stage, students of 25 schools in Ernakulam district for the contest, so that there will be at least 25,000 new vegetable gardens in the district. If green is your color then join the green bandwagon to give Kochi a fresh new look!
Nice ..but if you could put some pictures..it would be really interesting
i am very much interested in setting up a garden on the terrace of my newly-built house. how can i contact mr vadhyar to know the details?
I would like to know more about terrace gardening. Is there a way to contact Mr Vadhyar? Kindly put a few more details about him so as to enable interested persons to get in touch with him. Since his trust aims to popularize the setting up of vegetable gardens help us to join the green bandwagon!
i am looking to construct terrace garden at my new house.kindly help me out.
I am interested in roof top gardening. Will Mr. Vadhyar give any assistance for setting up the roof top garden ?
Please inform me through email
I am interested in roof top gardening. Will Mr. Vadhyar give any assistance for setting up the roof top garden ? how can i contact mr vadhyar to know the details?
can I get any address of terrace lanscaping agencies who can help set up a terrace garden in calicut.
Please inform me through email
It is a good idea to have roof garden. This will also helpto keep the temprerature of the house cooler during the summer months Let me know how can contact M. Vadhyar.
I would like to know if I can raise jackfruit in pots, just as you have
raised drumsticks and coconuts. I would like to know the depth of
pots, kind of soil used. Also what is the depth for drumstick and coconuts.
I have raised from seed drumstick and jackfruit (drumstick about 1 year
old and jackfruits are still small sapplings) I also want to know why there are yellow spots on the leaves of my lime plant (4 years old and yet to
bear fruit – also raised from seed). What is the time taken for kokum
and cloves (nursery plants) to bear fruit – again what should be depth
of the pots? I would also like to acquire white pepper sappling. Where
is it available in Mumbai?
‘am interested to set up a rooftop vegetable garden using pots and like to have assistance from persons like Mr. Vadhyar or any profesionals. I prefer drip irrigation, possibly “overhead rain drips” if it is suitable. My roof aea is approxiamtely 1000 sq.ft at Kochi.
kindly let me know if there is a consultancy service awailable for roof gardening in kasaragod district.