Garden: “A thing of beauty and a job forever”

Oxford Dictionary  defines a Garden as, “enclosed piece of ground devoted to the cultivation of flowers, fruit or vegetables".

I do believe in the saying “He who plants a garden plants happiness”. Perhaps this is the reason why gardening enthusiasts will go all out to plant a bit of greenery even if they a get a small patch of land.

I love gardening because I’m an artist. For me a Gardner is as good as an artist if not more than an artist. I know how much effort goes in to creating a flower on the canvas. I also know how much satisfaction and contentment I derive after seeing my flower on the canvas. It’s lifelike. But not with life.

Now imagine, what would be the amount of joy and satisfaction a Gardner gets after creating  a real flower with his own efforts and perspiration.

Gardening is the direct outcome of humans' strong desire to be a part with the nature. People love to walk in a garden after a hard day’s work for that whiff of fresh air. Verdant greenery has the quality of recharging the spent energy and rejuvenate.

With the advent of industrial revolution, humanity made giant leaps in the field of technology, but lost a big chunk of precious nature.

Green spaces gave way to lime, mortar and concrete. But humans with that inherent desire to mingle with nature were not deterred by lack of space to grow gardens. As the space is shrinking, humans are devising new ways to bring nature in to their lives. Here are some of the ways to put a piece of greenery in homes.

Apartment gardens

With the alarming rate with which gardens are shrinking, folks started inventing new methods of gardening within that much of small place at their disposal. So for many, the garden is just a strip of a balcony or a small terrace.Gone are the days when a garden means only the vegetation lying on the ground. Now the plants in the pots are seen everywhere in a home. They breathe life in to the rooms. Place them on the teapoy, on the bookshelf, window sill, or hang them. Unleash your imagination and ingenuity.

The biggest advantage of small gardens over large gardens is that, the Gardner will be saved from the tedious job of weeding.

Rooftop gardens

With the emergence of bigger and bigger apartments to cater to the growing needs of ever increasing exodus of people  from rural areas to urban areas for the sake of employment, New and innovative ways to enliven  the life are appearing on the horizon.

Not very long ago. , I was astonished to hear the word, Roof Garden for the first time. First it started as a luxury. Now it has become a regular feature in Housing and building parlances.

The general choice  of plants for the roof gardens are seasonal and perennial plants’. It will be an experience par excellence to stroll over the small and narrow pathways of your roof garden after a hectic day.

To give that extra bit of ambience, light furniture made of cane and wrought iron can be used in your roof garden.

Kitchen gardens

Contrary to the popular belief that a vegetable garden must have a huge plot of land,now the container and potted vegetable gardening have come in a big way. Of course, you have to restrict yourself to a  a few. The world is now fully aware that chemicals are not welcome in our food. Because, the chemical filled vegetables which are available in the market are responsible for most of the ailments.

For this reason, the concept of Organic food has come up. Organic food is sans chemicals and fertilizers. But it is expensive.Here is where your vegetables grown in  your tubs or window boxes will score over the organic vegetables. Your veggies are as good as Organic veggies but inexpensive as they are  grown without chemicals and fertilizers.

A Plan is a must.

Whatever may be the size of your garden, it helps always to go in a systematic and planned way. The foremost thing you should do is to putting your garden plan on paper. You need not be as accurate as a trained draughtsman.  Just indicate length and breadth with their respective dimensions.

 Then think of a landscape design. Say if you have an intention to use your garden for little family get-togethers  and a small gym for your little one, add some paved ways and a provision for a swing.

You should be able to visualize mentally what you need and where they are placed in the very beginning itself. If you are having uncertain and wavering thoughts about your gardening requirement, frequent uprooting of your plants will become a regular feature which may prove quite expensive in the long run.

Remember pathways need not be lined up always with exotic varieties of plants for an aesthetic look. You can line up the pathways with well shaped stones and pebbles. Pebbles can be colored  for that extra zing.

Gardening is a very delicate and sensitive activity. Anyone who loves gardening is for sure is a person with kind heart and full of love. For those gardeners, rearing plants is no less than rearing children. I know many people who have gardening as a hobby spend most of their time in the gardens, checking each leaf of the plant and running fingers on each plant and enquiring about the welfare of the plants as if they are talking with real people.

 Such people, in order to keep the health of their offsprings, protect them from the invasion of dangerous Pests. But at the same time, they take utmost care not to use pesticides filled with chemicals. They prefer to drive away the pests using natural ways and means.

 Here are a few effective natural ways to deal with Pests.

Neem is an organic pesticide that can be used on your plants. The downside of Neem is that it will kill all bugs, not just the bad ones. Also, it will kill your honey bees. To try to protect the bees in your garden, make sure that you do not spray the blooms. This will provide some protection.

Spray on herbal neem oil to avoid insects - once in 2-3 months is fine.

Boil neem leaves in water. it appears like very light tea. cool and mix with water meant for the plants.

Neem is an organic pesticide that can be used on your plants. The disadvantage with  Neem is that it will kill all bugs, not just the bad ones. Also, it will kill your honey bees.  You can save the bees if you do not spray the blooms.

Boil some strong scented roots and spices like ginger, garlic, onions, mint or horse radish . Keep the mixture over night in order to allow the ingredients to settle. Then strain the mixture. discard the solids. Take a spray bottle. Pour the mixture in to the spray bottle and spray.

Garlic alone can do the job. If you are not in a position to procure all the strong scented roots mentioned above, use 1 or 2 cloves of garlic and make the mixture as stated above. Deer and Rabbits certainly will not love the strong odour of Garlic.