Beating the blues with terrace gardening

PK Jaiswar

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 1

Government school teacher Manpreet Singh Sandhu’s love for plants began when he was entrusted with the job of plantation in the government school campus located at Harad Khurd village just close to the Indo-Pak border, around a decade ago.

He, along with his staff members and students of the school, developed three parks in the school. “It was a proud moment for us that the pictures of our government school remained on the department’s website for over five years,” Sandhu said.

As his love for plants grew, he turned his terrace into a beautiful garden having not only floral plants but also medicinal plants and vegetables. Belonging to a teachers’ family, his wife Kuljit Kaur, also a government teacher also helped him in the cause.

“We use grow bags most of the times. It is conducive for terrace garden which not only helps in healthy growth of the plants but also puts less weight on the rooftop,” he said. He has been taking guidance from different gardening channels on the social media.

“I have grown lemons, guava, lemon grass, tulsi, aloevera, insulin plant besides vegetables such as coriander, fenugreek leaves, spinach, two kinds of brinjals on my rooftop,” he said, adding that his kids also join hands with them.

His terrace rooftop is decked up with beautiful flowers and pots which motivated many persons in his circle, who requested his help for turning their terrace into garden.

Yes, growing plants on the terrace has its challenges. “The major challenge is to make a light weight soil so that it does not become heavy. It should also be healthy for the plants,” he said.

Sandhu grows vegetables in an organic manner as no pesticides of fungicides are used in these plants. “We take natural measures for dealing with pests and fungi that harm plants,” he said.

“During lockdown, working on my rooftop garden helped me remain stress free,” he pointed out. I don’t have hired any gardener for upkeep of my terrace garden. I do all the physical work in maintaining my garden, he added. We make compost and liquid fertilizers from fruit peels etc.