If you do gardening, not only do you increase the greenery of your home but you also protect the environment. In cities, people do gardening on their roofs due to lack of space. One of such people is Tummeti Raghottam Reddy of Telangana. He has been doing gardening on the terrace of his house for the last 10 years. You will find many types of vegetables, fruits, flowers and medicinal plants in his garden. Interestingly, Raghottam has also published a book on the basis of his experience in horticulture, namely- ‘Terrace Garden: Midde Thota’
Horticulture was not very difficult for Raghottam, who belonged to a farming family. But he has learned from his experience ways in which one can grow organic vegetables for their family on the terrace or balcony.
He told The Better India that he started working after completing his schooling. Raghottam, who lives in Narapalli, Hyderabad, has a passion for writing besides gardening, so after retirement, he started working on this hobby as well. Many Telugu books written by him have been published.
He said, “It has been more than 10 years that I have been doing kitchen gardening myself. I started gardening with my family only with curry leaves and today I am growing a variety of vegetables and fruits on my terrace in 1230 square feet.”
do not buy vegetables from the market
Raghottam says he does not buy vegetables from the market. Every season he grows so much vegetables that he does not have to buy vegetables from the market. He says, “I planted my garden with the idea that all the kitchen needs would be met by the garden.”
Common vegetables grown in his garden include okra, cabbage, tomato, green chillies, cabbage, beans, bitter gourd, luffa, kundru, brinjal, gourd etc. He grows different varieties of all vegetables. For example, along with green ladyfinger, they also plant red ladyfinger. Among the fruits they have lemon, dragon fruit, guava, cilantro, pomegranate, chikoo. Apart from this, he also plants many types of greens. He says that he keeps planting all the vegetables he needs on the roof according to the season.
“Initially, it cost around Rs 20,000 to set up the terrace garden. I did not invest all this money in one go but gradually increased the garden. Today, because of the garden, I do not need to buy any vegetables from outside. If we are to be reckoned, in 10 years our terrace garden has produced 25 quintals of vegetables. So I can proudly say that we have recovered what we had invested in Terrace Garden. After this only our hard work is left, in return for which my entire family has been eating organic vegetables for so many years,” he said.
Be an inspiration to other people
Raghottam uses large plastic drums, buckets and containers to plant plants in his garden. He prepares his own potting mix for the garden. In addition, at the base of the plants he gives them manure and fertilizers. He said, “I like the traditional way of planting trees. Our elders used only soil and cow dung manure. I also use soil and cow dung in my garden.”
Raghottam is famous not only in Hyderabad but also in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh because of gardening. He claims that in the last two years alone, around 500 people have visited his garden. Many people are doing gardening by connecting with them through Facebook. Sitaram Prasad, a resident of Vijayawada, says, “Raghottam has always been making people aware about horticulture. He helps us all. He has also written articles for several different publications before publishing his book on gardening. He always keeps giving new information about gardening.
Gardening Tips
Raghottam says that you can start gardening in the least amount of space. Make a potting mix by simply arranging soil and cow dung from some place around you. You can also use old plastic containers or bottles for pots. In the beginning, you can plant easy plants like flowering plants or it is easy to plant tomatoes, green chillies. Start with one or two plants and you will see your garden ready.
If you want to contact Raghotam regarding gardening, then you can visit his Facebook profile (https://www.facebook.com/ragotamareddy.tummeti).
Editing – G N Jha
Also read: Even after death, the respect of the father’s wish was kept, by making a garden, he gave shelter to the birds
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