Find your green thumb this monsoon

For gardeners, the monsoon season is the best time of year. The nursery section in the iconic Mapusa Friday market, which is run by a majority of women, has all the right plants and answers to queries on how to grow a thriving garden in the monsoon

Published on:

09 Jul 2023, 12:54 am

Monsoon is the best time of the year to toil in your own home garden. If you don’t have one, then this is the time to make your work less stressful by letting Mother Nature, literally, take over after you planted your favourite saplings. One of the best places to shop for a variety of plants, shrubs and even saplings of fruit bearing trees is the world famous Mapusa Friday Market. The market with over 35 vendors, the range of flowering plants can amaze every plant lover. However, post Covid-19 pandemic, the community has seen a big difference in the way people shop for plants.

Victoria Dias, who owns Dias Nursery, started off as a school student selling plants and has been in this section of the market for the longest. Her stall, the first stall on the left side of the Mapusa market welcomes customers with fresh blooms and refreshing fruits on the plants. Her tiny space inside the Mapusa market is packed with an assortment of plants, grafted fruit trees, flowering plants and medicinal plants. “The customers trust us as they know we are here every week and the plants are good quality so they will last for years. Many new customers have questions about the plants, how to grow them, what are the best conditions and manure required. I am very happy to talk to them and some even enquire about gardeners or help for weeding the gardens in the monsoon,” says Victoria, who also sells vermin-compost for plant.

With over 50 years of experience in the market, what is the change that she sees? “We are a community of 20-35 regular plant sellers in the market and post Covid-19 pandemic when the market was reopened, we had a lot of difficulty in setting up our temporary shops. We unitedly met the Chairman of the Mapusa Municipality Council and requested to give us our original space in the market. The generation of buyers is also changing. Earlier, the buyers were more experienced in gardening and they knew exactly what they wanted. Now the younger generation is not buying many plants as they don’t have much knowledge about gardening,” replies Victoria.

Husband-wife duo, Anand and Sushma Naik from Amthane, Bicholim have their own nursery, Bhagirati Nursery from which they select the best saplings for the Friday market. However, there is a lot of work involved from transporting the plants to this destination and spending the whole day in the sultry heat or the pouring rains. “We arrive in the market at 5 am as we want this space to display our plants and wind up the day by 9.30 pm. Besides selling fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants, we also teach grafting and the art of growing plants the right way,” says Anand.

Speaking about the new challenges of running the shop, Anand explains, “The wages of labourers have shot up but the prices of plants are the way. During Covid-19, we lost four regular plant sellers and the number of buyers has also decreased over the years.”

In a tiny space opposite Malsons Shoes, three women share the same space. They formed this strong team over 20 years ago when Angelina Nelson from Moira was joined by Magdalena Braganza from Mapusa and Sangeeta Ambekar from Tivim. From shoots, small pots to flowering plants, all three are sell their plants together. Angelina prefers to bring flower plants from her gardens while Magdalena, an 81-year-old prefers to bring shoots of different plants in the monsoon. Sangeeta brings a few flower pots but especially brings dried seven sided lady fingers for sale. “I used to bring rice and alsande seeds too but now hardly anyone is going to the fields. There are no cultivable fields with flooded rainwater and broken dykes,” says Sangeeta. Angelina adds, “It is difficult to find space in the market. If we come late even by 7 am, we won’t find space to set up our plants.”

Mother-daughter duo, Emilia and Celia Dias from Aldona use every possible material to form the package for their plants ranging from pet bottles, Lays chips packet to even milk packets. “My mother has been selling plants in the market since her childhood. She has completed almost 50 years in the market. I have joined her only post Covid-19 pandemic. We have been here in the same space for years,” says Celia.

Daniel D’Souza, a horticulturist and a pioneer in the field of landscaping bonsai and floral arrangement, looks forward to the Friday market that he has been patronising for the past 24 years and shops an auto full of plants of cuttings. He arrives early in the morning to shop for the best that these local gardeners can offer. These sellers always surprise him with something unique to add to his collection. “This is the best season to buy plants and grow in the monsoon. The market should be encouraged as they bring very rare plants and some are on the verge of extinction. These plants include Football Lily, Orange Lily, Crinium Lily, white lily, Golden Rods, Rotan Abolim, firecrackers flowers and clerodendrum serratum. They have some of the best plants at an affordable prices,” says Daniel.

Gardening requires a lot of patience and dedication but it is very satisfying when the garden blooms in its full glory. As the monsoon is in full force in Goa, this is the best time to rejuvenate the garden.