Variety is important in life

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 22

The lockdown period, when life came to a standstill in the country, people found different ways to connect with life itself and also with the nature. Many spent considerable time in maintaining their green heavens, including lawns and terrace gardens whether small or big.

Rakesh Bhrany is no different. A trader by profession and a resident of Majitha Road area, he maintained his fruit trees and started growing vegetables in an organic manner in his backyard.

“Though we have been growing vegetables for past couple of years but were not getting satisfying results. The lockdown gave us an ample of time for experimenting and learning about different steps of kitchen gardening. I learned through a video-sharing platform about organic manure and pesticides. I had procured a cow and kept it in a vacant space in the factory. Besides getting fresh milk, I prepared ‘jeev amrit’ using cow’s dung and urine. We also prepared organic pesticides to keep pests away,” said Bhrany.

“Believe me, it does wonders…the production of vegetables in the kitchen garden increased manifold. The taste and nutrition value of these vegetables also enhanced,” he shared.

Before this there was wild growth in the backyard making it a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other insects. Around five years ago, we cleaned the land and mixed three trolleys of manure in the soil and started kitchen gardening. Reddish, onion, potato, tomato, brinjal, cauliflowers and creeper tomato are some of the veggies.

When asked how it all started, he said gardening was not his childhood hobby, though his parents do love plants. “Earlier, they used to have an exotic garden in the house that still boasts of fruit trees in the front as well as the backyard.” Due to his busy schedule he could hardly find time for the same. But after the lockdown, he had made it a point to give some time daily to his garden and other plants.

They have two chakodra fruit (pomelo, citrus maxima) trees, two trees of plum (aalucha), two Indian figs, two Australian figs, around 80-year-old mango tree, nine trees of kinnow, five lemon, a sweet lemon, a custard apple, seven pappya, three banana, two narangi trees besides guavas and a ber (Indian jujube) tree.

Bhrany added that his mother, Rajni Bhrany, and wife Sunita also helped. “They maintain and upkeep the garden in my absence as well.”