Gyan Shetty was hit by the gardening bug as a young boy, thanks to the time he spent tending to their home garden with his mother in Mangaluru.

He would collect plant cuttings from different locations and nurture them in their terrace garden.

As Gyan grew older, education and work took priority, and his gardening hobby was paused — until the lockdown reignited it.

Working from home, the engineer started posting photos and videos of his garden on Instagram.

Today, his terrace garden envelops the entire home and boasts over 3,000 plants. They include fruits, vegetables, succulents, flowers, greens, herbs, ornamental plants, and more.

Gyan proudly states that all his terrace plants are grown organically using kitchen compost as fertiliser.

Soon, people started reaching out to buy his plants. This is when Gyan saw an opportunity and started selling them online.

A year after starting online sales, the 30-year-old took the leap and set up a nursery, ‘Namma Garden’, in a seven-cent plot near his home.

Here, he grows indoor, flowering, ornamental, and water plants. The nursery also offers saplings of fruits like mango, chikoo, custard apple, rambutan, guava, jackfruit, mulberry, lemon, pomegranate and more.

Prices at the nursery range from Rs 30 to Rs 8,000.

Gyan also offers landscaping services, setting up gardens for homes, offices, and cafes, in addition to conducting events. “While I am away, my mother takes care of the nursery activities. We also have someone to clean and help with the gardening every day,” shares Gyan.

He derives great joy in seeing the plants flourish in the yards of others. “Once I sold a stem from the plumeria (Frangipani) tree I grew in my grandmother’s yard to a customer in Rajasthan. She sent me a photo of it a year later. And I felt so much joy,” he says.

He advises everyone to start composting by setting up a compost pit and using that ‘black gold’ for their plants.

“I feel so satisfied to spend time and energy in this field. I consider it a responsibility towards nature. After all, this is the field that gave me so much peace that no other job could provide,” Gyan adds.