Suma Narendra’s passion has always been dancing. But, deep-down, her inner calling was to be a gardener. Little did she know that she would end up becoming an expert terrace farmer. Hailing from Peringanad, Kerala, Suma dreamt of creating her own garden so when she bought a house in Adoor. But she faced one challenge. Her house didn’t occupy much space to create a big garden of her own. What she did, though, will inspire you a lot!
Suma made use of the space in her terrace and her fences to grow her very own vegetables and fruits using grow bags. In 2005, she managed to buy 25 grow bags to cultivate her own garden without the use of chemicals. She used natural fertilizers from the compost she had set up. And, you won’t believe, in just five years, Suma was able to grow 500+ varieties of vegetables, and soon became to be known as one of Kerala’s finest terrace garden experts.
So, how did Suma pull-off this miracle?
Well, in order to farm on a terrace, you need to make sure that it doesn’t spoil your terrace, resulting in leakage. This is how Suma pulled it off!
- All the grow bags were placed on concrete pipes.
- The grow bags were attached with PVC pipes to set up a drip-irrigation system for all the plants.
- The grow bags were kept a few distances away from each other and covered with protective nets that are sticky in nature, in order to attract pests and insects. They get stuck onto the net.
- The space on the terrace was efficiently used to its maximum potential. Though, Suma claims that it isn’t that an important factor because our care towards the plants proceeds everything.
Suma has gone on to prove that you don’t necessarily require a big plot of land to create your own farm. If she could cultivate a huge garden all by herself in her 10 cents of land, then anyone can. After all, there’s a reason why she has won the Kerala State Award for the Best Terrace Farmer.
