Gardens flower in vacant plots in Bengaluru

Children plant saplings in a vacant plot. DH Photo/S K Dinesh

Children plant saplings in a vacant plot. DH Photo/S K Dinesh

Any resident of Bengaluru knows that a vacant plot is never vacant in the city. It invariably becomes a garbage dumping site and, sometimes, a public urinal.

Now, residents in upscale Koramangala have come up with a novel solution to deal with the chronic problem: community gardens. Residents of 1st Block are growing veggies, fruits and flowers for their own consumption in vacant sites in their neighbourhood, in an initiative of striking ingenuity.

‘Pratham Community Gardens’, a brainchild of Koramangala Residents Welfare Association (KRWA), is being implemented in three places on 60X40 dimension plots.

“We spoke to about half-a-dozen owners of the vacant sites with our innovative idea. While a few of them refused, many permitted us to convert them into gardens,” explained Padmashree, President of the KRWA.

Along with another KRWA member Rajgopal, Padmashree not only convinced the landowners but also sensitised the neighbours about the idea and its multiple uses.

“With everybody chipping in, we zeroed in on three plots in our block that had enough sunlight besides neighbours agreeing to provide us with water to cultivate plants,” she explained.

The area MLA and former minister Ramalinga Reddy also helped the residents by getting the BBMP’s horticulture wing to prepare the soil for planting and paying the cost of fencing.

Residents built the fencing using discarded scrap from a nearby park and iron rods rusting on the premises of the BBMP ward office. Residents of Koramangala 3rd block helped them with 10 bags of compost generated in their own neighbourhood.

Papaya, drumsticks, banana and other flower varieties have been planted, to begin with.

“Flowers were chosen to keep the areas scenic besides assisting in pollination of vegetable and fruit crops,” Padmashree said.

Having completed the work in one plot, residents have taken up planting work in other plots.

According to residents, Reddy has communicated that he would sponsor any RWA interested in converting empty sites into community gardens in his constituency.

The KRWA has also divided the kids from the neighbourhood into teams of four to five kids to get trained in potting, preparing soil and planting techniques. The kids will begin attending gardening classes every weekend. The RWA has also hired a gardener to look after all the three gardens.

Padmashree said they just wanted to keep the neighbourhood clean and had no commercial interest. “The harvest will be charged Rs 100 for a bag containing two papaya, half-a-dozen bananas and two drumsticks for the residents of the block. The money will again go to the maintenance of the garden,” she added.