Hyderabad
It's a time when most people in Hyderabad are hooked on organic farming and would love to have the veggies and fruits of their kitchen gardens and veggie patches. But it has to be observed that a growing number of people are making use of their terrace spaces to grow a lot of varieties of fruits and vegetables.
While many are happily growing a few vegetables or fruits, Saileela Darsha is one such enthusiastic farmer who has taken her hobby one step further. She has grown 200 varieties of vegetables on her terrace that include 26 types of tomatoes, 11 types of brinjal, 15 types of bottle gourd, and four types of snake gourd, apart from beans, carrot, green chilies, Donda, to all kinds of leafy vegetables.
Not stopping there, Saileela Darsha also grows a good variety of fruits, including apples, sapota, grapes, guava, dragon fruit, and watermelon. She also has okra, a variety of ladies' fingers that grows up to 16 inches. Being an ardent farmer, Saileela also procures seeds from her friends in Kerala, which are known to grow a huge variety of vegetables through her friends.
And like all organic farmers, Saileela uses cow dung and kitchen waste as compost which keeps her plants fresh and healthy. All this shows in the taste, says the home-maker-cum-farmer. Buoyed by her success, Saileela has started a YouTube channel Saileela Vlogs and posts regular videos about her farming practices.