Blog

Terrace gardening is a popular hobby of growing ornamental plants, herbaceous plants, fruiting trees, shrubs, medicinal plants and many more, on residential terraces. Conventional Gardening requires land for growing plants. But due to urbanization, it is hard to find land for gardening in cities. Such constraints in cities have led to new and innovative types of home gardening such as terrace gardening, indoor gardening, hydroponic gardening, etc.

Terrace gardening or rooftop gardening refers to growing plants in terrace where plants get enough resources of sunlight, water and air. Starting a terrace garden isn’t expensive. The basic requirements for starting a terrace garden are pots, soil, seeds or plant saplings. Gardening pots and growing bags can be brought from the nursery/market for growing plants. To make it less expensive, available things like old plastic tubs, cracked buckets, used paint buckets/containers, abandoned wooden boxes, etc. can be reused as pots for growing plants. Also, many plants can be grown from the seeds of vegetables and fruits and stems of
some of the greens that are brought from market for cooking.

Tomato, chilly, fenugreek, coriander, brinjal, bitter gourd, beans, lady’s finger, pumpkin, capsicum etc. , are some of the plants that could be easily grown with seeds from the vegetables. Sprouted veggies such as onion, potato, garlic, green gram, chickpeas, chayote, etc. can be grown in terrace easily. Composting can be made at home in containers with dry leaves, vegetables and fruit wastes and other organic material. The homemade compost can be used as manure for supplementing plants with nutrients. Watering should be done once or twice a day depending on the type of plant and the climate. Natural ingredients such as neem oil and turmeric can be sprayed on plants to repel pests.

Vertical gardening is a special kind of gardening which is suitable for small areas. It uses vertical area instead of horizontal area. Vertical gardening helps in decorating walls and roofs, gives fresh air and helps in maintaining indoor temperature and air quality. Indoor gardening has also been gaining popularity in cities. People grow ornamental, herbal and other plants inside their homes in small to medium containers to beautify, decorate and improve indoor air quality. Plastic Water bottles and containers are also used to grow plants inside the house. Hydroponic gardening is growing of plants without soil. It is based on the concept of growing plants in nutrient rich water solution.

People, who don’t have enough soil for gardening, can try the innovative hydroponic way of growing plants. Terrace gardening has proved to be an effective way of growing crops with minimum expenses. Rooftop gardening makes our roofs green and clean. It lowers the temperature of the house and helps in maintaining air temperature and quality. It lowers air-conditioning cost in summer and heating cost in winter by acting as insulation. Besides, terrace gardening provides fertilizer-free healthy fruits, vegetables
and flowers that are grown from natural compost. Terrace gardening is a wonderful hobby that relives stress and gives peace of mind. It also gives the satisfaction of growing and consuming our own food. Let us start gardening and enjoy the benefits.