Sushma Reddy turned to gardening as a means to overcome depression in 2018.

Today, it has resulted in a thriving garden on her 1,000 square feet terrace with over 300 plants, 70 of which are fruit trees.

It all started when her son was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) six years ago.

The 38-year-old software engineer had to quit her thriving career to focus on him and take him for therapy daily.

This gruelling routine of waiting outside the therapy centre for three hours daily took a toll on her. On a doctor’s insistence, she started gardening as a hobby.

She spends three hours a day tending to her darling plants, all on her own. Her passion also led to an Instagram account @glitters.of.nature which has over four lakh followers.

“Gardening is therapeutic for me. It healed and grounded me, and made me a better mother,” Sushma Reddy shares.

She started with a money plant and took advice from her relatives who are farmers.

Through trial and error, she learnt that it was ideal to water the plants early morning, between 7 to 8 am. The best time to do pest control was either before 6 am or after 6 pm, and fruit trees generally need more water.

Most importantly, she realised that the needs of each vegetable, flower and fruit were different, and she would have to work her way around that through trial and error.

Her fruit trees include mango, dragon fruit, custard apple, banana, papaya, and strawberry. The trick, she says, is to buy grafted fruit plants, which will give you a better yield compared to seeds.

Sushma grows all her fruits in 10-16 inch pots on her terrace, as she stays in a rented apartment and it would be easy for her to transport them, should the need arise.

“I am very happy today as I found my passion in gardening. It gives me immense satisfaction. The happiness I feel when a flower blooms is similar to what I feel when my son speaks a word,” shares the mother.

Here are five tips to grow fruits in your garden:

1. Buy a grafted fruit plant

Sushma says that this is the most important tip, or you will keep waiting for your plants to bear fruits.

2. Keep the soil moist.

For fruits, the soil should not be dry, and it’s important to water at the right time.

3. Grow native Indian fruits in hot cities

As a thumb rule, if the temperature goes above 35 degree Celsius in your city, stay away from exotic plants.

4. Grow flowers first

For fruit plants, pollinators are important, which will come only for flowers.

5. Sunlight for at least six hours.

Ensure that you place your fruits in a location which receives direct sunlight for at least six hours a day. During the summers, provide them with a shade.