Chennaiites take to roof gardening!

CHENNAI: With the spiralling inflation tightening the purse strings of families living in the city, more number of people seem to be opting for a roof garden wherein they can cultivate their choice of vegetables. The patronage being extended to the various training programmes for roof gardening in Chennai is evident when one realises that the numbers have risen by over 50 per cent when compared to the numbers of the previous year. The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Information and Training Centre in Chennai had conducted a roof gardening workshop for people a few months ago in which 320 participants took part. That was an increase of over 50 per cent compared to the previous year's workshop’s attendance."The demand for roof  gardening courses shot up when food inflation skyrocketed," said P Santhi Balasubramanian, Professor and Head of the Centre. "Interestingly, those with higher income outnumbered the others, as they preferred to grow vegetables in the available space in their residences, instead of shelling out excess for the eatables sold in the market," she added. Besides, senior citizens and home makers are taking up roof gardening as a hobby, exercise and to yield toxic free fresh fruits and vegetables. Though roof gardening is not a new phenomenon for Chennaiities, the aspect of growing fresh vegetables within their premises is driving several people towards urban horticulture. Vegetables such as tomatoes, brinjal, chillies, spinach and gourds, that suit hot climatic conditions are recommended for roof gardening, while banana and papaya are suggested among fruits. Another factor that is being attributed to the success of roof gardening is the cost effective measures involved in establishing the garden. "Even waste plastic bottles are enough for growing fruits and vegetables on your roof top," said M Velmurugan, Assistant Professor Horticulture of the Centre. "Moreover, space is not a constraint for roof gardening, as the focus is largely on maximum utilisation of the available space," he underlined. The centre is also giving training for growing mushrooms, which can be taken up along with roof gardening.