Goa is blessed by Mother Nature and every Goan seems to have a green thumb. People here love to live amidst greenery and keep adding to their collection of plants and trees, which is one of the main reasons for plant nurseries that one sees mushrooming on highways and inland roads. The Goan explores whether these small-time businesses get regular buyers all year round...
Goa is still in the monsoon mood, and Goans, known for their love for nature and greenery, are grabbing the opportunities to sow a new seed or plant a sapling in and around their homes and office spaces. The nursery business is thus seen flourishing in the State, along with the construction boom. However, most of these newly mushroomed plant vendors on national highways seem to encroach public spaces and operate illegally. They don’t own the responsibility of selling plants that will last longer and do justice to the money invested in plants by the customers. The traditional nursery businesses are more loyal to their customers.
Preference to eco-friendly environment is at the root of the flourishing nursery business. Reducing carbon footprint, growing own organic vegetables and fruits in kitchen gardens, also are reasons for people doing terrace or backyard gardening. Many also choose to buy plants, saplings or seeds at reasonable prices from the official outlets of the Agriculture department in North and South Goa.
Goa gets bountiful rain and gardening activities are at its peak during the monsoon. Beginning from mid June and ending by September is the time to plant new saplings. Taking advantage of the public mentality, the nursery market gets busy selling varieties of plants from May end. Step in at any nursery and one finds flowering, fruiting, ornamental, medicinal and herbal as well as vegetable seeds and plants arranged for sale.
The prices range from Rs 50-5000 depending upon the quality and species of the plant. Fruit plants that grow in pots and give fruits like lime, chickoo, guava or custard apple are expensive. If good care is taken and planted in the garden soil, they survive. The soil in pots cannot be changed every year, hence it loses fertility and the plant stops fruiting after one or two seasons.
It is a common experience that very few of these plants which are bought haphazardly and planted, seem to survive more than few weeks. Many of them are seen having stunted growth or just wither and dry up. What’s the reason that purchased plants have short life, and the consumer is automatically inclined to replace them with a new set of plants, also to face the similar fate? Is it a systematic business trick that is followed by mostly those nurseries that operate illegally on roadsides, and vanish after making a profit?
Gardening consultant and proprietor of ‘Nandanvan’ nursery at Taleigao Ashok Dande states that if the basic modalities of gardening while planting new saplings are not followed, plants are sure to die. Dande who went organic four decades ago, not only sells ornamental, flowering and fruit plants, but also sells ‘Liquid Gold’ a concoction he manufactures for boosting the plant growth. Dande breaks the myth that if planted during the monsoon, any plant grows automatically.
“A plant should be bought only after judging its quality because if care is not taken it will die or show stunted growth no matter from where you buy it,” says Dande, and adds that planting tiny or fully developed saplings or seedlings directly in the ground kills them. Application of manure to the trees or digging of the wet soil will not help when the soil is mucky, because it loses its fertility, texture and tilt due to rain. There are more chances of losing the plants and efforts due to water logging, torrential rains, high velocity winds and inclement weather, he mentions.
“My clients are happy because I offer after-sales services. I see to it that the plants that are sold thrive. I visit their gardens regularly and take care of the plants,” claims Daniel D’Souza, bonsai expert who owns ‘Plant World’ nursery at Assagao. Daniel also offers his voluntary services to replant and rejuvenate uprooted trees, thus breathing life into them. With his experience in nurturing plants for more than three decades, Daniel designs gardens and has hundreds of happy clients across Goa, the reason being he is a plant lover himself. With a master’s degree in Botany through research from the Mumbai University, Daniel also takes training sessions for plant enthusiasts. But very few nursery owners have such deep knowledge of plants.
In nurseries bonsai plants are highly priced. The older the plant is, the higher is the price. It takes years to actually look like a bonsai – at least 15 to 18 years and sometimes even more. Bonsai are of three types – fruiting, flowering, and foliage. Mulberry and Bougainvillea are common species. Some keep bonsai Banyan. The species takes 15-30 years minimum to really mature into a beautiful, rare and precious bonsai. Daniel works on two sets of plants, one for commercial purpose and the other for his personal store bank.
Who are the people who invest in plants? Vanessa Pinto, an avid gardener grows everything from cacti to orchids and bougainvilleas and plants to ensure a greener tomorrow for our future generations. Some health-cautious people are seen collecting seeds and saplings to plant in pots designated in their landscaped gardens or in box planters on their terraces. Agnelo Fernandes grows all sorts of plants – ornamental cacti, begonias, bougainvilleas, anthuriums and his regular kitchen garden gives him tendli, Moira bananas, valachi bhaji, mint, chilies, bimbli, lime, pepper apart from seasonal varieties like kidney beans and long beans.
Hema Rakesh Unny’s mango tree gives enough mangoes and she doesn’t buy from the market. Apart from mango, her garden has coconut, guava, chikoo, custard apple, papaya, pomegranate, neem, lemon, litchi and drumstick trees. “I also grow vegetables like lady’s finger, long beans, flat beans, chilies, spinach, brinjal, bananas, red amaranth, cluster beans, pumpkin and watermelon. During October-March, I grow cabbages and cauliflowers. Herbs and mint are available all year round. We consume our own veggies for lunch and I distribute the excess among my friends. I sometimes sell drumsticks to a vendor who sells them in the market,” shares Hema.
Ryan Semelhago, a chef in Goa, grows his own veggies, lemons, chillies and salads. “I grow mandarin limes and local varieties, garden leg for salads, herbs, mint, basil, garlic, lettuce, spinach, red amaranth and coriander in my backyard in Goa as well at our farm in Nagaland. I make my own organic sauces and vinegar,” he shares.
Dr Purnima Usgaonkar takes out time to nurture 300 odd plants on her terrace in Ponda. All that is grown goes into her food – onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, chili, pepper, pudina, tulsi, lemon grass, curry leaves, ajwain, coriander and vegetables like kidney beans, tendli, tambdi bhaji, brinjal, tomatoes, toor, suran and even sugarcane and basmati plant. She has over a dozen banana plants of various varieties – velchi, saldati, raspali, gavthi, maydoli etc – all of which yield fruits.
Dr Priyarani Savoikar from Vasco conducts practical experiments with plants like Bird’s Nest, Fox Tail, Butterfly, Goose Manias, Dancing Doll and Paradise at her home garden. Winner of the competition of Botanical Society of Goa, her collection of plants has won her many admirers. She accommodates thousands of plants around her bungalow. A single cactus can cost as much as Rs 5000 and a ground orchid can sell for Rs 1200-1500 per piece. But she does not sell any of these.
“Plants are just like human beings, they need love, they love being touched and they understand your language. They adjust to the local surroundings,” says the doctor, adding, “Like humans, they go to sleep by 7.30 pm and should not be disturbed after dusk. Plants respond to music. I place small speakers all over my garden and get positive results,” she cautions.
Growing saplings from seeds, experimenting with hybrid plants and sharing his fruits with the neighbours, is what Cajetan Almeida does in Raia while spreading the green word. Caje, as he is fondly called, grows sour soup plants in his backyard and people pour in from other States to take the saplings of this medicinal plant that has anti-cancer effects. Multiplying from the seeds of his sour soup fruits, Caje has sold thousands of saplings in the past 15 years.
With such ardent plant lovers all around the State, no wonder nurseries would flourish and make business by selling plants, seeds, fertilisers, pots, gardening equipment and consultancy services.
