How a Young Bengaluru Resident Turned His 300 Sq Ft Home Into a Garden of 500 Plants

2 January 2026

A fossil. 500 plants. And an aquarium with 10 shrimp and three fish.

All of the above can be found in Syed Alfatah Manzoor’s Bengaluru home.

His 300 sq ft home is a moodboard of sorts, with plants decking every corner.

Syed shares, “I’ve been living in Bengaluru since 2009. As a child, I loved plants; my father would bring back seeds from the market, and I would plant them.”

It was during the COVID pandemic-induced lockdown that Syed revisited this passion. Today, his garden features 500 plants.

Sharing how he maintains a thriving garden, Syed says he relies on vermicompost.

The worm castings enhance soil structure, while improving their nutrient availability, and promoting plant growth.

In addition to this, vermicompost ensures a more porous and well-aerated soil, thereby helping the soil hold moisture and reducing the need for frequent watering.

While narrowing down on the species of plants you’d like to include in the garden, Syed suggests ones that are “rough and tough” in nature.

His garden includes flowering plants such as jasmine, hibiscus, hydrangeas, bleeding heart, dahlias; a dozen herbal plants like tulsi (holy basil), rosemary, hibiscus, lemon grass; exotics like passion fruit; vegetable plants such as lettuce, cucumber.

And to protect his plants, he relies on neem oil for its weed-killing abilities.

While the rains in Bengaluru are unseasonal, Syed says, he changes the watering patterns with the season. “In the rainy season, I don't water the plants for a month. In summer, I water them around twice a day.”

Within the garden, there is also a 60-million-year-old fossil; Syed brought back the ammonite stone from Nepal’s Kali Gandaki River.