Anna Mani Ratnam, a resident of Machilipatnam, was overjoyed when he shifted to a new home with his family in 2017. The joy was not only of the new house, but also of fulfilling my dream of building a terrace garden. This was the dream he had been dreaming of since childhood.
27 year old Mani The Better India Told to Ko, “There was not enough space in our old house to pursue my gardening hobby. But now I have 675 square feet of ceiling. Here I could plant lots of fruits and vegetables. Then I decided to convert my terrace into a small forest.”
Today, after four years, this roof of his house has started looking like a mini forest. There are more than 100 plants there. Along with vegetables like tomato, brinjal, there are also red guava and custard apple trees. Herbs like Amaranthus are also planted in his garden. Mani spends only Rs 500 a month on the maintenance of his terrace garden. He also has a Facebook group, to which more than 1000 people have joined. On this page, he shares tips related to low cost gardening.
Make compost and seeds at home
He first planted a Tulsi plant in his garden, which is considered auspicious. Then bought seeds of vegetables like jasmine flowers and tomatoes and planted them in pots and then gradually his hobby of gardening started taking off. Today his entire family eats fresh vegetables and fruits grown in terrace pots.
Mani says, “I wanted to grow vegetables and fruits for everyday use on my terrace garden and when all this has to be grown and eaten at home, why not try something different which is good for health. With this thought in mind, I said no to chemical fertilizers. I wanted to grow vegetables organically. I decided to use kitchen waste as manure and make organic fertilizers like Jeevamrut and Panchagavya.”
training to make fertilizer
Mani says that he thought of everything, but it was not that easy either. He had to know and learn a lot to make compost. Mani attended a two-week workshop in Guntur. There, he learned a lot of basics and then started composting at home. Mani made every effort to ensure that the purchase cost was as low as possible. He contacted a dairy near the house and started taking cow dung and urine from there.
Mani said, “The owner of the dairy did not take any money from me in return. I made compost in a waste drum lying at home and kept it covered on the roof. I dilute this compost a little by adding water and apply it to the plants once every 14 days.” According to Mani, when he was unable to buy manure during the lockdown, he prepared manure from it by mixing kitchen waste with water.
Planters made from recycled
Mani started gardening with some fruit and vegetable plants. But gradually he gave place to Bhringraj, Saurasup, Adenium, Bonsai and many flowering plants in this terrace garden and made it very big. He made some cement pots on the roof itself and planted fruit plants in them. Apart from this, plastic or steel buckets were also recycled and converted into planters. He had bought all this stuff from the junkyard.
In the year 2019, Mani realized that as the plants got bigger, he didn’t have to buy anything more from the market. Now it was enough to spend only Rs 500 or at the most 600 rupees on plants in a month. Apart from this, due to this hobby of gardening, the waste generated from the house was also reduced considerably.
He says, “I compost all the wet waste that comes out of the house and recycle the dry waste like plastic bottles or cans for the garden.” He also told the neighbors about these benefits of gardening, so that they too come forward to adopt this healthy lifestyle and contribute in saving the environment.
A good friend found with learning to make compost
During the workshop, he met Gauri Kavya. Today they are both very good friends. Together with Gauri, Mani started a Facebook page named ‘Bandar Brundavanam’ on Facebook. On which he shares tips on making organic fertilizers, pesticides and seeds.
Mani said, “I have shared videos and some posts related to gardening on my page. We also provide seeds and fertilizers through this page to the people living within a radius of three to five kilometers and in return they also give us some unique things of their garden.”
He said that this exchange is mostly free. Money is neither taken nor given for anything from anyone. This is the reason that today more than 1000 people have joined his page. He has many positive stories related to the group.
Health will be better, there will be less waste
Mani says, “This group of ours has become very strong during the second wave of the epidemic. When one of our elderly members passed away, his daughter came to the group and told about her mother’s last wish. His mother wanted all his plants to be donated and she should also take care of them. 10 members of the group came forward and gave place to many plants in their garden. These plants continue to be the pride of his garden even today.
Mani hopes that in the times to come, this group will inspire more and more people to do organic farming. “This will give people a way to live healthier and help reduce household waste,” he says.
Original article: Roshni Muthukumar
Editing – G N Jha
Also read: Started business with unique art learned from YouTube, gave employment to 25 women
If you’ve been inspired by this story, or want to share any of your experiences with us, write to us at [email protected], or Facebook & Twitter Twitter Contact on
