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Thane society shows a 'fresh' way to go green
We started with two to three crops in August last year and now cultivate 30 to 35 varieties of fruits, veggies and flowering plants, says Varghese
Updated : Jan 15, 2018, 06:55 AM IST
 "Green Brigade")
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What would you do if you had some plastic bins and mud lying around in your society? If your answer is "dispose of them", the story of four professionals from Thane might make you reconsider that thought.
Residents of Vijay Garden Lily Housing Society, Reny Varghese, Thankiah Padmanabhan Nadar, Nelson Dmello and Vishal Shinde have used discarded plastic containers and soil to grow veggies on the terrace of their society.
Besides leading busy professional lives, the four men do farming on the terrace as part of their green mission. "We started with two to three crops in August last year and now cultivate 30 to 35 varieties of fruits, veggies and flowering plants," says Varghese.
The society embarked on the initiative in August 2017 after it was left with over 200 paint drums following the painting of the building. "We wondered what to do and kept the drums aside," says Varghese. On August 29, the compound wall behind the society gave away due to incessant rain and a slurry of mud gushed inside. That's when the society decided to make good use of the unwanted soil.
"We put the mud in 190 bins which were left to dry out in the sun on our building terrace," says Varghese.
The four then seeded the bins with laalmaath, bhindi and other leafy veggies. They also got 4x2 feet plastic trays in which they grew other vegetables and plants like radish, cucumber, spinach, coriander, pudina, tomato, beetroot, cauliflower, onion, tomato. Later, they got six additional trays of 12x2 feet to grow more plants.
"Today our terrace farm yields crop enough to provide veggies to five to six families. We started with 190 dabbas and now plan to get 15 more bins to plant more crops," he adds. The society has also passed a resolution to allow to cultivate crops but not for commercial exploitation. "In next six months there will be returns on our investments," he says.
The enthusiastic professionals are also ready to provide the know-how to other societies that are interested in terrace cultivation. Varghese says, "Those who are interested to plant such crops on their terrace are welcome to contact us."
