[rajeevsulu]

My Home garden

We always had a very good home garden. A lot of greenery was always there. Since we have 3000 sq. ft of land available around the house, a garden was mandatory. When I got the house painted recently, I had to cut down everything as the trees would not allow access to the painters. Since then, I have waited a while before starting afresh.

The new start

I wanted to do the garden in phases. This was because I was going to do up the garden myself and did not want to stress myself out. I could maximum spend an hour maximum every day and decided to take it slow. I ear marked 400 square feet for phase 1.This is basically the space in front of the house and a bit of one side as well.

The Plan

As it involved the front, I decided to go with flowering plants and ones that would be easy to maintain as well. As this was my first tryst with gardening, I decided to go with easy to maintain plants and not very fancy ones which would require a lot of skill.Since I had decided on the space and the type of plants needed, I approached the best nursery in the area.

Surabhi Nursery

This nursery is the best in Erode and is laid out on an area of 3 acres. Lovely staff there which is basically an all ladies team, we're on hand to know my requirements. After showing them pictures of the area involved and also my inexperience in the field, we arrived at a total of 80 plants of various types, a few creepers, seeds for the vegetable garden and the required manure. I am not going into details of the plant names as I am not sure of them myself

The preparation

Preparation of the plot


Two staff from the nursery were sent home to clean and spruce the area. After deweeding the area, segment by segment was prepared with adequate fertilizer and then the plants were laid out. We decided to keep a particular geometry where similar plants were laid in a row with other plants in the middle. The creepers were laid along the wall so as to climb on to the protective razor wire on the walls and on to the area of the portico. The seeds were laid in 8 different squares for them to sprout and will be replanted when they do sprout.

The process

Plants being laid out as planned

Plants being laid out as planned


This is very labour intensive and took a full three days for two labourers with my inputs being limited to photos and telling where I wanted the plants to be placed. Once this was done, the gardeners advised me on the follow up to be done. I spend 60 mts every morning watering the plants and any deweeding if needed. It is indeed very therapeutic and gives me some peace away from my hospital life. It also takes away one hour of time where I may start brooding about unwanted things. It has been a week now and when I see a new flower, it makes me happy. Small things matter a lot!!

Attatching a few pictures of the process and the way it has come till now. I shall update the thread as there is more progress and more area is covered!
Thulasi maadam

Plants planted as planned

Plants planted as planned

Plants planted as planned

Creepers planted in planned area

Creepers tied with rope to area of creep

Plants planted and watered

Plants planted and watered

Another area of the plot

Cost

I am adding the cost involved for the whole process. This includes cost of the plants, about 100 of them, labour for 3 days, cost of fertilizer, transportation from nursery to home and cost of one thulasi maadam which my mother wanted. It cost me Rs. 30,000 with the costliest plant being Rs. 750 and the cheapest at 40.
The thulasi maadam was expensive at Rs. 7500 and weighed a solid 300 kilos. Labor was 4000 for 3 days!!
Money well spent!!

[rajeevsulu]

Adding some more pictures that I have taken with my DSLR. These were taken 5 days after the initiative.























Gardening is very therapeutic. It soothes me down and along with my lovely vehicles keeps me sane!

Cheers

Rajeevsulu

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Shifting Gears section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage in the coming days

[dailydriver]

Of the many addictions that one can get afflicted with during middle age, home gardening is perhaps the one with most reward and minimal risk. There is of course the danger of injuring oneself while handling tools and the inevitable heartburn that ensues when a neighbor's garden looks more beautiful than ours; but that's all part of the game.

Having gone through your previous threads, I fully appreciate your need for an engaging diversion. You have chosen well; just keep at it and you will see nature in an altogether different light.

A piece of unsought advice, if I may:

Do plant a few vegetables, greens and fruit trees. Also, as you have lots of free space, see if you can earmark a little space for organic composting. While flowers will enchance the form, the above said will take care of the function.

Best wishes. Please keep documenting the progress.

[rajeevsulu]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

A piece of unsought advice, if I may:

Do plant a few vegetables, greens and fruit trees. Also, as you have lots of free space, see if you can earmark a little space for organic composting. While flowers will enchance the form, the above said will take care of the function.

Best wishes. Please keep documenting the progress.

Wow, I was just reading about organic composting. You read my mind and no well meaning advice is unsought, dear sir.
This is so addictive as you said and I will document regularly.
I wish to thank Aditya from the admin group who goaded me to streamline the post and to caption the photographs.
I am a little technically challenged but i learnt a bit due to him.
It is the admin group which keeps the standard of the forum so high!
Thank you, Aditya
Cheers

[deathwalkr]

Nice garden. Should be quite the pretty sight when all plants grow up. We are blessed to have good space around the house and my wife makes sure to fill up each possible gap with plants

Edit: Looks like good sunshine, a small lotus/lilly pond?

[arnieshwartz]

I personally feel that there's nothing more rewarding than gardening, in whatever capacity. The satisfaction of watching plants grow and yield flowers / fruits is really something, especially after pouring several hours of love into the effort. I'm sure we'd all love to see your project blossom into something truly wonderful, keep the updates and pictures coming!

[rajeevsulu]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Edit: Looks like good sunshine, a small lotus/lilly pond?

The plan is there. Some lotus and lillies and a few fish would complete the picture. As you said, we are blessed to have some space as it is at a premium.

@arnieschwartz true that! It is very rewarding indeed! Will update regularly!

Cheers

[Mystic]

Very nice garden you have. The pictures look great. It’s very relaxing to spend time in personal garden with lunch and dinner outdoors especially when every thing around your house is a concrete jungle.

I also have a small personal garden at my villa in Bangalore ( garden city of India) very near to the concrete jungle (near ITPL in whitefield). Maintenance of the lawn in green colour throughout the year is a big challenge in cities with water shortage.

Try to plant Bougainvillea also as it grows very quickly and is a riot of colours in so many shades. It blooms 365 days.

[rajeevsulu]

Originally Posted by Mystic

Try to plant Bougainvillea also as it grows very quickly and is a riot of colours in so many shades. It blooms 365 days.

That is an amazing garden that you have, considering the fact that you live in Bengaluru where water, space is a premium. I have bougainvillea in 4 colours along the wall which I hope to get on to the razor wire on the wall. At least that is the idea!
Cheers
Rajeevsulu

[OffRoadFun]

Sir,
All the best. Gardening is indeed a great stress buster. You have 3000sqft of space, you can create a paradise there.

Purely because of my passion, a few unsolicited suggestions, feel free to discard.

Though many would disagree, I would suggest you concentrate mostly on ornamental plants/palms etc. (again my perspective is more inclined towards ambience, feel free to discard).

-- Try putting stretches of Mexican/carpet grass. That gives a feeling of bigger area, unobstructed view.

-- On the corner, put a fountain/Buddha statue etc. Have symmetrical trees/hedge around it.




-- On the neighbor's wall, try putting a wall cladding ( I will share pictures on my garden cladding), that will make a soothing view.



-- On the wall, put some nicely painted trays with creepers (if theft is not a problem and also ensure the soil does not dirty the wall)



-- Abutting the compound wall, you can put some palms


The idea would be to have an inner space of yours, palm/trees/trays on the wall obstructing street view and you have an inner serene place.



-- You can also try some exotic plants or a separate succulent garden since you have so much place. Like this Madagascar palm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachypodium_lamerei)


Or a small succulent garden

-- Lighting is VERY important for overall view. Put some LED strips and focus light should you decide to have a statue.


Another one:



Use ferns, succulent cacti, mini-palms



Since you have big space, another suggestion would be to have white paint on the wall in background and pink or darker bougainvillea running in foreground, giving nice contrast. (an illustration, not my garden, but I just keep a set of ideas for some day)


Ficus Panda also makes for great hedges/ pots. And coloring the pots is always gives a neat look

-- Do keep a sit-out place nested between all your plants/trees to get a feeling of submerged in your garden, insulated from outside world.

Not sure if you have budget or enthusiasm for these, feel free to discard any suggestions.

The advice is because I am a gardening enthusiast and 3000sqft looks like a perfect amount of land.

And goodluck!

[rajeevsulu]

Originally Posted by OffRoadFun

Sir,
All the best. Gardening is indeed a great stress buster. You have 3000sqft of space, you can create a paradise

The advice is because I am a gardening enthusiast and 3000sqft looks like a perfect amount of land.

And goodluck!

Wow, that is a beautiful space you have/created.
All ideas duly noted as they are all workable and more in tune with what I think.

My house is already white. I have to do the rest. Slowly and steadily, I am working on these ideas.
Thank you very much for taking the time to suggest ideas for I am new in this sphere.
Very well appreciated

Cheers

[indie_honda]

I completely agree that gardening is therapeutic. A few things to remember, some plants go into a dormant stage during winter and may not need same amount of water that it otherwise requires. As per me Most potted plants die due to over watering vs under watering (not the case with you). Trimming is something most of us either do randomly or delay, there are times that may vary from plant to plant (mostly around march). Use neem oil + warm water to repel insects. Use organic compost/prepare jeevamrut for spraying. You can watch YouTube videos to help yourself. Happy Gardening ☘️

[Sanidhya mukund]

Awesome thread idea!

In my family, we are primarily enthusiastic about two things: gardening and cars. Sharing some pictures of my cars posing in the background of our gardens:

Our Delhi garden:


The Merc posing in the background:


The Ertiga admiring the greenery on the day it was delivered:


The green Ikon trying to blend it with various hues of green in the garden:









The Merc at our Guwahati house, before the garden was developed:


The Crysta posing in the same background, but after the greenery emerged:




Merc enjoying the sun and the greenery at the weekend home:


My Grandparents’ house, way back when the Esteem and Tata Estate did duty:


Same place today, after extensive restoration work. While the house and the Esteem are back to their former glory, the Tata Estate and the Garden are still “Work in Progress”:

[rajeevsulu]

Originally Posted by indie_honda

Happy Gardening ☘️

Point noted
Cheers
Rajeevsulu