Hira Gardening 🌱: My Balcony Garden

Vijay, Pinewood#

“Balcony Garden” - the words create a vision of a small spot in your apartment/flat with a couple of flowering plants or pothos (money plants). Many of us think that having a “garden” when you live in an apartment is a paradox. A garden is a large space, possibly in your backyard or in front of your house, with large shade giving trees, some of them maybe even yielding fruits and a few giving bountiful flowers each day. This is not exactly what comes to mind when you think of a “balcony garden” - is it?

Well… you are both right and wrong! All of our Hira flats have one decent size balcony - some come with more than one too. Could the balcony be bigger - yes but it is more than sufficient to start testing how green your thumb can be.

When I moved to Hira about 5 years back, I was moving from a house that had a large backyard where I was growing all kinds of vegetables and seasonal flowers to having a single balcony where my plants would be competing for space with the clothes drying contraption that goes up and down on a rope! The small space in my balcony did not stop me from my desire to make the space green. I started by getting the omni-present plant Tulsi, a couple of money plant cuttings from the park and my balcony garden was on its way.

Today - I have a couple of dozen different plants including 3 varieties of hibiscus, rose, jasmine, vinca, butterfly pea, basil varieties, oxalis and a few more. Each morning, it is indeed a joy to see the various plants bloom in different colours. I have a kaffir lime plant given by a friend who was relocating. While the fruit is rare, it is a great addition to the balcony and increases the verdant background.

Our Hira community has several avid gardeners and if you look out from your balcony or look up on your walks, you will notice several green spots with colourful plants and planters - i am sure these are the sought after spots of the house where the gardener finds their peace and sit and enjoy their morning coffee or afternoon chai. It is also easy to get a variety of plants from the Hira nursery (located opposite i-Mart). The nursery gives you free plants (yes FREE) and you can take up to 4 each time. The gardeners will give you soil and the plants - you have to bring your own container. The “Thottam” nursery is nearby and offers a lot more choices - though they are a tad bit expensive. There are some more excellent nurseries on ECR (e.g 13 degrees North) and container shops to cater to your gardening needs.

There are several benefits to having plants in the house - they give you more oxygen, some plants help in purifying air etc. You can also grow certain herbs at home! Can you beat the taste of adding home grown mint to your cocktails like mojitos or juleps and more!!!

Gardening is therapeutic and a great stress reliever - give it a try!!!

Please note - because of the balcony direction not everyone will have success with the same plant in Hira. The higher you are in the tower; your plants tend to dry up faster and hence will require more watering. Get connected to the gardening community and ask your friends/neighbours for tips as they probably went through some of the same challenges.