Bengaluru Woman Turned Her Apartment Into a 500-Plant Jungle
25 December 2025
25 December 2025
Bengaluru-based Aditi Rai Dastidar has nurtured a 25 x 6 feet balcony garden in her apartment.
It’s filled with philodendrons, sunflowers, hoyas, orchids, cauliflowers, tomatoes, zucchini, spinach, and dahlias, among many others.
“There must be around 500 pots around the home,” she affirms. But growing different kinds of plants in the same garden means staying finely tuned to the needs of each. Here’s how she manages it.
She explains, “The soil mix for hoyas includes cocopeat, red soil, vermiculite, bonemeal, perlite, and small pumice stones. The idea is to keep the roots moist but not tight.”
“The soil mix for aroids is light and airy and prepared with perlite, charcoal, coco chips, pine wood, cocopeat, red soil, bone meal, clay balls and pumice stones.”
She has found that splitting her gardening time between different sets of plants that require the same soil mix helps.
The secret, she says, is to place the vegetable plants, which need a good amount of sunlight, in a position where they will get it. The ‘indoor’ plants can be placed in areas where the light is less harsh.
The wind speed in high-rises can affect the plants. The palm trees in the building garden help act as wind barriers.
Their feather-like fronds act like a filter, slowing down the gusts of wind and turbulence.
Op for plants that are locally adapted and can tolerate a range of conditions. Some plants you might want to consider planting are tulsi (holy basil), marigold, amaranth and drumstick.
Drip irrigation or clay pot irrigation can help deliver water directly to the plant’s roots without wastage, even when you are away.
Another suggestion is to water the plants early in the morning or late in the evening to reduce evaporation loss.