Gardening is one of my pursuits for several years now. It could be in my blood but being in midst of greenery makes me calm, happy and being home. It teaches me Life.
What started with few pots, now expanded to trees and 40+ plants/trees at home. I often think, what am i gaining out of it, because it requires lot of time and physical effort to maintain the garden.
Every morning, taking a look at my balcony garden gives happiness and feels all worth the effort. And rainy season does wonders to plants. During summer, i didn’t properly maintain and it lead to most potted plants dry up. Where as now, in the last month with all the rain in Chennai, this is how it turned in to with minimal effort from my end. While i need to add few more plants to it, its all grown from the compost and remains from the previous season.
Gave up Composting due to lack of time, but doing both Gardening and Composting are more fulfilling pursuits. Sowing the seed, waiting for it to prop up it’s first two leaves, watching daily its growth though the growth is slow, watering with care, taking out the weeds, sudden buds and blooming in to colorful flowers, fruits coming out of the flowers and waiting for the fruit to fully grow. It is a long process but it teaches me patience, hard work, love for nature, connect with birds and butterflies, value the rain water and fall in love with life.
Not to mention the taste and pleasure of eating the fruits or vegetables coming out of our own garden, it is again fulfilling! Engaging kid in the activity along (though it would add more workload than help) makes them to get involved and have fun time with no gadgets. She would play with soil, do the weeding, water the plants and do what ever i am doing. And now days, she would get out of the balcony on her own and say, i went to take a look at the ‘thottam’ (farm). Kids learn from what we DO!
And it also in hard way conveys what would it take to grow vegetables and fruits with out any inorganic fertilizers/pesticides. My short term goal in Gardening is to consume at least weekly one day meal with vegetables/leaves from our garden, even for that its a long way to go!
நான்.. இன்று.. என் பார்வையில்... 