The power is yours – Green Planet’eers

Greetings from SPACES!

We are finally back on our blogs after taking a bit of a hiatus. We have a lot of exciting news and programs to share.

Green Planet’eers is one such topic which we are very enthusiastic about.

To elaborate, Green Planet’eers is a gardening exercise tailored for children so that they learn both to appreciate their natural surroundings and learn about the very rich history of natural herbs and indigenous varieties that is often quickly forgotten by us.

It is an elegant mixture where children start learning by literally getting their hands dirty and how to care for and treat their natural entities around them.

We have put this theory to test at a couple of locations in Chennai and we have been super happy with the results and the fervor shown by both the teachers and the students.

Here are a couple of snapshots taken at different locations where we have established such herbal and veggie patches.

herbal patch at AMM , kotturpuram – by SPACES

recycled terrace veggie garden – at shelter homes ,redhills

recycled terrace veggie garden – Red hills – by SPACES

a view of the creeper support at redhills – by spaces

herbal garden patch at jai gopal garodia – choolaimedu -by spaces

herbal patch – CTTE perambur – by spaces

herbal garden done at AMM matriculation, kotturpuram done by SPACES

herbs around the tree at Rosary Matriculation – by SPACES

herbal garden patch at Rosary matric – done by SPACES

pathway in the model garden at sreeniketan patasala in tiruvallur

model garden at tiruvallur

rock garden at the model garden in tiruvallur

The result of creating such a space is that it automatically becomes an extension to the learning environment and often indulges the students to not just stick to what they ‘have to’ learn but what they ‘want to’. This is the essence of learning.

Childhood is filled with natural wonder and curiosity. The learning environment must reflect a classroom and outdoor space that inspires a sense of wanting to investigate, to find out and to explore” – Kathy Walker

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

at AMM matriculation school

AMM matriculation school

workshop conducted by spaces at jai gopal garodia , choolaimedu

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

at shelter homes – Red hills

At vidhya school – Medavakkam

We also believe strongly that children being our future generation could do with a bit more of nature orientation instead of staring at a screen. and we need to encourage their relationship with the environment and the experiences will emerge by themselves. These are the moments to cherish.These environments often also personalize children and helps in not molding but unfolding them.

If your institution or school is also interested in creating such a space around your learning environment, please do contact us. This could also be taken up as a CSR activity conducted by your institution or corporate. We would be happy to present and share our ideas with you. Our office no is 9840830880 or you could drop in a mail at SPACES  or text us at our Facebook link- spaces.

Herbal & Kitchen Gardens At Schools

After a short snooze, we at SPACES are back with some interesting projects that we have finished in the past few months.

We had the opportunity to work with two schools who were inspired by the idea of showing their students some common, indigenous herbs and plant varieties that were available within our vicinity. The staff at one particular school specially stressed on the point about how children were completely ignorant of these plants, their existence or their use. We hope the children have been able to gain the experience we have tried to inculcate.

At AMM Matriculation School at Kotturpuram, Chennai, the available space was just the terrace and we had taken it upon ourselves to make the best use of the area. And to be able to give the children a wholesome experience at least in terms of the different species of herbal plants and its types.

Here’s a pot shot of the entire terrace herbal garden placed by us.

Here we have our creeper section of the herbs.

Our initial stage of the miniature garden-lawn-waterbody.

For Rosary Matriculation School, since we could work on the ground, we had created for them both a kitchen and a herbal garden in the assigned plot of land.  We created a pebbled pathway in between where the students could walk through and observe the various plantations which we had labelled with their scientific and local identities. Here are a few glimpses of the same.

herbs around the tree at Rosary Matriculation – by SPACES

herbal garden patch at Rosary matric – done by SPACES

a view of the entire kitchen garden patch after the seeds are sown

bitter gourd

a close up of the vegetable creeper plant

creeper of the avarai plant

ridge gourd growing stages – peerkangai

“Seeing is believing” someone has rightly said. We hope we might have helped alter these students’ outlook a bit by introducing them to the food chain!

If you believe your school needs a concept such as this to exist ,then approach SPACES at gardeningredefined.com and get your ideas implemented through us!!

Terrace Kitchen Garden @ Velachery

A kitchen garden seems to have become a buzzword of sorts.Everyone wants to try a hand at it. Not all that difficult, but not as simple as well.

In our most recent project at Velachery, our clients had already taken numerous measures to make their roof waterproof. Further more they have used special tiles which reflect the sunlight and as a result make their rooms much cooler. These may,however, not be ideal solutions for the ones who cannot afford to splurge as much.

So SPACES explored the rule of three’s here. Three important point to keep in mind while setting up any terrace garden be it kitchen or ornamental!

Step 1: Ensure there isn’t too much weight that is concentrated across your terrace, identify load bearing points of your building. Typically this will restrict you to the edges of the terrace,and maybe a small portion in the middle.

Step 2: Make sure, there is never a chance for the water to seep through the roof. Always have a base, like maybe stands(which may add weight to your terrace) or in this case, drainage cells! These light weight contraptions allow water to either evaporate or run off, never stagnate.

Step 3: A shade net is a must for your ground variety of veggies, especially for the Chennai heat. And a sound support structure for your climber veggies.

A look at the pot garden set up on the other end of their terrace.

We literally can’t wait for this wall to become all glorified by the greenery we have planted by it!

If you too feel that your home requires more greenery, approach SPACES for a quote today!!

“GREEN THUMBS” One Stop Garden Shop – Inaugural Day!!

And finally our dream shop is open.
Catch some of the glimpses of the day.

Just before the opening!

The very moment!!

Aaaaand….We’re Open!!
Performing Pooja!!Some of our guests.

Mr.Sriram, who was a rock on the day and our own Hydroponics mentor!Proud owners!!A glimpse of all our newspaper media!A little token of best wishes from everyone.

And finally, a view of our newly decorated office!! 🙂 SPACES has yet again broken an important hurdle. Owning a brand new store! Do drop in sometime, whether to gawk or buy, doesn’t matter. 🙂

 

Terrace Landscaping Valluvar Kottam

One of our newest projects in setting up Terrace Gardens for a residential house at Valluvar Kottam. We had as much fun setting it up as it was to design. The end result was worth waiting for.

A very zen-effect on one of the sides of the terrace with the buddha statues. A very rugged mound on the corner with buddha on the peak . Pretty flowers on the sides.  Work in progress…. To the sides more assortment of pots and plants. A more comprehensive view of the lush landscape.More and more residents seem to want a peaceful, relaxing setting on their terrace, whether lawns or just a few pots or even a veggie garden. Don’t you want to take that step and make your terrace too into something beautiful ? If so, Contact SPACES. We are more than happy to set it up for you.

The Wait Is Over- Green Thumbs

The Wait is over and finally the new store is to be unveiled for everyone at Mylapore, Chennai on 26th of June.

Here’s a small glimpse of the new shop and what’s in store for everyone to view.

Green Thumbs – Your ..One Stop Garden Shop is finally ready to hit the road!

 

A Peek into Green Labs!

Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.

-Nelson Mandela

We often want to attack a problem from the core, the root, the point of origin. But usually we find it difficult to get that opportunity. But universe always finds a way. 

Bhumi, when it came out with the ICUBED (B-plan competition) themed as ‘Environment’, our elation knew no bounds.We were sure we could contribute to it wisely.We knew at least the exposure of the competition would give us the confidence to pursue the idea if it was worth it. Of course what we didn’t realize is that we would actually win the whole thing. BHUMI has been materialistic in bringing the idea this far.

It was a rather significant moment when we were announced that we would be getting a one lakh rupee grant for the start-up along with bhumi volunteers to help us mobilize the idea off the ground. Our idea is basically to create a system where children and gardens go hand in hand.An activity based learning. A model garden to help children understand how nature works,and thereby applying their understanding into a garden of their own and grow out of their own hands. Where children own these gardens. So here we come to another important problem.How do we teach them the significance without having to ‘teach’ them? Since this is a habit you inculcate. This is where the community pitches in. We realized it’s not just the children who get affected, but the whole community.

It was definitely eye-opening and very liberating , the whole experience and the various stages of the competition. Starting from the very first ideation of the concept to the presentation to the budgetary constraints and finally the pilot project.I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the people involved with the project. SPACES only had a brief role in this. There were many more significant players involved with getting this idea up and running and without which we wouldn’t have reached so far. Suvasini,Uma.C, Anirudhra,Krithiga, Manigandan,Palani,Adi have all played a major role!! Thank you guys. You guys are the pillars of this project.  

So we are all geared up for the next more challenging stages of this project which has now taken a turn into real existence and ceased becoming just a project.Cheers!       

MAD with SPACES!! – Dream Camp!!

Dream Camp organized by M.A.D

A dream indeed, not only for the thirty five to forty kids present there, but even to us at SPACES who got the opportunity to interact with them. They were the most charming and intuitive little bunch of  people that we had ever come across. None too as innocent as they seemed.

SPACES as part of the MAD event organized a small workshop for the kids aptly named “Little Farmers”. All of them were super excited and running about with increased energy, increased adrenaline, climbing every tree top they could sight with the pretext of getting more green leaves or plants or saplings.In fact, I met a mentor who seemed to be in-charge of just that – getting the kids back to the original place. 🙂

The whole day was enlightening and in retrospect we were very much in awe at the level of interpretations of some of the kids and their ideas and thoughts. There were a few instances where we were completely mind blown at their creativity and ability.

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

MAd camp – ECR – conducted by spaces

As soon as we were ushered into the lovely In-Deco resorts at Mahabalipuram which had a very lush green outdoor, we quickly gave a brief talk on the current scenario, what the children could do to preserve the environment and some basics of gardening, waste disposal and recycling. What followed next was the outdoor session where the kids learned how to compost, what were the steps involved and more importantly they all learned how to plant a sapling along with a small exercise in recycling.

Hands down, the recycling part of the workshop was the most favorite, even the mentors got right down to the nitty-gritty. Where paints and brushes were involved, the children went to a happy place and got real serious. We got to see some beautiful pieces of art, very tastefully and creatively done.

There were a lot of chaotic moments, sweet ones, thick friendship, loyalty, naughtiness, every possible trait we could think of, we got to witness in that short period.  SPACES had an awesome time and hopes to meet the kids again real soon. Usually, these sessions with children often works out the other way around.We are the ones who take back a lot more than we expect to give!

Revisit to Red Hills

Sixteen days had gone by since the group of twelve volunteers had battled it out in the terrace to equip a vegetable garden for the kids at the Shelter at Red Hills. Tentatively, we arrived at the gates , the children were busy attending Sunday Mass, and we went straight into the terrace , eager to see the results of our handicraft. There were so many doubts .. did the structures still stay strong, had the saplings grown for all the veggies, had the pandal structure stood the test of the winds.

The sight which was awaiting us was one which would rise our spirits by the double.

The children had taken care of the seeds like they were their own, everything looked healthy and was growing fine. All the structures were intact and pretty strong. happy and content, we set about with transplanting some of the tomatoes , brinjals and the chillies into separate containers thereby avoiding crowding and stunted growth.

We also removed the plastic covering underneath the bigger pots,afraid of stagnation of water.We gave them instructions to keep changing the position of the containers slightly every 2 weeks.

 

By the time we were done transplanting, the kids were done with their prayers too and were eager to come up, curious to see what the annas and the akkas were up to. We taught them how to transplant , how to water without doing excess , and how to keep cuttings of plants and propagate them like indian borage, perandai  etc

One little fellow followed my suit and started watering the plants and the rest followed.

Soon the two hours just flew by and it was time to leave and we had time for one last photo session.

 

 

Until next time. 🙂

Not Just Another Workshop!!

SPACES was fortunate enough to be invited to conduct a session on Ornamental Gardening. It was indeed a unique way of blending both the organic methods of farming and the utilization of the space available in cities. Yes , space is the most important constraint even for garden enthusiasts and that proves to be a block for setting up gardens. Sometimes this block is less physical and more of an immediate rejection without exploring the available possibilities.

This very novel effort on educating the audience on such options was conducted by SUBHAM in association with Kasturba Residents Association. The organizers did a brilliant job by roping in notable groups working toward similar goals.

There was a talk by Ms.Lakshmi Sriram madam who explained about the little details that most of us tend to worry about and these were the precise information that would go a long way in producing better, healthier produce .. and that too at our own backyard! And then the famous organic shop – Restore‘s owner Mr.Anantu gave an inspiring talk about food security and there were some innovative products, specifically Eco-pots ,designed by Mr.Vijayan and his daughter. Not to forget the informative talk about different indigenous herbs and their uses.

SPACES gave a presentation on the terrace and other recent technologies coming up among which Hydroponics and Aquaponics were topics covered. Other than that we also gave a general idea on the important things to take care while having a roof garden and the concept of vertical planters. The topics were well received and the audience were full of questions later and hopefully many would want to take up the same.  Space saving techniques have become the order of the day and we were just too happy to share our knowledge.

All these aspects added quite a bit of dimension to the normal format. And in the afternoon session, we had group discussions with each of the resource,talking about their ideas or products or basically clearing all general doubts.

The whole atmosphere ,no doubt, presented a very healthy discussion platform for creative garden enthusiasts to get more and more of a clear perspective. A great initiative by the community and SUBHAM. SPACES hopes to see next time larger audiences and much more resources coming and putting forward their ideas and innovations.