The Homemaker Has Turned Her Roof Into Thriving Organic Eden Garden

Padmavathi's success story, which began as a hobby four years ago, drew horticulture officials from Sikkim, led by Assistant Director Bijun Pariyar, to her rooftop. They aim to replicate her practices in their mountainous state — characterised by steep slopes, rugged valleys, and uneven terrain — to boost production of vegetables, seeds, herbs, and other horticultural crops.

Padmavathi has earned accolades, including the prestigious Golden Garden Award for her organic produce. She also shares her expertise, offering training and tips to members of the City of Terrace Gardens group, which boasts thousands of enthusiasts across various states.

The leaves of her prized All Spices Plant infuse curries with aromas reminiscent of cardamom, cinnamon, and coriander. Her Basmati flavor plant's leaves lend a fragrant basmati rice essence to curries. The garden features other spice plants like black pepper, carom, insulin plant, and moringa. Padmavathi highlights the exotic Multivitamin Plant, whose leaves serve as a nutrient-packed substitute like curry leaves in dishes, delivering a full spectrum of vitamins. She recommends eating them raw in the mornings for a natural supplement boost.

Her fruit-bearing plants include avocado, three varieties of chikoo, four varieties of guava, Fig tree (anjeer), two varieties of apple bear, water apple, pomegranate, star fruit, three varieties of lemon, two varieties of mulberry, orange, dragon fruit, blueberries, blackberries, and wild mango. The wild mango substitutes for tamarind in curries and fruits year-round across all three seasons. The Annona apple plant, well-suited to Telangana's agro-climatic conditions, grows 8 to 10 feet tall and bears fruit throughout the year, resembling conventional apples.

Padmavathi's vegetable bounty — carrot, beetroot, radish, turnip, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, coriander, sorrel, mustard leaves, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, garlic, spring onion, tomato, brinjal, cucumber, pumpkin, chili, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, ash gourd, peas, and green beans — more than meets her family's needs, with surplus shared among friends and relatives. She praises the exotic Russell Sprout Cabbage, whose 2- to 3-inch flowers atop the stem make a delicious, nutritious dish. Unlike Sugarcane plant which comes to yield after 11 months, the bulb of `Sugar Beet Root’, which is one of the exotic plants of Padmavathi’s garden, is used in place of sugar.

The small first-floor space in her home hosts over a dozen varieties of flowering plants, including roses, hibiscus, chrysanthemum, chandni, lisianthus, jasmine, and more. The lisianthus flowers, resembling roses, bloom in various single colors and striking combinations throughout her roof garden.

Padmavathi claims with a confidence that her roof garden had also provided 12 kgs of high-quality of Lakadong turmeric and black turmeric, which sells at very high prices of Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per kg in the last season

Padmavathi relies on liquid bio-fertilizers like OWDC (Organic Waste Decomposer), egg emulsion oil, fish emulsion oil, and fruit juice for pigmentation, rotating them every other week to deliver instant energy and complete nutrition to her plants.