My Garden My Soulscape

My Garden My Soulscape

See my garden,

full of flowers,
some are white and some are red,
every day all watered ......

That's the translation of the verse from the song “Lihat Kebunku” by Mrs. Sud. Now it feels right to listen to that song again and then look around our house. The Covid-19 pandemic has limited the mobility of almost everyone. We are forced to indulge wherever possible at home. Ranging from school and college from home, work from home, to order groceries or fast food can be from home. For people with high daily mobility, the condition "at home" provides a lot of extra time after all the daily domestic routine is complete. Then, what else can you do to spend 24 hours a day.

Mrs. Sud's song, “Lihat Kebunku”, is a good inspiration. Why don't we just go back to gardening at home? Or if the word garden is not cool, then let's plant in our home garden. Lots of activities that can be done in the park, starting from preparing the media to grow fertile soil, planting seeds, watering, fertilizing, and of course later harvesting the results. Choice of plants just to adjust to each taste. Want plants that will flower later so that our garden can be more beautiful or plants produce fruit that can be enjoyed with the family.
Usually for urban areas, the choice of flowers is somewhat more limited because it is necessary to consider the ambient temperature. Generally, beautiful flowering plants like a cool ambient temperature around   20⁰-26^oC. This means it needs to be planted in locations such as mountainous areas. But we don't need to worry, Indonesia is rich in beautiful flowering plants that can grow in the lowlands of Indonesia's urban areas, which on average have temperatures around 30^o - 32^oC. Roses, jasmine, hibiscus, fairy lilies, heliconia, and orchids can be selected. The space needed to plant also does not need to be large, it can even be planted in pots. Not enough place to put the pot, don't worry, there are still orchids that can be an alternative choice. Orchid plants can grow in the growing media from ferns. Usually these ferns are sold in the form of small boards that can later be hung on the wall of the house. So we have a beautiful vertical garden.
If you want to garden at home to produce edible crops so that you can feel the results of the labors of gardening in a relatively fast time, there are a number of fruit and vegetable crops that can be an option. Melon plants that can be harvested in about 3 months. While for more types of vegetables, such as chili, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, water spinach, mustard greens, and spinach. Usually the time for planting to harvest results ranges from 1-3 months, depending on the type of plant selected. For example chili, cucumber, eggplant, and tomatoes; while spinach and water spinach can be harvested approximately 30 days after planting. Imagine the thrill of cooking and enjoying the harvest from plants that we grow ourselves.
How to grow vegetables in a home garden so that it still looks beautiful. Lest the garden look messy because there are no flowers that grow beautifully. No need to worry, just plant it in a straight line. Because neatness is one element of beauty. Garden design in landscape architecture generally recognizes four garden concepts. One, the park is intended for beauty, for fun; the second is a garden that is used for farming to meet food needs; third is a public park that provides space for social activities; and the four parks for religious or ritual activities. Each park has its own beautiful qualities that are relative. The home garden is in each person's personal area so the beautiful criteria according to the owner might be different from the beautiful according to others.
The important thing from caring for a garden at home is patience to water and provide fertilizer as nutrients for plants according to their needs. There are plants that need a lot of water and some are sufficient. So just enjoy the gardening activities in the garden that we have, because that beauty will emerge when what we plant is flowering and fruiting.
Just like Mrs. Sud said in her song ...... roses, jasmine, everything's beautiful.

Authors: Naniek Kohdrata, Lury Sevita Yusiana, A.A. Keswari Krisnandika, I Made Agus Dharmadiatmika