Jayanti Sahu and her husband Chittaranjan have been tending to their garden for over 25 years now.
Until March 2020, the couple’s terrace garden was filled with seasonal flowers. But during the lockdown, they began focusing on vegetables and fruits.
These include lady’s finger (bhindi), tomato, brinjal, cucumber, pumpkin, and greens like spinach, radish and methi.
Jayanti has over 450 pots on the terrace, with flowering pots in crates, alongside longer ones that can hold up to 20 plants in one.
Alongside, there are various kinds of water lilies, lotuses, orchids, passion flowers, roses, jasmines, Brahma Kamal flowers, and even marigolds, she says.
Growing a fruiting plant on the terrace was posing to be a challenge in the beginning, but the couple found a way to work around it.
Jayanti says, “There was a fear of the terrace floor not being able to take the weight of the fruiting plants.”
So they put a mixture of soil, compost, cocopeat and dried leaves in a large plastic container and started using those containers to grow them. “This reduced the load on the terrace considerably,” they say.
The couple is now growing guava, mango, chikoo, lemon, and papaya. “Our chikoo plant bears us very sweet fruits which are enjoyed by everyone at home,” says Jayanti.
"I remember each pot and plant that occupies space on my terrace. I will also be able to tell you exactly when I planted it or where I got it from," says Jayanti.