Want to grow your own veggies but don t know how to begin? Dr.

Viswanath, the pion

eer of terrace gardening in India, will tell you all you need to know. The right
mix of the soil, what veggies to grow and how to take care of them
here is your
guide to a lush green urban terrace garden.
These are ready to be plucked too, Dr. Viswanath Kadur plucked fresh red tomatoes
as he talked about his lush green terrace garden. Treat the plants like your babi
es and they will give you amazing returns, he further adds, as I stand there appr
eciating his amazing garden which has several varieties of veggies.
If there is one urban terrace gardener who knows the secrets behind a healthy or
ganic terrace garden, it is Dr. Kadur. An Entomologist by profession, he went to
the USA to pursue a course in film production and started making agriculture fi
lms and documentaries when he returned to India.
But it was a delay in the landing of his flight that made him a pioneer and a go
-to name when it comes to urban terrace gardening.
The family s experience of kitchen gardening came in handy and he started growing
veggies on his own terrace. Earlier in Bangalore, every house had a kitchen garde
n in the backyard. That culture got lost somewhere. I wanted to bring it back by
recreating the garden on the terrace, he says.
He thought of putting his experience and knowledge to use and started organizing
workshops on terrace gardening in 1995. Though we charged a fee, the response wa
s great. We got over 100 people for the first workshop itself, which gave us the
confidence that people are interested in this, he recalls. Today Kadur and his t
eam of urban gardeners, which include Laxminarayan Srinivasaiah and Dr. Rajendra
, organize an urban terrace gardening workshop every month.
In case you are a first timer and do not know how to grow your own veggies, here
is your guide to get a healthy organic terrace garden
It is very easy. We the human species can naturally relate to plants, we live amo
ng them. So there is nothing major to teach or learn. You just show lots of care
and you will get the return, says Dr. Kadur.
1. Getting started

Get the right space

If a house is built as per the books and in the right way, anything can be grown
on the terrace and it can take the weight of even bigger trees. You can also co
ver the entire surface with soil to make a lawn and experiment with it. In case
you are covering the surface of the terrace with soil, make sure you water proof
the surface to avoid any leakage into the home. If you are going for a regular
terrace garden with pots, there are no extra efforts required.
2. How to get the right soil which is rich in nutrients
The right type of soil is very important as the nutrients decide the growth of t
he plant. The right mix of soil requires regular soil, compost coir peat (or san
d) and vermicompost in equal quantities. After the heavy rains make sure you add
essential nutrients back to the soil as water tends to wash them away. You can a
dd compost every week or so to make sure the soil has enough nutrition, Dr. Kadur
says.
3. First time gardener? This should be your first step
If it is your first take at gardening, you can start with a small pot and single
vegetable and than gradually expand to other veggies. Plants like tomatoes and
chillies are easier to grow and do not require much care, so you can start with

those. You have to be very patient. It will take a couple of months to start givi
ng results so you should not give up and keep taking care of the plant, Dr. Kadur
says.
4. What all can you grow on a terrace garden?
Everything! says Dr. Kadur. French beans, chillies, tomatoes, brinjal, okra and li
me are easier to grow. You can also try cucumber, ridge gourd and bottle gourd.
Root vegetables like potatoes, onion, radish, carrots, groundnuts can also be gr
own but they require a larger area.
Apart from these veggies you can also grow fruit bearing trees like guava, banan
a, etc. I had seen a coconut tree on a terrace garden. If one can grow that, one
can grow anything here, Dr. Kadur says. He advises against growing a mango tree o
n the terrace as it requires a lot of effort. Though mango can be grown, but it r
equires immense care and effort, which might be a bit difficult for urban garden
ers, he says.
5. Other important things to keep in mind
Watering regularly is a must. In summers, your garden requires watering twice a
day. In winters you can just press the soil with the back of your hand to check
the moisture and water accordingly. I would advise not to water the garden in rai
ns and even one day after the rain as excess water drains all the nutrition away
from the soil, Dr. Kadur says.
Another important thing is enough sunlight. The terrace garden should receive at
least four to six hours of direct sunlight, and in areas where the sun is too h
arsh, people can use a shade to prevent the plants from getting scorched.
Dr. Kadur advises people not to use portable water and do their own Rain Water H
arvesting. Also, prepare your own compost by using waste veggies, he says.
With the efforts of people like Dr. Kadur, Bangalore has over 5,000 terrace gard
ens now, with an increasing interest among youngsters.
One of his favourite gardens is located in Hyderabad and is probably the oldest
terrace garden in India. This 35 year old garden hosts trees like banana, guava
and sapota, and the entire terrace is covered with plants, trees and grass. Dr.
Kadur believes that with the government s support, the country should be able to m
eet its vegetable needs through urban gardeners.
There should be better facilities made available in villages so that people stop
migrating. An old man cannot work in his farms as much as he did before. Once he
stops, who will produce food for us as the younger generation is migrating to t
he cities? We need more people to go back to farming, he says.
Dr. Kadur wants to take gardening to the slums and urban poor
We will provide them with material and training. They will just have to take care
of the garden. They can sell the produce and earn some money from it, he says.
Dr. Kadur has also started engaging school students in organic farming. He belie
ves that schools are the best places to inculcate the habit of farming among you
ng minds. He has implemented the model successfully in BM English school, Hennur
where kids grow their own veggies, sell it to their teachers and also bring it
to the OFYT events.
Put your soul into it, throw seeds and take care of them,

he concludes.

The first Oota from your Thota event of 2015 to promote Organic Urban Farming/Terr
ace Gardening is going to be held on 1 February, 2015. The event will have demon
strations/discussions and exhibitions on organic farming inputs and products/foo
ds, rain water harvesting, waste segregation & home-composting, vertical gardeni
ng, window farming, solar lighting, irrigation and so on. Check their facebook p
age for more details.
Dr. Kadur regularly organizes workshops on organic and terrace gardening. To kno
w more about his work or to be part of his workshops, contact him at
vishy_kadur
@yahoo.co.in