Bloom amid Covid gloom: Home gardening fills up lockdown days

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, July 19

As Covid-19 has compelled residents to stay indoors, a new domestic hobby seems to be catching up with them. With more time at one’s disposal, a large number of city residents are adopting healthy hobbies and taking interest in nurturing their kitchen gardens on terrace or balconies. Besides, there has been a spike in the sale of herbal plants in the city.

As doctors and health experts have been suggesting people to eat immunity-booster food these days in order to stay fit and active, plants such as tulsi (Basil), brahmi (water hyssop), ashwagandha (winter cherry), giloy (heart-leaved moonseed) and lemongrass, are in high demand. Nursery owners say that after witnessing a slump in the month of April, their business has now picked up and the orders for these plants were pouring in on a daily basis.

“The inclination and interest of residents in home gardening has been increasing. People are getting more aware of the benefits of herbal and medicinal plants. And, thanks to the internet, people no longer require any help from experts to set up their gardens. Following instructions from YouTube tutorials, they are able to manage everything on their own. But yes, the number of customers visiting the nurseries seeking seeds, plants of medicinal value has witnessed a rise over the past two months,” said Deepak Sood, owner of Blooms and Greens Nursery.

Another resident Maahi Malhotra, who operates a nursery from her own home at 66-ft Road here, said there had been a 60 per cent rise in the sale of immunity-boosting plants since the lockdown has eased out, more specifically for giloy, which are the most sought after, she said.

SPEAKING OUT

People are buying everything these days. But tulsi and ashwagandha varieties are the most sought after. Besides, giloy is very much in demand. Also, I believe, the craze for these plants will not go down even after the pandemic and the business will only improve. —Ravneet Kaur, owner of Garden Tuners

The idea to grow my own vegetables crossed my mind after the lockdown started. I though it would be a lot safer. But due to space constraints, I am growing only those veggies that can survive in limited space, such as curry leaves, cherry tomatoes, lemons, etc. —Hema Devi, city resident

Instead of taking vitamin supplements, I prefer having these in natural form, extracted from plants. Thus, I recently planted aloe vera and tulsi saplings. I use tulsi leaves everyday to make kadha or in tea with cardamom and a small slice of ginger. —Balminder Kaur, Jalandhar Heights resident

AI have a big kitchen garden. Earlier, I was not able to give much time to it as I am also running a boutique. But during the lockdown, I got enough time to take care of it. I now spend at least 40 minutes in my garden, watering plants and enjoying the greenery. —Raminder Kaur, a resident of Wadala Chowk