Till 2013, Ghaziabad resident Ruchi Goel had never tried her hands at growing even a single Plant, even though her mother nurtured a charming garden in their home when she was growing up.
“Even my mother-in-law had a beautiful garden, but after her death in 2013, the plants started dying, despite the fact that I was watering them everyday,” she tells The Better India.
Ruchi realised that the plants needed individual care, so she decided to take up gardening in her mother-in-law’s memory.
“I began watching videos and taking tips from my mom to sustain the garden. But it worked beyond my expectation and made me fall in love with the activity. I started buying more plants and thought of different ways to grow them in the front yard. In fact, I am addicted to this hobby now,” shares the homemaker.
Ruchi now grows more than 1,000 ornamental and flowering plants in her lush garden. She also cultivates vegetables like radish, brinjal, tomato, coriander and carrot on the terrace.
Everyone who swings by the place is mesmerised, she says, not only because of the wide collection of plants, but also for the gardener’s creativity. Ruchi has incorporated her art skills by using several items from her household, which would otherwise be junk, to beautify her garden.
“I opened our store room — which had been left locked for years — during the lockdown period. I found multiple things that would be of no use otherwise and decided to upcycle them,” says the 33-year-old.
These items include her husband’s old scooter, her children’s abandoned bicycles, toys, bulbs, a wash basin, and wood particles left from construction.
She paints all the items herself.
“Now people come here to enquire where I purchase these decorative items from. Some find it hard to believe that I made them from scrap, including my family,” she gushes.
Today, Ruchi’s garden is not an ordinary one, but a thematic setup. To remember the names of plants, she has placed stones painted with the name of each herb and flower. “My kids also love gardening now, just like art. They help me do both with so much energy,” she adds.
“One time, my husband received a sansevieria plant as a gift. Instead of planting it on the ground, I decided to grow it in a tray and keep it indoors. I decorated this tray as well, and it began to resemble a terrarium. I made more of those. Now I gift these to loved ones on their special days. It’s a thoughtful and personalised gift, better than any market-bought ones,” she says.
There is also a pond inside the garden, in and around which she grows several aquatic plants including lotus.
Ruchi also shares garden decor ideas on social media. Moreover, gardening enthusiasts and curious neighbours alike visit her home to take a look at her amazing work, she says.
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“From a girl who never watered her mother’s garden to a ‘plant mommy’ with more than 1,000 plants, the change is so huge that even I am surprised. It’s all because gardening has the power to leave you happy, satisfied and calm. Nothing comes close to the feeling of saving a dying plant or seeing a fresh bud in a newly purchased plant,” she says.
Read this story in Hindi here.
Edited by Divya Sethu; Photo credits: Ruchi Goel
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