Guidance regarding Medicinal Garden / Resort/ Farmhouse

Hi

I have 26 Guntha’s (Slightly more than half-acre) of land at Wagholi (Pune) and it also has a natural pond where water is available till May.

I am planning to develop a herbal/ medicinal / edible garden on this land along with a farmhouse / venue for workshops related to nature / spirituality.

The development will happen phase wise and the immediate work that needs to be done is as follows:-

  1. Fencing with the barbed wire has already been done and now I want to create a live fencing by planting some medicinal shrub, like mehndi etc in front of the barbed wire and then plant some creepers over the fence. I would like to plant some Fruit / Medicinal trees in front of every cement pole so that the pole gets support and also there is no visibility of cement. There are 100 poles so I would need 100 such trees which are 3 to 5 yrs old

  2. The natural pond is the main attraction of this land and i want to develop this for fishery/ aquatic plants etc and create an eco-system which can be symbiotic between the plants and the fishes. Ornamental fishes would probably make more sense.

  3. I would also like to set up an automated drip irrigation system.

  4. I would like the design to be such that there is least amount of maintenance required. If required then I can sacrifice yield as a trade off.

  5. I would need a shed immediately. What would be better, tin shed or prefabricated RCC sheds ? I am building a security cabin, should I use this instead of the shed for temporary storage or would a shed prove useful in the long term.

Some pictures are attached herewith. The album can be seen at The pictures of this land can be seen at flickr.com/photos/40118565@ … 9362029464

Would be grateful for advice related to the above points or any other thoughts that I would have missed out.

Reds

Randhir
randhir.sinha@gmail.com
9850960162


Hi Randhir,

Do you have sufficient water available for these plants? Apart from the pond do you have any other water source?

Since water would not be available round the year how would you manage the water requirement. Again additional water source? But its a nice idea though.

[quote]3) I would also like to set up an automated drip irrigation system.
[/quote]

Possible, automate your pump instead, not just drip valve control.

[quote]5) I would need a shed immediately. What would be better, tin shed or prefabricated RCC sheds ? I am building a security cabin, should I use this instead of the shed for temporary storage or would a shed prove useful in the long term.
[/quote]

I suggest constructing a prefab shed, that for now would serve as a cabin or storage or both. In future when you are planning for living quarters or workshop halls, you can isolate separately by constructing a prefab shed & false ceiling it.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Saravana

Padmanabhan , many thanks for your suggestions.

[Padmanabhan Ganesan] - Go for Mehndi, Mul-kiluvai etc. Please don’t put the fruit trees near the cement poles as this may uproot the poles at a later point of time.

How about green bamboo ? This can provide additional security . Would like to plant other trees in front of the bamboo fence at a spacing of 8 feet although some people feel that the bamboo will not allow any other trees to grow. If this be true then will need to study how to contain them. On the other hand, if the trees are big then they may contain the bamboo.

[Padmanabhan Ganesan] - Go for Lotus, Water Lilly etc. You can grow Carp Varieties as well.

This is a good idea and have been thinking about colored carps since they hardy and look good, but not sure if the carps will not eat the lotus/ lily. Lotus also spreads very fast and management might become an issue. Although these plants prevent evaporation but actually there is more water loss due to Evapotranspiration. One possible solution is to plant them on the periphery of the pond.

[Padmanabhan Ganesan] - You have to maintain trees atleast for 3 years before they become self-sustainable.

I plant to plant trees which are 3 to 5 years old. Does this make sense ?

Note: You can check out Afforestt as this company creates a forest even in smaller areas.

Yes, have heard about them but spacing between plants seems hyped up. In my own house i have a forest in 100 sq ft and have done it without any help from specialist . It is so dense that you cannot walk into it. It has 5 large trees and multiple shrubs / climbers / creepers. If yield is not a concern then spacing should not be an issue. In nature that spacing is not maintained and yet the plants are the healthiest.

Regards
Padmanabhan Ganesan
agricultureforeverybody.blogspot.com

Congrats dear… hope so that your work finish soon in a manner you wanted it to be.