Urban Horticulture – The need of the hour

Due to various environmental, social, economic and life style implications, urban horticulture is an upcoming subject in today’s scenario. It is applicable in many value added verticals of modern life. Horticulture is the science and art of growing fruits and vegetables and also flowers or ornamental plants. Urban horticulture is the study of the relationship between plants and the urban environment. It focuses on the functional use of horticulture so as to maintain and improve the surrounding urban area. Rapid urbanisation has led to it’s prominence in modern society. It has an undeniable relationship to production horticulture in that fruits, vegetables and other plants are grown for harvest, aesthetic, architectural, recreational and psychological purposes, but it extends far beyond these benefits. The value of plants in the urban environment has yet to be thoroughly researched or quantified.

Historical Context

Since the inception of modern civilization, integration of nature within the boundary of our cities has been pursued. For centuries, the built environment such as homes, public buildings, etc. were integrated with cultivation in the form of gardens, farms, and grazing lands, Kitchen gardens, farms, common grazing land, etc. Therefore, horticulture was a regular part of everyday life in the city. After the industrial revolution, green spaces in the city were fast replaced by brick and asphalt. After the World Wars when recession and devastation were staring people in their faces, people began to turn to the comfort that nature provides. In the 21st century, many people started to implement garden projects, realizing the need of having green spaces in the city. Today urban horticulture has several components that include more than just community gardens, such as market gardens, small farms and farmers markets and is an important aspect of community development. Another result of urban horticulture is the food security movement where locally grown food is given precedence through several projects and programs, thus providing low-cost and nutritious food. Urban community gardens and the food security movement was a response to the problems of industrial agriculture and to solve its related problems of price inflation, lack of supermarkets, food scarcity, etc. Gardens and other green spaces also increase social activity and help in creating a sense of place, apart from their various other purposes such as enhancing the community by mediating environmental factors. Thus, we can see that from historical times itself this field has been present and now it has been revived in the modern context.

The needs of the future

One imperative aspect of modern horticulture is that we are still using the methods of the past era and have not innovated in this field. Sudharma seeks to change all this. We believe that a revolution is needed in this field and for the modern era we will need innovative ideas, products and services. Even though this is an age old field, extensive research has not been done on this field until recently. A recent study showed a reduced body mass index and lower weight in community gardeners compared with their non-gardening counterparts. The study showed men who gardened had a body mass index 2.36 lower and were 62% less likely to be overweight than their neighbors, while women were 46% less likely to be overweight with a body mass index 1.88 lower than their neighbors. As seen through this aspect, urban horticulture improves the health of the community through more ways than one and we aim to be at the leading edge of this revolution in urban horticulture. Sudharma is dedicated to innovation and this has led to many products and services being developed by us for the aid of mankind. We are listing them below.

Innovative Services by Sudharma in this field

We have designed various services for you to choose from. A brief description has been provided for each of them below. Please click on the attached images to have a detailed insight into each topic.

True Food

“True food” through micro farming is one of the best possible ways out for general people to improve the quality of the food that they consume. City dwellers across the globe have started practicing micro farming for their own “True food”. The food that we consume today has been proven to cause many ill effects in society. Hence, we need a way out to escape these ill effects. True Food comes to the rescue in this department. Sudharma provides you with full technical hand holding support to grow your own “True food” as well as to supply you with true cereals, pulses and other such food items that are usually not possible to grow on Homesteads.

Terrace Landscaping

Why not decorate your terraces with the beauty of nature to freshen up your mind, body and soul? A large variety of technicalities are involved in terrace/ roof landscaping. It is the combination of expertise on Civil engineering, Garden architecture, Aesthetic sense and Horticulture science as well as home-décor. Sudharma has that kind of rare expertise which it leverages to provide it’s clients with the best solutions drawing from the fields of technical prowess and aesthetic astuteness. Let us take you into the world of beautiful terrace landscaping.

Landscaped Gardening

Do you own a plot of land around your house that makes you morose each and every day you pass by it? Do not be depressed anymore! Sudharma has the expertise to inject fresh life into your surroundings by covering them with the beauties of nature! The experience of our experts over a decade lies in choosing the right design to suit your purpose. Beside this, we like to provide you something unique so your garden isn’t just a copy of the general.  We have specialization in small to medium-sized residential and commercial projects with a main focus on design, planting,  soil amending, edging, and small water features and maintenance. Click on the image below and see for yourself why you should choose us to transform your garden!

Innovative Products by Sudharma in this field

Sudharma has also brought many innovative products to this field and we are constantly coming out with new and innovative products to serve our customers. It is extremely gratifying for us that our customers have liked these new products and based on their response we continue to further tailor all our products. Click here to check into our product offerings in this field.