Great news from SPACES!

[points at peach tree]

Oogway: Look at this tree, Shifu: I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time.
Shifu: But there are things we *can* control: I can control when the fruit will fall, I can control where to plant the seed: that is no illusion, Master!
Oogway: Ah, yes. But no matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Shifu: But a peach cannot defeat Tai Lung!
Oogway: Maybe it can, if you are willing to guide, to nurture it, to believe in it.
Shifu: But how? How? I need your help, master.
Oogway: No, you just need to believe. Promise me, Shifu, promise me you will believe.

-Taken from the movie Kung-fu panda for the oblivious ones.

Mind blowing stuff! Wouldn’t you agree? 🙂

Well, We have some pretty awesome news that we are eager to share.

SPACES has been for a long time pondering and contemplating over a project with corporation schools. Our idea was to create an herb/medicinal garden, and then help the children learn to tend to it on their own. We wanted to help bring the classroom outside the closed confined spaces and bring it to life.We want pages out of the text books to transform into real live examples.And our ulterior motive being here, of course, that the kids will come to love their garden! 🙂

This project was having a bit of a hiccup when we were not getting enough funding from expected quarters. We visited a lot of officials but to no avail.

Finally, Rotaract club has agreed to help us out through this venture. So as of now, Project Corporation School – Herb Garden has gotten a green light! 🙂 If this one works out, odds are more schools will be willing to follow. So we are very excited and cant wait to get started.

Be tuned in for more updates!

The way to a Kitchen Garden

Hello People! It has been a rather long, comatose period from us. Apologies for that. As known, SPACES is still budding (Oh yes! 🙂 Pun intended) and growing. We are proud to announce we’ve successfully completed a few projects. We are definitely amazed by our learning curve in such a short period. It has only egged us to work harder.

So to dive into our topic of the hour, here are some insights and tips when it comes to starting your own veggie garden.

We have worked on kitchen gardens at large and particularly at Velachery, we have gotten some pretty good results. So based on our experience, we thought we could offer some tidbits on the same. Posting a few snaps here.This is how the garden looks now.

The best way to start is to get the basics right .And there are,however a few things, at least from a chennaiite’s perspective, to use without fail. The netted structure weaved around the wooden pillars in the picture above is known as a shade net. For a city like Chennai, where the sunny periods (sometimes even during the “supposed winter”) could harm the plants and veggies, these nets come in  handy and are extremely resourceful.They reduce the sunlight coming in by a considerable amount, as much as 50% lesser and gives a very ‘green house-y effect’!

SPACES always strives to achieve cost-effective measures and tries to find the best deal. And that is how we discovered these Grow bags (placed on the floor of the above picture). These bags are pretty useful and they are packed with a mixture of coco peat .So these are like a go-to item when it comes to placing saplings on terrace or other similar areas.The below picture is a closer look at the grow bags. Ideally one single load can hold up to four openings with a sapling planted in each one of them.So it works out more cheaper than buying pots. The sheet placed beneath the bags is used as an extra precaution for water proofing. Once grown, carefully select the healthiest of the lot and retain them. Since plants can become too competitive given the smaller space for growth and nutrients.

One important point to consider here is that not all saplings can directly be placed into these grow bags.Some particular varieties like Brinjal, tomatoes or chillies need to be planted in a Pro Tray before being shifted out. An example of the pro tray is in the above picture at the right hand corner. Look out for something that looks like an egg tray.

So the next step. Soil Nutrients. SPACES recommends an organic product called Panchakavya. A simple Google search would yield results that it is made of cow urine and manure.That makes it highly organic and nutritious for the soil. Odds are garden enthusiasts around this part of the town might be familiar with it and its uses. It is a powerful ingredient and nurtures your garden brilliantly. We have observed that the plants grow healthier and they look extremely lush. If anyone is seriously considering setting up a garden, this should definitely be in their add-on list. A side note, the grow bags are pretty much useless without providing the essential nutrition for the soil such as panchakavya. Alternatively , Humic acid could also be considered.

Since this is the best season (Aadi month) to grow a garden and in the above one, we’ve tried most varieties from greens like palak, Sirukeerai, Molakeerai (different species of spinach) to creepers such as beans, gourds, and cucumbers etc. Also this season , mostly the rains quench the thirst of the plants. Otherwise, this could pose a problem. In such cases , we’ve realized that a drip irrigation is most advantageous and hassle-free. It ensures, as the name suggests, there is constant water dripping into the garden. Below picture is an example.

Lastly to consider about would be Pest Control. Lets face it. Many of us have constant complaints of plants gone awry or dry or infested. The best of the lot sometimes get easily attacked if not on proper check. There is a product named bio guns available which sprayed on the foliage once in probably 30 days or so provides a good enough immunity. Just keep in mind; this needs to be applied to the shoot system.

Hopefully this has been informative at some level. Please feel free to share your thoughts as well. Of course, you could contact us regarding any inquiries or doubts, and we will be glad to assist you from start to end in setting up a garden. If this has helped you or inspired you to start your own garden, please share it with us and like us on facebook.

After all, we know the learning never stops.

Do visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Spaces.Gardening

” I say, if you…

” I say, if your knees aren’t green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life.”
Calvin (Calvin n Hobbes cartoon strip)

Always a great fan of what Calvin has to say. I wanted a powerful message to kick-start this blog. After a lot of digging , I was delighted to stumbled across this. He always has the simplest views to everything , which agrees with our ideals too. 🙂

So for a really brief introduction , we are a novice start-up company called SPACES. We do gardening and landscaping projects.Be it a small balcony, or a simple kitchen garden, or a huge plot. If you already have an idea for the design …awesome! We make it happen, if not, we pitch in our ideas and create your perfect garden.

There is a social motive and aspect to our venture too. One look at our city – Chennai and we know what we lack the most.It doesn’t take a genius to guess. Greenery.This is the start we are hoping for. A green revolution of sorts is our ultimate aim. We want to inspire people and rekindle the art and their love for gardens.

We at SPACES hope this blog could be a great platform for us to communicate our ideas and to share our passion for gardening. So here is to mark the beginning of our blogging days. Cheers.