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Kurnool |AUG 30th - SEP 05th| VOL 04,2020
T H
Go Green E N e w s p a p e r F o r C h i l d r e n
Pune Woman Grows Fruits, Veggies & Sugarcane
in Terrace Garden, Without Any Soil
Neela Panchpor is a home gardener who grows “I’d always thought of myself as an environmentally
Lorem ipsum of plants using dry leaves and
several varieties conscious person, but there was one problem area — my
kitchen waste. kitchen. There was so much waste generated there, and I
didn’t know what to do about it. So, I approached friends
in my apartment society who were practising
Neela Renavikar Panchpor is a Pune-based cost
composting. From them, I learnt how to segregate
accountant, a professional marathon runner, and a household waste and I started to prepare compost,” says
home gardener who grows several varieties of Neela.
owering plants, vegetables, fruits, and different She adds that her friends are the reason why she
varieties of herbs in a 450 square feet terrace decided to explore soilless gardening. “They are
garden. experienced home-gardeners who have been growing
What’s interesting is that she does not use soil or any organic fruits and vegetables for many years using this
kind of potting mix to grow her plants. Instead, she method.”
uses the compost that she prepares at home, which is According to Neela, soilless gardening has three major
a mix of dry leaves, kitchen waste and cow dung. benets.It helps eliminate the chances of plants getting
“A soilless potting mix with dry leaves has higher affected by soil-borne diseases such as ‘plant fungi’ and
water retention and better air circulation. Adding ‘root rot’, and prevents the growth of weeds which is
kitchen waste and cow dung manure provides widely prevalent in soil. This in turn reduces the need for
nutrition to the growing plant and promotes the pesticides and fertilisers. In traditional soil-based
growth of earthworms,” says Neela, adding that farming, a plant spends most of its energy expanding
there are no special techniques involved with soilless the root system in search of water and nutrition. But, in
farming. All one needs is patience and dedication. soilless farming all these are directly available at the
Growing Plants Using Kitchen Waste roots.“Each time I successfully grew one plant, it
Neela’s journey to soilless gardening began 10 motivated me to experiment more.”
years ago.
www.ridgeschools.org 13
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