Two Ranchi Women Turn Rooftops Into Organic Farm

Two Ranchi Women Turn Rooftops Into Organic Farm

TNN | Mar 11, 2017, 06.00 AM IST

Ranchi: Fifty-year-old Shobha Kumari doesn't need to visit the market to buy vegetables anymore. All she does is climb up to her terrace and pick some.

Krishna Singh's (49) friends go green with envy every time they see her terrace while her own heart swells with pride.

Green love is blooming on the rooftops of these two residents of Ranchi, who have taken out time from their daily life to grow lush, fresh and pesticide-free vegetables, fruits and flowers on the rooftops of their houses.

The urban terrace gardens not only cut a pretty picture but does its bit in conserving nature and supplying healthy produce that goes into the dishes prepared in these two homes.

Both Shobha, a resident of Nivaranpur near Main Road Overbridge, and Krishna (49), who lives in Friends Colony in Pandra, use vermi-compost and cow dung as manure to grow vegetables, fruits and flowers in pots, drums and cement sacs.

Every day, they devote two hours to nurturing the plants with much love and care, the job acting as the perfect stress-buster for them. And as they watch the saplings grow, all tall, lush and beautiful, their joy knows no bound.

"A few days ago, I had grown 2.5kg beans. This apart, my terrace has tomatoes, chillies, brinjals, coriander leaves and other vegetables. I also grow oranges, guavas, litchis, pomegranates and strawberries, besides roses and marigold. I have altogether 250 pots," said a very proud Shobha, whose rooftop garden sprawls across 2,500sqft.

The widow with a green thumb consciously chose to grow her own veggies in 2012 after realising that vegetables available in the market were not only expensive but also harmful because of use of pesticides.

"We cannot ignore the health hazards just like this. Nothing can beat the feeling of seeing my family members relishing my labour of love when they eat dishes prepared with the vegetables I have grown. It's really amazing to nurture these plants. In return, I get satisfaction," Shobha said.

Krishna's rooftop garden spreads across 5,000sqft, which she had reared with equal love and dedication for the past eight years.

"Earlier I used to grow flowers like roses, sunflowers and petunia in small pots. Then, I developed a passion for growing veggies in cement sacs. For manure I stick to cow dung, karanj and neem twigs to protect the plants from insects. I felt elated after preparing vegetables picked from my own garden. Thereafter, there was no looking back," she said.

This 49-year-old is a proud owner of 300 pots, bearing tomatoes, coriander, brinjal, methi, green chillies and radish. "My three children are based outside now, but I click photographs of my rooftop garden and send them. I am excited about preparing vegetable dishes for them when they will come in December. The vegetables are grown without use of pesticides, they are very natural and healthy," the homemaker, whose husband works in AIR, Ranchi, said.

Every day, she uses some vegetables like tomatoes in cooking. "I had grown 10kg tomatoes, one kg coriander leaves and 10kg green onions, which I distributed among my friends," she added, proudly.

Krishna starts growing the vegetables from October every year. "These are winter veggies, which will continue to blossom till March. This is the perfect time for gardening," she signed off.