This Man from Lucknow Has Not Bought Vegetables from Market Past 30 Years

Nursery Today Desk

New Delhi. In today’s fast paced lifestyle where everyone is having a hectic schedule, it is barely possible to pursue a hobby. Growing a full-fledged kitchen garden along with your job is a herculean task. But here is the story a man in Lucknow, who has never bought vegetables from the market for the last 30 years. Vinod Kumar Pandey, who works in a private company has grown all kinds of vegetables in the terrace and garden of his house.

While promoting kitchen gardening he said that everyone can grow plants of these vegetables in many kitchen gardens. He also mentioned that he has been inclined towards the environment since childhood. His kitchen gardening started when he came to Lucknow from Lalganj in Rae Bareli in 1994 and started growing tomatoes in 20 pots by taking a house in Gomti Nagar. Then he started growing vegetables of every season. At present, Vinod Kumar Pandey is growing different seasonal vegetables at his home in around 500 pots. He now plucks fresh green vegetables for his meals from about 150 plants of vegetables.

From mint and small cardamom to brinjal and lemon on the balcony of the house, while pumpkin, taroi, cucumber, green chillies, red chillies, coriander leaves, lemon as well as three varieties of okra, bitter gourd and brinjal, every vegetable is available in Pandey’s kitchen garden. He also adds that earlier there were many vegetables including tomato, radish, but now many have died due to excessive heat.

Apart from potatoes and tomatoes he does not need to buy any other green vegetables from market. He also said that his garden produces 3-4 kg of indigenous tomatoes daily and talking about the whole season, it produces about 250 kg of indigenous tomatoes.

Tips from Vinod

He emphasised that the drainage of water in the pot plays an important role. If the drainage of water is good, then vegetables or any flowering plant grows well. Keeping this in mind, he grew many different types of vegetables.

He told that adulterated vegetables are being sold in the market. To keep vegetables fresh, vegetable vendors are using chemicals to color them, this can be very dangerous for health because of which he and his family never bought vegetables from the market for the last 30 years.

Pandey told that eating colored green vegetables can cause diarrhoea, vomiting, dizziness and many stomach diseases. Eating chemical-rich vegetables can also cause serious diseases like cancer. The government has also honored him many times for this work. His efforts and kitchen garden has become the centre of discussion in his city.