Month: December 2022

Having a Roof Garden has its advantages and disadvantages 😐

The only reason I started roof gardening was to grow vegetables and they need lot of sunlight. I was even successful with Tomatoes. They were a huge hit! Here are the links for the article: https://saudhaminimylaram.in/2021/09/19/how-to-grow-organic-tomatoes-at-home-gardening/, https://saudhaminimylaram.in/2022/03/21/my-garden-in-spring-2022/

After the harvest, the pots (soil mainly) needed rotation with some other plants before I could go back to growing tomatoes again. I tried chilies, coriander, basil, etc., although all these plants did start to show signs of life, nature had other plans.

Our house is surrounded by apartments on two sides. And every apartment here has at least one Tulasi plant on their balcony. Each neighbor has different varieties (different shades of leaves) too – Krishna Tulasi and Vishnu Tulasi. Either by wind or birds or insects or butterflies, these varieties of Tulasi plants have taken over my roof garden. When we have Tulasi growing in a pot, there is little scope for other saplings to grow. Tulasi takes over. I now have to wait and allow for it to run its course.

Once upon a time, I had a vegetable garden. Now I have Tulasi Garden. (I know it sounds like the lyrics of a heartbreak song😛)

And then it occurred to me – light bulb moment: to make a Tulasi mala. I harvested as much Tulasi as I can without making the plants look dead, to make a mala. We have offered it to Sri Venkateshwara Swamy temple, here in Anand Bagh. We were one of the first few people to visit that evening and our Tulasi mala was the only one on the idol until we left.

Three weeks later, the tulasi plants look this:

I just had other plans for my roof garden 🙁