Journey of becoming that plant lady

Green surroundings have always been my innate love. My earliest memory of planting was when I was about 8 years old whilst tagging along my late gramps to their small estate in my kampung. I remember helping them plant some banana trees there. A year later when I returned to my kampung for the school holidays, gramp took me to see how much the plants at his estate progressed. I was surprised to see how quickly the bananas I planted have grown within a year. Growing up in airmen quarters that was lush with lawns surrounding our quarters allowed my mother to grow our own food.  She planted all sorts of edible greens such as beans, cucumbers, okra and many more. Seeing how passionate both my mother and gramps were for plants that they tend to, I realised then that my love for plants and greenery is a love passed down from one generation to another. 

I have always dreamed of having edible garden next to the kitchen so that I could simply pluck herbs needed for a particular recipe whenever I felt like cooking the dish. At present, I’m the proud caretaker of curry leaves, pandan, lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, kaffir lime, coriander, oregano, basil grown in my back garden. I say caretaker for I can’t take credit of growing them from tiny seeds. I got them as seedlings from my mom’s garden because I previously attempted to grow these myself from seeds but never succeeded. Thus, I thought that I am no green thumb like my mom or gramps. So, for the past 6 years or more, these herbal plants are the only plants growing in the back garden. 

Earlier this year nearly everywhere around the globe, nations were held in lockdown. Balcony garden quickly catches on as a trend since everyone has nowhere else to go but stay at home. My bedroom has a balcony annexed to it. Sadly, because the grill’s lock has gone lost in keeping, I have been unable to open the door to access the balcony. Determined to optimise the additional 4 feet by x 13 feet of the balcony, I somehow managed to push open the grill thus enabling access to the balcony. 

The best thing about growing plants in the balcony is that these oxygen producers act as screen against harsh sunlight. Prior to having a balcony garden, my room was always warm because the outer walls were exposed to direct sunlight from a.m to p.m. With a balcony garden annexed to my working area, I now enjoy working in a room with a view; a very soothing view indeed. Sometimes when the jasmines and ylang ylang bloom, my working area would be flooded with their strong sweet scents.