By Promilla Chaturvedi
In big towns and cities there are concrete buildings all around us and very little greenery. During development process we developed industries and vehicular traffic also increased. The human activities,
industries and vehicular movement jointly pollute the environment.
To combat this pollution problem we need forests/ trees. Since there is no forest in the cities we need to develop gardens to combat the problem.
GARDENS IN BIG TOWNS
The gardens can be big, medium and small. Usually big gardens are developed by government, industrial-houses and institutions. And medium size and small gardens are developed and maintained by individuals. In big cities while living in flats, the size of
garden becomes even smaller. We have terrace gardens and can have gardening in pots also.
Small Gardens
In laying a garden few things are important-
The climatic conditions,
The size of the garden, The drainage, Direction of sun, And user’s choice.
For laying a garden the whole garden area needs to be dug up. If the soil is fine then the manure- preferably well rot cow dung manure and neem cake, should be added to the ground and mixed well in the soil.
Flood the garden. Before the soil is totally dry dress up the whole area.
Mark the border along the grill or boundary of the house. In a formal layout 3ft wide bed will be sufficient, and in an informal layout the width varies. Here one can have low mounds also at sides. Next
the path has to be marked from the entrance of the house till boundary. In a small garden there is no scope for garden paths or paved sitting area. The rest of area is left as lawn.
In a garden a focal point is advised. The garden being small, it could be a small beautiful/flowering tree or a flowering large shrub or a climber trained on a garden frame. The permanent plants-the flowering and foliage shrubs can be planted. The perennials,
annuals and bulbous plants fill up the gaps in border. If space permits few flowering climbers can also be planted at the desirable places.
Lay the path and grass the remaining area.
The selection of plants and the tree is determined by the climatic conditions and the direction of sun. In sun one can select out of any of the flowering shrubs recommended for the area but for shade gardens
the choice is limited.
More on gardening next month!