Terrace Gardening: Mathematics professor Dr. Sandeep Kumar is growing organic vegetables and fruits on the roof, inspiring people too

Terrace Gardening: Grow fresh fruits and vegetables on the roof with Terrace Garden. Learn easy tips for successful gardening from the experience of Dr. Sandeep Kumar Malhotra.

To connect with nature and keep their family healthy, many people who have land near the roof or house, are growing vegetables and fruits there themselves. Especially after Covid, the number of such people has increased and the trend of making Terrace Garden has also become very popular. Something similar happened with Professor Dr. Sandeep Kumar Malhotra, a resident of Madhya Pradesh.

Since Covid, he is also cultivating fruits and vegetables on the roof of his house, but to make the Terrace Garden successful, it is also important to keep some things in mind. Dr. Sandeep Kumar shared his Terrace Gardening experiences with Kisan of India correspondent Sarvesh Bundeli.

When did it start

After the Corona period, many people were inspired to plant trees and create a garden in the space available in their home. Professor Dr. Sandeep Kumar Malhotra of Madhya Pradesh is also one of those people, although he has been fond of nature since childhood, but he got the inspiration to grow organic fruits and vegetables in the Terrace Garden only during the time of Covid. He tells that when the time of Covid came, he realized how important oxygen is. Then the thought came to his mind that if every person makes a Terrace Garden on the roof of his house, then he can get enough oxygen so that he and his family can survive.

He further says that vegetables were not available during the Corona period, for many days his family had to survive only on pulses. Then he thought that he would produce fruits and vegetables for his needs himself, and in this way, 2 years ago he started Terrace Garden with full preparation and advice from his scientist friends.

All in One Terrace Garden

It would not be wrong to call the roof of Dr. Sandeep, a mathematics professor by profession, an all in one terrace garden, because here he is growing not only vegetables and fruits but also medicinal plants and various types of flowers. This small effort of his towards the conservation of nature is really commendable.

In his Terrace Garden, there are many vegetables like mint, beans, ridge gourd, brinjal, spinach, chilli, coriander, bitter gourd. Not only this, he tells that he keeps changing the vegetables according to the season. In the rainy season, when things like coriander and mint are not available in the market, you will get absolutely fresh mint in your own garden, like Dr. Sandeep is getting.

Use of 6 feet drum for fruits

While Dr. Sandeep has planted vegetables in grow bags and pots, he has planted the fruits in a 6 feet drum. There are many fruit trees in his garden like papaya, sapota, pomegranate, guava, lemon, sweet lime. Dr. Sandeep says that his agricultural scientist friend advised him to plant such fruits on the roof whose roots go up to 6 feet. Drums can be used for this, but it is necessary to have air movement in it, for which holes are made in the drum.

Use of kitchen waste for compost

Dr. Sandeep does completely organic farming. He says that he does not use any kind of chemical and fertilizer in the plants. He uses the peel of fruits and vegetables coming out of the kitchen as fertilizer. When insects etc. attack the plants, he sprays neem oil. He gets good production of fruits and vegetables only through organic method. He says that the production is so much that he distributes fresh vegetables to the neighbors and friends also.

The special thing is that Sandeep Kumar himself is growing fruits and vegetables in an organic way, and through his YouTube channel, he is also motivating people to do the same so that more and more people can stay healthy. He says that the vegetables available in the market do not have taste and the amount of chemicals in them is very high, which is causing fatal diseases. Therefore, those who have space should grow the vegetables of their need themselves.

Plants planted in a scientific way

Many people have a question in their mind that will making a garden on the roof not cause a lot of load or will it cause any damage to the house? So, removing the doubts in the minds of such people, Dr. Sandeep tells that he himself has been doing Terrace Gardening for 2 years and his house has not suffered any damage. He tells that he has planted the plants in a scientific way.

In all the grow bags, first a layer of coconut shell is put, then a layer of vermicompost is put on it and then soil is put on it, so that the weight does not increase much. There are three layers of coconut shell in the fruit drum. The advantage of coconut is that it keeps working for 4 years. Nutrients and water are stored in it, due to which the plants keep getting water and food. After 4 years, the coconut shell rots and becomes manure. This does not increase the weight and neither the house nor nature is harmed in any way.

There is no leakage in the roof 

Many people also feel that gardening on the roof can cause leakage problems. Regarding this, Dr. Sandeep says that when he was getting the roof constructed, he had gardening in mind, so he got the roof constructed accordingly. He further explains that all the grow bags on the roof are not placed directly on the roof, but are placed on a one-foot iron stand. There is a hole in the grow bag from which water comes out, then this water flows through the drain built on the roof, he has made the slope of the roof in such a way that all the water goes towards the drain.

Protecting plants in summer

Generally, plants do not face any problem in winter and rainy season, but it is important to protect the plants on the roof from burning in summer. Dr. Sandeep tells that to protect the plants from hot winds in the summer season, he has put a green sheet on top of the net installed on the edge of the garden. Due to which the plants are protected from the hot winds coming from the side.

He says that direct sunlight does not harm the plants, but hot winds coming from the side harm them, so a green sheet is placed on the edge. When the heat increases, another layer of this sheet is placed. Also, sprinklers are installed all around, so that the grow bag gets as much water as it needs and there is no wastage of water.

Inspire others to

Professor Sandeep says that he wants not only him and his family, but all the people around and the entire society to remain healthy. After seeing him, many people have made Terrace Garden. And many people come to him to ask for seeds, plants and advice. He helps all such people. Not only this, he gives vegetables to people in the neighborhood and asks them to taste it first so that people understand the difference between organic vegetables and chemical vegetables from the market. When they understand the difference, they themselves are inspired to grow them.

Feeling of relief

Dr. Sandeep not only gets fresh fruits and vegetables from the Terrace Garden, but also a pleasant feeling. He says that when he comes to his plants in the morning and evening, his mind is filled with peace and he feels like he is in heaven, the chirping of birds is heard all around which gives a pleasant feeling.

Conservation of rivers

Another specialty of Dr. Sandeep’s Terrace Garden is that through this he is also inspiring the young generation to conserve rivers. In fact, he has named the grow bags after rivers like Sindh, Betwa, Narmada, Kaveri, Yamuna etc. So the school-college children who come to him for studies related to Terrace Gardening, get information about the rivers of their state. They do not know that rivers are life-giving. Also, when they leave from here, they gather information about it by searching on Google, which helps them to understand their culture and nature closely.

Just imagine, if everyone makes a Terrace Garden on their roof like Dr. Sandeep, how good it will be for both the environment and health.