To the home garden they go

The world is trying to play all the right cards to cope with a pandemic that hardly anyone saw coming at this scale.

One of the many challenges that all governments face at this stage is convincing people to not panic buy and stock up for the fear of going without food.

The panic buying that seems to be taking a toll on the city population is controlled in rural areas, thanks to a simple practice that almost every rural household has: home gardening.

For instance, in Coastal Karnataka, the rural households generally grow their own vegetables, which have come in handy now.

Here, the agricultural families have rice supplies for the entire year, and their vegetable plants are producing their seasonal best now. People grow vegetables in the paddy fields as well after paddy harvest.

Brinjal, spinach, chillies, tomato, pumpkin, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, lady’s finger and cucumber are some of the veggies commonly grown here.

The seeds are either preserved at home or are bought from the markets. Bred on burnt soil, they are fed with minimum organic manure and reused water. The saplings require not too much care. Some of the plants, particularly greens, yield in a couple of weeks while some vegetables take three months.

Even banana plants are grown with reused water and they multiply on their own.

Due to this seasonal availability of the vegetables, panic buying of the essentials is hardly seen here.

Moreover, mangoes, jackfruits, pineapples and jamuns are set to ripen, proving an assurance of profusion during the lockdown.

Home gardening has always been a rural way of life. Not only is it a great hobby, it also complements healthy choices.

Large home gardens ensure an easy life during the lockdown while smaller ones are turning out to be supplements.

Amid the country’s testing times, the abundance of rural nature is an assuring promise.