2003 Journals

Sambhavna Trust is planting an organic Ayurvedic herbal medicine garden at its new clinic in Bhopal. The garden project will produce fresh herbs to use in making the Ayurvedic medicines dispensed by the clinic, train people in organic gardening techniques, educate community members about growing and using medicinal herbs, and demonstrate a home-grown alternative to expensive, drug-store variety health care.

Looking at the bare, open land, it is hard to envision what the garden will look like a few years from now. But imagine a lush green garden surrounded by shady trees and shrubs. Beneath this shady border, worms are at work making rich, dark compost for use in the garden. Walking paths meander through the beds of more than 100 varieties of medicinal plants. Hand painted signs help you identify the plants and their uses. Around the large pond you see plant species that like water. Entering the small grove of trees next to the pond you follow a small stream up to a short waterfall. The sound of the water gurgling over the rocks tempts you to pause for a rest on the bench. Once still, you notice the dragonflies flitting over the water, and are amused by the chipmunks running around the trees and stones. Continuing up the path toward the clinic you pass several women doing yoga for relief of breathlessness. You pass the medicine-making workshop where the plants harvested from the garden are being made into Ayurvedic medicines. Ahead is a plant nursery where you can find the plants you want to grow in your own medicine garden at home. Reluctant to leave, you head back down toward the Tamarind tree for a last lingering view of the beautiful garden.

Let us know if you want to help us make this vision a reality. Come to Bhopal and get your hands dirty.

Garden Journal: March 2003

In starting this garden we face many challenges. The garden site was formerly used for a brick-making operation, hence the red clay subsoil will need a lot of improvement. We have planted a “green manure” cover crop to begin this soil-enriching process.

Bordering the garden is an open sewage “nalla”, completely choked with plastic bags and garbage. During the monsoons, this overflows on to the land, depositing all of the garbage. We spent two weeks cleaning up all of this garbage before we could plant our cover crop. We will have to pick plastic bags out of the soil for years to come. We have tried to design our fencing to prevent this flooding.

The largest tree on the property is a lovely old Tamarind. The tree is still standing tall despite the fact that the soil around its roots has been severely eroded. We will build a protective wall around the base, and fill it with soil and good compost to help protect this tree, which is our favorite place to sit in the shade and cool off while working in the garden.

Garden Journal: August 2003

The dampness has set in now, as we reach the middle of the rainy season here in Bhopal. The early rains came as dramatic afternoon thunderstorms blowing fast across the landscape. I would stand on the roof of my apartment building and watch the lightning displays until they got too close and I ran inside for shelter. The afternoon and evening rains cool everything down and make the nights quite pleasant for sleeping. Some days the sun glares down through the thick humid air enough to dry the laundry on the line. And in the open space across the way, boys splash and play in the seasonal pools, and get covered with mud in rowdy games of soccer. Compared to the parching dryness and dust of the winter and hot seasons, the humidity in the air is welcomed by my skin and nostrils. And the thirsty earth bursts forth in a bright green lushness, luminous against the dark grey skies.

Now, it seems the clouds have moved in to stay for a while. In the cabinets and under the bed anything that can absorb moisture is getting covered with fuzzy white mold. Nothing to do but wait for the sun to air everything out...eventually.

And in my garden the soil has transformed itself from hard dry bricks into thick sticky clay that accumulates on the bottom of my sandals, adding inches to my height like platform shoes. Worms have come, and the cover crop I planted back in March/April that I thought had been completely destroyed by heat and grazing has reemerged and is jumping toward the sky, along with a healthy crop of weeds. Since I got back in mid-June the fencing has been completed, effectively keeping the overflowing sewage nalla at bay and the ever hungry goats and cows away from the plantings. Jean Batiste and Aude, two organic farmers from France, came to volunteer and we built the first compost pile, weeded, and planted some trees donated by a local plant nursery.

The biggest project was digging the pond before it became too rainy to work. The pond will store rainwater for irrigating during the dry season. The work was done by hand by about 15 local men and women who completed the whole thing in a week. Now it is filling up, and I am anxious to see if the water will stay without having to put in an artificial liner.

My attempts at seed sowing in my nascent plant nursery have all met with disastrous results, with everything succumbing to "damping-off", a soil fungus that attacks and kills young seedlings, and obviously thrives under these monsoon conditions. With nothing resembling a "sterile soil mix" available hereabouts, I think I'll try sowing into pure sand next. My other idea is to water the seeds with neem leaf tea. I'll let you know if it works.

Garden Journal: October 2003

As quickly as they came, the rains have ended. And the overabundance of water has just as quickly dried up. But I am impressed by the effectiveness of mulching. The soil is still moist and damp, even on the surface, in the areas where we have mulched.

While it seems that day-to-day things just inch along, looking back I can say we have accomplished quite a bit. Our pond filled up with water, and now supports cypress grass and lotus. The lotus flowers look quite beautiful in the early mornings, thrusting their deep rose flowers, crisp, clean and new, toward the sky. Lots of frogs leap into the water as you walk around the edge, and red-orange dragonflies dance their dance above the surface. Mohan says there is also a turtle, but I haven't seen it. I did see a big black water snake swimming swiftly around one day, but it slid into the grass when it saw me watching.

Around the boundary we have planted dozens of trees and hundreds of cuttings. The cuttings are primarily: Nirgundi (Vitex negundo) a beautiful shrub used for relief of headache, rheumatism, and fever, with anti-cancer activity; Giloy (Tinospora cordifolia) a climbing vine good for fevers; and bouganvilla whose thorny branches will become an important part of the live fence, and whose hot pink flowers will provide cheerful color even during the droughts. And this is just the beginning! We plan to add Shikakai (Acacia coccinia) a thorny vine good for the hair, fragrant (and thorny) Indian roses, Karonda (Carissa carandus) a thorny shrub, and Henna shrubs (Lawsonia inermis), among other species.

Our plant nursery is now doing well. We started more than 120 varieties of medicinal plants and trees, and those that germinated and survived “damping off” are now ready to go into the ground. We should be able to start planting in the next few days. In addition to our nursery-raised seedlings, we will also direct seed many more varieties.

We used our first cover crop of Sorgham to make a nice pile of compost. And down on the low lying portion of the field near the nalla (sewage canal) we have planted a new set of nitrogen fixing, soil improving cover crops like alfalfa, red clover, and indigo. It is essential that we grow our own biomass for compost and mulching material, as there is no other local source. The cover crops are planted in between the trees in rows separated by newspaper and straw mulching to suppress weeds and conserve moisture. It is time consuming to plant it this way, but I am sure it will pay off in the end.

Some of the trees we have planted so far include leguminous nitrogen fixers, good for biomass and tasty vegetables, medicinal fruits, and trees with medicinal leaves and barks. These include Arjuna (Terminalia arjuna), Palash (Butea frondosa), Ashok (Sarraca indica), Neem (Azadiracta indica), Cassia spp., Gulmohar (Delonix regia), Babul (Acacia arabica), Amla (Emblica officinalis), Amaltas (Cassia fistula), Bel (Aegle marmelos), Ber (Zizyphus jujuba), Peepul (ficus religiosa), Banyan (Ficus bengalensis), tamarind, lemon, banana and papaya.

We hired two gardeners in mid-August, Mr. Amar Singh and Ms. Ratna Soni, and recently Sunil Lodi, a gas survivor with severe psychological problems, has joined us for some horticultural therapy. In addition, several local volunteers have helped out regularly. They have learned a lot about compost making, seed sowing, cuttings, and transplanting. We all share our knowledge of different herbs, and bring in plants and seeds that we find in the villages. Nivritta, the clinic's yoga instructor, has taught us several yoga exercises to help us strengthen and protect our backs.

So things are off to a good start, and we are all excited to see what the place will look like in a few months.

Terry Allan
C/o Sambhavna Clinic
44, Sant Kanwar Ram Nagar
Berasia Road
Bhopal, M.P. 462018
INDIA