MY ROOF GARDEN                          

Before talking about my roof garden, I wish to introduce myself and my back ground.  I am 80 yrs old (DOB: 29 July, 1934)  having spent nearly fifty years in Delhi.  I am living with my daughter.  When we shifted to our present house  in June, 2003 .my son-in-law late Shri RS Rajan who was interested in gardening,  developed the roof garden and since they were busy, I took interest in up keeping the plants in the roof garden.  We engaged a gardener, who would come once a week to tend the plants and my only job was to water the plants in the morning and evening.   Initially we had Flower Pots like Dasavada (Hibuscus), Jasmine, Roses etc. and slowly started planting vegetables.   To keep the pots,  we made iron stands so that the floor of the terrace is not spoiled by mud and other wastes and also easy to clean.   

Slowly, I developed interest in the Roof Garden and its maintenance.  I have been going through a number of Websites and got lot of information. Geekgardener site was very useful in giving me information on everything about gardening.   At a point of time, I came across the book written by

Dr B.N. Viswanath on Organic Gardening  and followed various suggestions given by him in his book and at times send him   e-mail to get his advice on my problem and experience.  He has been very helpful and gave me lot of suggestions for improvement of the Garden and the plants.  Even though, I very much liked to attend his workshop, I could not do so due to my age and the distance from the place of my residence. 
Dr Viswanath introduced me to Dr Anusuya Sharma who was living in Sanjay Nagar and I got very good suggestions and ideas from her and I owe my present Terrace Garden set up to her. 

Recently, I came across news items in Bangalore Mirror on Terrace Gardening & Earth Warriors movement and the news item of a workshop held on the 18^th August, 2012 under the suspicious of Vithal Mallaya Scientific Research Foundation.  I learnt lot of things during the workshop and wanted to implement various suggestions and guidance given during the workshop.   I am thankful to the organizers and look forward to further opportunities.   Particularly, the Bangalore Mirror is doing a very good job to promote Roof & Kitchen Gardening including preparation of Organic manure from the domestic kitchen waste etc.    I am thankful to Dr Rajendra Hegde, Shri Kaushik Hatti and Shri Raghav for their guidance whenever I approached them with some question.
Periodically, I also get advice from Shri Neelakantan of Geekgardners and trying to follow the instructions given by him and his organization.

By browsing the website periodically I came across Organic Roof Gardeners, Bangalore Gardeners, Chennai Organic Roof Gardeners in the Face Book.  I became a regular browser of this site and the interaction between member gardeners gave me valuable information and guidance on various subjects on gardening.    Interaction in the Face Book gave a large number of friend Roof Gardeners.  I am glad that so far nearly 100 roof gardeners have visited my roof garden and of course I have also visited some of the Roof Gardens.   As far as possible I regularly attend workshops, exhibitions and meets related to gardening. 

In spite of all these things, I regularly face some problems in the maintenance of the Roof Garden and I am listing them below:

1.     The plants do not grow healthy. ( I use vermicompose & Organic Manure) regularly.

2.     There are white patches on the upper surface of the leaves (of tomatoes, creepers, and also flower plants)

3.     There are white crusts formed in the flower buds.  ( I regularly spray Neem Oil spray and some times Garlic Spray).

4.     Recently I find that the flower buds of my Bottle Gourd Creeper grow black and whither away.  This happens even in the flowers of other creepers.

5.     I have grown a number of Mari Gold Plants in the Roof Garden.

6.     The Keerai plants (araikeerai, palak etc.) are not growing healthily.  Of course Pudhina, Coriander grow well in the rectangular pots.

7.     Holes are formed in the leaves of some plants.

I shall be obliged if some help is suggestd to me to improve my Roof Garden.  Recently, I visited a farm near Bidadi, where I have seen plants are grown on Cocopeat soil.  Now-a-days, I started using Cocopeat alongwith the soil and of course add Organic Manure also to the soil.

Presently I have about 200 pots of different sizes and mainly grow Brinjals, Tomatoe, Greens like Palak, Methi, Coriander and some new varieties of veggies like Elephant Okra, Clove Beans etc.  I have also one Chow Chow Creeper, and some rare varieties of Brinjals, Tinda and Chappan Kadhu from the North.   

Through interaction in the Face Book Gardeners, I have been regularly exchanging seeds with others members belonging to both OTG and COTG.