United by love for plants, group shares organic practices

Nagpur: Kitchen gardening may have become ubiquitous in many urban households, but those still wondering where to begin can join an informal group of plant lovers, ‘Gacchivaril Mativirhit Baug’.
Membership to this group is free of cost for everyone interested in engaging with organic practices to nurture their plants or gardens.

“When we bring plants home, they’re pretty to look at. But nurturing them to look as beautiful even after months eludes several of us. There are time our plants suffer infection or experience lack of flowers or yellowing of leaves. This is where other members of the group can help provide solutions that does not involve chemicals,” says Umesh Chitriv, one of the founding members of the Nagpur group. Chitriv started the city group along with Vinay Patwardhan, Madhavi Chaudhari, Netaji Chinchulkar, Anil Andankar and Anant Ikhar.

The Facebook group serves as an umbrella institution for members, which under it has city-wise groups. Literally meaning a ‘garden without soil’, the group’s Facebook page (in Devanagari script) has over a lakh members. First started in Pune by Laxman Tambe, the city now has three groups functioning under the same name, apart from Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nashik and now, Nagpur. The first meeting of the group was held last month at Narendra Nagar garden. The next meeting will take place on May 10.

“We tell members not to buy plants. In every meeting, people bring excess plants or seeds and share it with the group members. We try to get cow dung and cow urine through milk suppliers or stems from gardeners in parks. We share information on making compost at home, utilizing our kitchen-waste and resulting in a nutritive compost three months later. I had also made several litres of waste decomposer at home, which I gave away to those who were interested,” adds Chitriv, who now has about 100 plants in his house. The Nagpur group has nearly 165 members so far, most of whom are senior-aged ladies.

“We will be holding a meeting every month where members will share drawbacks of certain experiments, technique as well as experiences of dealing with plants,” said Chitriv, adding, “Anytime a flower blooms in somebody’s house, that person shares it on the group, springing queries about its re-potting, stem, season and more.” We can improve the environment at our homes and office. The only problem is, says Chitriv with a hint of humour, we’ll have to give water to the plants.