“In my garden, after a rainfall, you can faintly hear the breaking of new blooms.” —Truman Capote
Sipping a hot cuppa, gazing at a canvas of tendrils, bushes, creepers and flowers in a gated community in Bangalore, a calm settles into the soul. The healing powers of lush green have made us urban dwellers stop to smell the flowers, or excitedly pluck ladies finger or gourd for a “garden to fork” feast – be it Vandana Bal’s kitchen garden in her high rise in Noida, hydroponic shoots or the innumerable tiny balconies filled with vegetables, fruits and herbs. Many home gardeners today are seeking balance – be it with permaculture or hydroponic (plants grown in a water-based nutrient solution), or adding microbiomes – with oxygenated plants, microorganisms that live in and around – with soil, air, water, plant roots and microbes like bacteria, fungi, viruses, and archaea to help in nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, pollutant degradation and overall crop health. Many with larger tracts of land prefer the equanimity of permaculture to create their own microclimate. Smruti Shetty, permaculture designer and consultant believes this new trend has led to the incidence of forest gardens today, “Permaculture emphasises on a sustainable way of designing gardens which mimics nature and three main ethics – earth care, people care and fair share,” says Smruti Shetty, permaculture designer and consultant, who also points to another trend – edible hedges with a mix of edible and flowering species which include karonda, aloe vera, and mehendi, interspersed with flowering shrubs like hibiscus and jasmine.
Offices too are adapting to a greener ecosystem. Divine spaces to rejuvenate, rest and seek respite – or plan a soiree amid gentle petal talk, and chirping birds, could be a food forest, or an AI-avatar turning simple nurture to. AI apps today control water, soil nutrients and even how much sun a plant needs. In fact, a recommendation by health experts when food regulations and laws lack implementation (to control pesticides), is to grow your own food. The idea is to control pollutants, creating an organic dream space to restore your soul. Or just cover up for privacy from prying eyes.
“Indians are increasingly embracing sustainable practices – eco gardens, bio pools, permaculture, hydroponics, vertical gardens, urban farming, native indigenous plants, and rooftop forests. Eco-friendly solutions with edible and kitchen gardens, or water nurseries that self-cleanse, the use of technology to monitor plant health, and automated watering systems is trending,” says Priya Rose of Workers of Art, Kochi.
This connection to the outdoors regulates circadian rhythm, fosters well-being, feels Priya Rose. Designers today seamlessly weave in nature and embrace natural surroundings, following the light, using the transformative power of plants in air purification, temperature regulation, and oxygenated spaces.
Suraj Nayak, founder CEO, Ecospaces, a landscaper, points to low maintenance, sustainable and easy gardening coming of age. Nayak works with Balinese landscaper John Pettigrew (behind the award-winning Hanging Gardens at Ebud), creating a biodiverse space that cares for itself. The costs can be as low as Rs 25,000 to lakhs depending on the space. Offices too reject the drab grey cubicle, seeking a forest feel, and WOA SECOND Home is a living testament with a workspace with lush tropical indoor plants, strategic use of supplementary grow lighting, and plants carefully positioned to align with the sun’s path and natural wind flow. Apropos, designers are inadvertently turned horticulturists, researching indigenous plant life, weather, wind and light patterns. WOA creates such ecosystems in Cochin and their other sustainable projects.
AI too has “alexa’ed” its way into gardens – with voice activation, automated sprinkling, solar lights, treated water addressing water scarcity, an omnipresent reality for India. “Gardens are spaces to heal. When you see the fruits of labour in a vegetable patch, that motivates. Today, most people prefer doing it themselves instead of going for an expensive AMC,” offers Dr Puneet Srivastava, PhD floriculture, landscaping and freelance horticulturist, Suman Hortitech.
Permaculture in forest gardens
A forest garden, or edible forest garden, is a biodiverse ecosystem that is self sustainable designed to mimic a natural forest, incorporating layers of trees, shrubs, herbs, and vegetables that grow together in harmony.
“Creating forest gardens or planting in guilds includes herbs, vegetables and fruits all grown together in layers, such that each species occupies a different canopy, enabling them to grow food in small spaces,” explains Smruti Shetty, who highlights that soil and water management – adopting techniques like mulching and rain water harvesting, planting native varieties, with inclusion of wild and local species are the first steps.
Taking lessons from Israel’s kibbutz, Smruti works on community gardens and collective urban farming projects with permaculture. “Many urban communities set up shared spaces where members can grow food together – office spaces, apartment complexes etc. Permaculture is an integrated approach to create a forest-like ecosystem which is resilient and regenerative.”
Create your own forest garden
Shetty advises using canopy Trees (10 to 30 meters tall) like mango, jackfruit, gliricidia, neem or coconut, with an understory (smaller trees, 2 to 10 m like guava, papaya, banana or moringa. “Then add a shrub later like hibiscus or oleander, a herbaceous one that includes perennials and annuals like lemongrass, turmeric, ginger or coriander. For groundcover pumpkin or cucumber work beautifully. The rhizome layer (underground plants) like roots, tubers also enhance the balance, though it is not necessary to implement all; a combination of any three or four is equally effective.”
Use plants to create a microbiome
Most homeowners desire an ecologically harmonious space to embellish the concrete jungle-boxed with a garden that adds wooded elements or natural spaces. A project by WOA, Gardens in the Sky, in Kozhikode, Kerala creates its own microbiome – Here fern gardens, lush balconies, and thoughtfully positioned planters imbue a rain forest essence. Spaces flow naturally, each corner comes alive with large windows, and plants and flora creating a biodiverse universe. “We have legumes near the kitchen for fresh produce, ferns for the koi carp, which creates a thriving micro-ecosystem, with plants that thrive in harsh weather. We avoided plants with wide leaves in the path of prevailing winds for airflow,” explains Priya.
The idea, quite like the gut microbiome, is growing plants to enhance living, add oxygen and purify. “It involves creating a thriving, interconnected system that mimics a natural forest ecosystem. By fostering a rich garden microbiome, gardeners replicate a forest system by cultivating a biodiverse environment that enhances soil health, plant growth, and resilience to pests and diseases,” explains Shetty. Positive micro biomes purify the air to help small forests thrive. Natural light, with the use of natural materials complements the flora – cement oxide and ferrocement.
Pollinator Gardens
Horticulturist Dr Srivastava feels it is imperative to have your own pollinators in high rises. “Pollination is a problem as one goes higher due to the lack of insects, flies, etc. Using a pollinator to attract honey bees and houseflies – one can add a sweet source like sugar.” He says growbacks are the best for newbie gardeners, “Plant pots of 4-5 feet, but prune monthly, and keep the soil breathing, and damp.”
Unique, and exotic, Maryann Simon, a business consultant’s orchid garden is a pollination hothouse with over 50 exotic varieties in her Bengaluru duplex. Apart from her blossoming bougainvillea, hibiscus, geraniums, birds of paradise, plumerias, frangipanis, all flanked by a tiled gazebo, a water wall, sculptures and a bird bath, Maryann admits to being a “brown thumb. Though her orchid vista is admirable and a flurry of colours. “Emotionally, nature and flowers are forgiving, if you treat them with respect, loosen the soil, they flourish. They aren’t as fussy as humans! They seek balance and equanimity. If you give them a window, they do their best to show up,” Maryann says.
It IS all in the compost
Cartoonist Paul Fernandes has his own compost for his expansive garden in Bangalore that is part pollinator, part aesthetic, and has cactus, beautifully endowed with fruits and vegetables.
Fernandes is the constant gardener, often pottering around in this verdant feast – It is a homegrown food revolution, all fertiliser and pesticide free. A labour of stolen, borrowed and gifted love, it flourishes thanks to the compost he dutifully creates. The large outpouring of birds eye chilli, a case in point, “At season-end, I prune it six inches from the base, it grows like wildfire. There is guava, papaya, Singapore bhaji, rocket lettuce, valchi bhaji, colocasia leaves, spinach, lime, butter fruit, kaffir lime,” he rambles on.
Apart from rainwater harvesting, water recycling, he suggests, “All vegetable waste, leaves, etc go into big containers. I churn them weekly, and worms flourish here. Three months later, I have a bucket full of the most wonderful rich manure,” grins Paul, offering a handful of bird’s eye chilli, and a raw papaya, for a mean Som Tam!
Wild is beautiful, and vitamin endowed
As high rises turn an already-concrete vista into a scene from Cloverfield, apartment dwellers can’t “contain” their excitement at the wild growth they let take its own course. Most avid gardeners prefer to go wild. Vandena Bal, a homemaker in Noida revels in her veritable vegetable garden in her apartment. Her balcony offers pomegranate, moringa, tulsi, lemon, neem with the giloy herb and much more. In winters, she plants mustard, spinach, garlic chives, basil, beetroot, carrots, onions and potato, lemon, ornamental plants like mother tongue.” Most mindful gardeners do not use fertilisers. Bal has her own vitamin concoction, “I collect fruits and vegetable peels, blend it in a grinder with little water, add a few litres of water to the paste, sieve, and store,” smiles the green thumb whose culinary and herb garden grows wild.
Bal lets her AC distilled water trickle into her plants during summer – simply by directing its water vent into shrubbery.
Drought-tolerant gardens
In India, summers are torrid. Nayak designs taking into account different seasons. “I am currently working on a seven acre farmhouse in Latur, in a drought-affected area, where my client wants a garden based on indigenous-native plants, trees, and permaculture,” says Suraj Nayak, adding, “People are seeking gardens with aesthetics, sustainability, no pesticides and low maintenance. From verdant hard spaces to soft space – where homeowners want swimming pools – most prefer bio pools without chlorine, which self-cleanses itself with aquatic plants, it is easy to maintain, and nurtures the environment. It also saves maintenance cost upto 50 percent.”
Dr Srivastava cautions on watering plants only in the evening, and not in the morning as this helps keep the temperature balanced, and the soil damp. “Otherwise, the outer layer is cracked and dry, always press the soil to check its dampness and softness, or else, dig it a bit, let it air for a day, before watering, to make it porous.” Do not overwater, water after 4 pm – winters once in three days, in summers, every alternate day.