save the earth...save life

I have a small patch of land in front of my house .....a luxury in central Delhi but thanks to my ground floor apartment in a govt. campus that i could afford to have it........it has little to do with my majors in botany that i absolutely love plants for my company......so when i came to this house i knew it's going to be a lot of fun growing my kind of plants into it..........my kind of plants are the numerous herbs which i have been growing even in containers when i don't get space like this one.........ashwagandha, aloe vera , amrita, hemp, mint, tulsi, basil, rosemary, leeks, currypatta and whatever i can lay my hands on......apart from these i started growing vegetables this time just to have the experience.......okra, brinjals, tomatoes,cucumbers, spring onions,beetroots, spinach, cauliflowers and even the bottle guards and sponge guards............it's pure bliss to see these plants growing.....right from germination of seeds to flowering and fruit bearing.........

But i do not intend to count those fruits of labor here.......i want to share how this garden , which i have strictly maintained 'organic' ......no use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides..........has taught me the real lesson of nature............how nature maintains itself and how it makes your surroundings beautiful..........countless birds have made my garden home and i have become an avid bird and butterfly watcher...yes , butterflies too dance here n there in my space............whenever i am down n out , i just step into my heaven........to be rejuvenated , absolutely..........it enriches my soul through the life it supports and my body through the produce it offers.........

The most important things which i have noticed here, that due to the absence of chemical pesticides, many types of insects and caterpillars come and make their home in my garden....sometimes i use the neem n haldi solution to ward them away, but whenever i couldn't do that, i just had to destroy the plants......but sometimes i saw that some other predating insects or reptiles saved my plants........and that was wonderful..........sometimes i see that a swarm of black ants is hovering over a single plant....on closer observation i see that they are having a feast on the larvae of some insect............they eat away the mongers and go home......similarly, i see many garden lizards come in a particular season.........i used to be so afraid of them earlier but now i know that they are eating up another menace ...........also, many species of birds come and feast over the insects and caterpillars when there are no chemicals used.............what i mean is , when we use chemical fertilizers or pesticides, the lizards, the birds and the useful ants abandon the space and the the garden becomes completely dependent on chemicals................without those chemicals we can restore the balance of nature.............nature is capable to balance itself if we don't push it again n again............

We make our own compost by using our own kitchen waste by dumping it into a pit n throwing in some vermiculture........initially even our mali was reluctant doing it as he had seen it for the first time.......now he doesn't argue after seeing how nicely it works..... we get our vermiculture and biofertilizers from krishi mela held at IARI, pusa complex and Delhi trade fair (agriculture pavilion).......a little effort goes a long way.

There is one more important message i want to convey is that we should involve our children in growing plants.............in containers or otherwise........and let them understand nature ......they will grow up to give more value to life around them.

we should give it a thought when we use air-conditioning, inverters, motor vehicles for walking distances and when we waste water, power,paper and natural gas, when we use plastic bags......that it all suffocates nature...........do we really want to do that?

This is a special write up for the' save the earth' event organised by jaya .......i hope the story of my garden initiates interest in gardening to some people at least.

i am sending my earlier posts of gobhi paratha and begun bhaja with khichri n my plants also to the event as they are made using my garden fresh veggies.

Comments

  1. Sangeeta,
    feels so great to read this post, it surely must be a pleasure to watch nature's beauty up so close..
    thanks a million for your lovely contribution dear Sangeeta..
    hugs and smiles

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  2. Great post! I think you are realy lucky to have a good amount of space to start your own garden in Delhi!!

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