Others may be headed to Gariahat for Puja shopping, but Sarbani Ghosh only dreams of Galiff Street on Sunday mornings. For that’s where she gets the best saplings in the city. Her backyard, adjacent to the Green Verge, has vegetables, her terrace has fruits and flowers and foliage are tucked in here and there, but she’s dreaming of her next shopping spree, to get saplings ahead of the next season.

When it comes to plants, I shop till I drop. My husband hates it as he can never find parking space in Galiff Street and he later has to make several trips to the car carrying the heavy plants but it’s a dream for my daughter and me. I’ve bought all kinds of plants from there but my favourites are the fruit trees. 
From October onwards, you’ll see flowers growing on their own in every garden but what really requires effort is fruit trees, especially when they are grown in pots. 

Fruit trees grow to be huge so if I grew them in my backyard, two Mango trees would leave no space to grow anything else. So I grow vegetables on the ground and fruits in pots. And this is where the challenge begins. In pots, the plants have access to limited soil and hence limited nutrients and one has to be very particular about their care. 

But the fruits of one’s labour are both delicious and healthy. We have Guava, Banana, Mango, Bel, Karamcha, Kagji and Gandharaj lemons, and they taste much better than the ones from the market. This monsoon we’ve planted Pui Shak, Chichinge, Jhinge, Papaya, Lady’s Finger and all are growing very well. In winter I shall add Cauliflower, Cabbage and Broccoli.   

A bonus to gardening is the butterflies and birds that come over. Of course, they eat up the fruits but I have no complains. It’s a pleasure playing host to them. 

As told to Brinda Sarkar

If you have a garden you are proud of and tend to yourself, send your contact number to 
The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001 or call 22600115 after 4pm or email to saltlake@abpmail.com