My moment of revelation

Innovation is the driving force of nature and, as immortalised in Jurassic Park, ‘life will find a way’. Plants in the wild don’t grow in a particular place. They just grow haphazardly in every nook and cranny. While on a trek up north, I was walking through some dense forests when I happened to have a sort of ‘eureka’ moment… plants in jungles adapted to their environment, thriving in the limited space they could find that hadn’t already been claimed by some other form of vegetation.

When I got back to work, I found myself with a client whose penchant for cleanliness appeared to be at odds with her desire for indoor gardening! Her stipulation that there should be no pots on her floor or mud in her house might seem obsessive, but was justifiably so, as her daughter was allergic to dust. This posed quite a challenge, but we found a solution—inverted gardening!

Upside-down gardening

Inverted gardening is the art of growing plants upside down, with the roots to the sky and shoots to the ground. Using the Japanese art form called Kokedama [gardening without using a pot] we made these beautiful upside down planters using peat moss, perlite, laterite and coco peat. What we discovered during the process blew our minds!

The perks of inverted gardening

If pests and blight are wrecking your plants, it might be time to turn your garden on its head. When dealing with overhead plantations there is a reduced risk of rotting or attacks from pests. No longer will you have to cage, stake or weed your plants or battle cutworms and other ruinous critters to put fresh tomatoes on the table. And, there are other advantages to growing plants upside down:

1. You don’t have to till the soil
2. There is no need to support or to stake plants
3. You can grow a wide variety of vegetables
4. Watering is much easier, and the plants are more vigorous
5. What’s most enticing is that there’s no weeding at all!

What you need to do to get started

You can buy pricey containers that are meant specifically for the inverted growing technique, but if you don’t want to dig too deep into your pocket, you can use a simple method we figured out at the nursery—the trick is to get the rootball right. Make a cricket ball-sized rootball with perlite and coco peat; tie a string tightly around the root and then use a moss sheet to encase the rootball of your plant. Tie it together and place the rootball very carefully in a pot. Pull the string through the base of the pot and you can now suspend it in a nice sunny spot in your balcony. Over the years, I worked with several plants and I found that some plants adapted better than others. Here is what I learned:

Plants best suited to inverted gardening

Tomato

Heirloom, Beefsteak or Cherry, the tomato is a popular plant because it is easy to grow. Cherry tomatoes are a good choice and flourish in this type of container because of their small size.

Beans

Pole and bush beans thrive in upside-down containers. However ensure that you
water them adequately and place them in a sunny area.

Peppers

Bell peppers and hot peppers are good choices for an inverted garden. Hang them in a sunny spot and keep them well watered.

Cucumbers

Choose smaller pickling cucumbers as they are easier to grow upside-down. Bush cucumbers are not a good choice and don’t do well in inverted containers.

Eggplant

The small varieties of eggplant grow nicely and are easy to manage in an inverted pot.

Sweet potatoes

These tubers grow fantastically and the size of the tubers are considerably larger than that of the ones grown on the ground.

Herbs

Home grown herbs aren’t just fashionable, but they’re coveted by most health enthusiasts and culinary experts. There are numerous herbs like basil, parsley, rosemary, oregano and mint among others that thrive with this method of gardening.

Non-edible ornamental plants

There are loads of ornamental plants that make quite a statement when used with the inverted gardening technique. A few favourites include:

Phalaenopsis orchids

Commonly known as the Moth orchid, these are excellent ornamental plants that can perk up any space. Keep in mind that over-watering can kill them.

Pony tail palms

These grow well in a temperate climate, but cannot withstand the cold and should be placed indoors. When repotting the plant, ensure that it keeps all its roots. To maintain its original shape, do not snip the ends of the leaves.

Bilbergias

These are evergreen perennials and they have rosette-forming, brilliantly-coloured flowers. They are epiphytes, which means they absorb moisture and nutrients from the air.

Syngonium

This is a commonly cultivated houseplant. It needs to be repotted every second spring. Pruning will keep the leaves more arrow-shaped and make the plant bushy in appearance.

Moss roses

In India it is called the Nau Bajiya or the 9 o’clock flower since it is in full bloom at nine in the morning. It is a small plant that requires almost no attention to help it grow. It has vibrant flowers that can brighten up any room.

The pitcher plant

Pitcher plants are intriguing plants to grow and make great conversation starters. They need ample sunlight and moisture. Most pitcher plants are carnivorous and will help you keep pesky insects away.

Agave

The agave is most commonly confused with the cacti or aloe family; though it looks similar to each of these plants, it belongs to neither family. Agave is a desert plant, so it doesn’t require constant watering. However, some species of agave have sap that can irritate the skin and most agave have thorns that can cause injury.

Caring for your inverted plants

Hang your upside-down plants in a sunny location and water them well, making sure that water reaches the bottom of the root ball. The water should in fact run out of the bottom. Watering requirements for your upside-down garden will usually vary depending on the plant species and local climate. In most places, especially during periods of hot, dry weather, your upside-garden will require watering on a daily basis, if not more frequently. Make sure you take out the dry leaves and prune any shoots growing out of shape at least once a month. Liquid fertilisers such as vermiwash are useful, but should only be used annually. Make it a point to redo the root balls once every two years for the ideal growth of your inverted plants.

Who is this for

As your plants grow, you may notice them reaching upward towards the sunlight. This is completely normal and will eventually cease as the plants get larger or begin bearing fruit. While the entire process may seem a bit whacky and outside of normal methods, but upside-down gardening is a great way to enjoy beautiful flowers and tasty vegetables, without the inconveniences of traditional gardening. What’s more, it doesn’t take up a whole lot of space, making this the perfect alternative for urban gardeners and others having little ground space. Upside-down gardening also provides the additional benefit of having your plants at eye level, eliminating the need for bending or stooping, whether you’re watering or harvesting.

These inverted pieces add great aesthetic value to your surroundings, making them perfect as centre pieces or displays at exhibitions. Businesses often use them to give the workplace an earthy and yet modern décor, while doctors often display such inverted pieces in their waiting rooms to create a soothing environment. No matter how inverted pieces are used, they lend both practical and aesthetic value to your habitat.

This was first published in the December 2014 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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A kitchen garden doesn’t require a large plot of land. All you need is a windowsill, an unused corner, or even the stairs—these can all be turned into verdant little areas lush with fragrant herbs and veggies. Container gardens, windowsill gardens, and balcony gardens are good examples for people who live in metropolitan cities and have a paucity of space.

Where to begin?

Space: While planning on growing a kitchen garden, one of the most important things to consider is space. Even though there is not much space to garden in urban India, container-planting is a very easy solution to that. Mark out the area in your house that gets sufficient light and has the space to host a few pots and containers.

Plants: If your apartment is small, grow plants that are small. You don’t want a plant that grows up to six feet in your one-room apartment!

Lighting: Your garden must get enough sunlight, full or partial sun, to keep the plants healthy.

Seeds or saplings: You can either plant seeds [available at your local nursery] or saplings. Both will work.

Soil: Choose the right soil for your indoor garden. Some soils hold on to water while others are more porous. Ask your local nursery to help you with the type of soil, the amount of water and other such details.

Container gardening

Use plastic takeaway containers, old mugs, old buckets, and wire baskets for hanging smaller plants. Don’t throw away your empty cans and bottles. You’ll be amazed what you can grow in them. Don’t forget to make drain holes in all the pots.

When using small containers, make sure that the plants you grow don’t have large roots.

How to select which vegetables to grow?

The two important factors to consider are: which plants can thrive indoors, and which one you can use. Decide on the kind of vegetables to grow and plan your space accordingly. Choose vegetables and herbs based on your kitchen requirements, your knowledge of growing them, and the resources at your disposal.

Also, grow plants according to season. Planting vegetables as per the changing climatic conditions will ensure that there is a regular supply of vegetables throughout the year. It doesn’t make sense to grow a winter crop in summer, and expect it to thrive.

Herbs and vegetables you can easily grow at home

Chives
Chives are happy-go-lucky plants—you can grow them anywhere for they thrive in window boxes as well as gardens. They are best grown in full sunlight, but being hardy plants, they grow well in shade too. They will also grow well in almost any average, well-drained soil. Just keep in mind that when growing chives in containers, you need to fertilise them once a month and water the plant whenever the compost begins to dry out.

Coriander
Bury a few coriander seeds into a pot and keep watering it regularly with care. You’ll see the first bloom very quickly.

Curry plant
Curry plant makes a very nice house plant—provided you can give it plenty of sunlight. This plant will need supplemental light if you can’t give it six to eight hours of powerful light a day. If you do place a curry plant in a pot, make sure to add some sand to the soil for good drainage and water it sparingly. These plants prefer soil that drains well, sunlight, and warm conditions.

Garlic
The three things that you need for a healthy garlic crop are: a good sunny location, loose soil, and good drainage. Even though garlic doesn’t require any special handling per se, it can often contract a fungus [referred to as white or pink rot] in cool and damp climates.

Ginger
Get yourself a ginger root, one that isn’t shrivelled, and soak it in warm water overnight. The next day, fill a pot that has good drainage with potting soil and plant it.

Mint
Mint is easier to grow from a sapling than from seeds. Take a sprig of mint [make sure that the cut is below a node] and plant it in a moist but not wet pot. Mint likes shade and consistent moisture so don’t expose it to direct sunlight.

Spring onions
This is the easiest to grow. Take an onion that is sprouting just a little and plant it. Water it carefully and soon you’ll have fresh spring onions in your house. Harvest spring onions when their green tops are one inch
in diameter.

Tomatoes
The tomato remains one of the easiest and most successful vegetable plants to grow. Most tomato varieties only need well-draining soil and six to eight hours of sunshine per day. The soil must be kept consistently well watered. Depending on the mature height of the tomato plant, you may need cages or stakes to provide support for the plants.

Peppers
Pepper plant varieties include sweet bell peppers, chilli peppers, and banana peppers. Pepper plants need conditions similar to tomatoes: six to eight hours of sunshine per day and well draining soil. Also remember that they need to be watered at an even rate of one inch of water every week.

Tulsi
Tulsi seed is easy to germinate and grow. It prefers full sunlight, rich soil, and plenty of water. Tulsi does well in pots or window boxes. One thing to keep in mind about tulsi is that it needs a warm, humid environment to grow.

There’s no feeling quite like seeing the fruit of your efforts—that first leaf, the first vegetable sprouting… and then using your produce to prepare yummy meals. Now that you know, go for it. Try your first kitchen garden. But don’t forget: kitchen gardening takes a lot of time and commitment.

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