It’s May 19th, which in addition to being a fine summer day is also World Plant a Vegetable Garden Day. If you’ve never heard of this momentous occasion, don’t worry. The holiday is relatively young, sprouting as recently as 2019 from the fertile mind of Bob Matthews, a spirited gardener and writer from Rochester, New York. He runs delightfully earnest websites like The Gardener’s Network and Pumpkin Nook. He decided that the world was getting increasingly detached from nature, and could use a little nudge.
Revolution in Soil and Sunlight
World Plant a Vegetable Garden Day is not about growing a prize-winning squash the size of a monkey. It’s about reclaiming that deliciously human act of putting things in the ground and then eating them. It’s about growing food not because you have to but because you can.
Gardening, after all, is one of those things that sounds relaxing until you actually do it. You will wrestle with aphids, suffer strange sunburns, talk to your plants and probably lose a battle to an army of ants. But in return, you get to experience the magic of watching something edible emerge from the earth, and that’s as close as most of us will ever get to wizardry.
In India, the vegetable garden is having a moment, particularly in urban spaces where rooftop and balcony gardening are blossoming. From suburban aunties growing methi in recycled buckets to hip millennials trying to coax kale out of clay pots in Jubilee Hills, everyone seems to be trading screen time for green time.
Celebrities Who’ve Gone Green
Bollywood actor-producer Jackky Bhagnani is one of them. He and his wife, actor Rakul Preet Singh, are enthusiastic evangelists of kitchen gardening.
“It’s not a pandemic hobby,” Jackky told ETV Bharat with the calm resolve of a man who has successfully grown his own brinjal. “It’s about health and wellness. We realized how many chemicals go into vegetables today. So, we decided to take matters into our own hands. Since we are what we eat, we decided to start a kitchen garden in the small space we have at our disposal in Mumbai. We grow vegetables which we can personally consume. The taste and the health quotient are absolutely much better.”
Their compact Mumbai garden now bursts with tomatoes, chillies, bitter gourd, pumpkin, mint, and the aforementioned brinjal, which Jackky proudly turned into his favourite Baingan Ka Bharta. He laughed as he recalled how, in the early days, they left their lovingly grown produce out in the open… only for the birds to throw a party. “Now we’ve got shaded screens,” he said.
Jackky was always conscious about clean eating and since vegetables carry so many toxins, it is reassuring for the couple to grow them at home.
“We are much more aware now of where our food comes from, how it is grown, what goes into it before it is cooked and consumed. I have also realised that it is very easy to grow at least a few vegetables at home even in a limited space,” he said.
Jackky isn’t the only star who’s elbow-deep in soil. Bollywood’s most rugged gentleman, Jackie Shroff, is well-known for being an environmentalist with a soft corner for plants. His kitchen garden is an extension of his green philosophy. Rajeev Khandelwal, too, has spoken about the joy of growing his own herbs and vegetables, describing the experience as meditative and grounding.
It turns out that in an industry known for vanity and excess, the simple act of growing vegetables is now the new luxury.
Be a Vegetable Whisperer
If celebrities with busy schedules and limited balcony space can do it, so can you. Start small. Herbs like mint, coriander, and basil are notoriously forgiving (unless you overwater them). Tomatoes are perfect for beginners: cheerful, eager, and sometimes even too productive. And if you’re feeling adventurous, throw in some spinach, beans, or chillies. Just don’t attempt cauliflower in your first year unless you want existential dread
Gardening is one of the few activities that reward consistency over talent. You don’t need to be particularly gifted to grow food. You need patience, sunlight, water, and the willingness to get your hands dirty.
Read more:
