Grow your own herbs

The series of lockdowns because of this Covid-19 pandemic has surely made each one look into one's own respective strength. While fighting the virus happens to be of the utmost duty, the process has also ushered in one a sense of using one's own resources to its fullest. When fresh vegetables appear to be very dear, growing one's own kitchen garden continues to become a better choice indeed. A kitchen garden is where herbs and vegetables are grown around the house for household use. Since early times a small plot near to the house has been used for growing a variety of vegetables according to the season. It is really important to have one's own such garden, however small it may be. Modern-day lifestyle rarely permits people to procure a huge plot of land. But there is always a way out, especially because fresh home-grown vegetables and herbs protect people against various diseases. Psychologists have affirmed that keeping a kitchen garden lessens one's stress level. The gardening habit can also help fight against global warming. As it becomes a habit for each family of the concrete jungle, the urban temperature is bound to drop; and even a drop of one Celsius is a huge gain. Urban gardens can be on the small front or backyard, on pots in the verandah and balcony, and even in the stair-case landings. One, it will reduce our stress level and get physical exercise. Two, herbs like basil (tulasi), curry leaves (narasimha), neem, pennywort (manimuni), mint (podina), brahmi, coriander (dhaniya), Thai coriander (maan-dhaniya), fish-mint (masandori), stink-vine (bhedai-lata), Sessile joyweed (mati-kaduri) etc can also serve as immunity boosters apart from adding an ethnic angle to the day-time meal. Some people in cities have already developed a habit of growing chilli tomato, spinach, brinjal, lady-finger and even lemons on terraces, with those having more will and space also reaping bottle-gourds and papayas. For the more enthusiastic, there are also attractive schemes through which the National Medicinal Plants Board provides financial aid to set up exclusive herbal gardens both at home and in schools and public institutions.