How a Delay in Landing of his flight made him the pioneer of terrace gardening in India!

How a Delay in Landing of his flight made him the pioneer of terrace gardening in India!

Dr. Viswanath Kadur, An Entomologist by profession, who pursued a course in film production and made agriculture films and documentaries upon his return to India, has become one urban terrace gardener who knows the secrets behind a healthy organic terrace garden.

“For some reason we were not able to land on time and were flying over the city. That’s when I saw the rooftops of houses and thought about the rising temperature of Bangalore city. The idea came to me that if these open rooftops could be covered, it could help to reduce the temperature, and that is why I thought about bringing terrace gardening into the picture,” he says.

It was a delay in the landing of his flight that made him a pioneer and a go-to name when it comes to urban terrace gardening.

The family’s experience of kitchen gardening came in handy and he started growing veggies on his own terrace. “Earlier in Bangalore, every house had a kitchen garden in the backyard. That culture got lost somewhere. I wanted to bring it back by recreating the garden on the terrace,” he says.

He thought of putting his experience and knowledge to use and started organizing workshops on terrace gardening in 1995. “Though we charged a fee, the response was great. We got over 100 people for the first workshop itself, which gave us the confidence that people are interested in this,” he recalls.

They also started a Facebook group to bring all interested people together. The group which started with just 9 members now has over 23,000 members from across the globe.

With the efforts of people like Dr. Kadur, Bangalore has over 5,000 terrace gardens now, with an increasing interest among youngsters.

One of his favourite gardens is located in Hyderabad which is the oldest terrace garden in India which hosts trees like Banana, Guava and Sapota. Dr. Kadur believes that with the government’s support, the country should be able to meet its vegetable needs through urban gardeners.

Dr. Kadur has started the practice of organic farming amongst the school students and the model is implemented successfully in BM English school, Hennur.

Today Kadur and his team of urban gardeners organize an urban terrace gardening workshop every month. They have started a mela called ‘Oota from your Thota’ to promote Gardening is going to be held and this will have demonstrations and exhibitions on organic farming inputs.

“Put your soul into it, throw seeds and take care of them,” he concludes.