We, the “Green Warriors” are greening a long stretch of land (on either side of Silver Oaks condo) which serves as a buffer between the Gurgaon-Faridabad Expressway and residential areas (along Kachnar Marg, G block) by adopting the best practices to rehabilitate plants and trees there.
The aim is to green the surroundings more meaningfully and create a more pleasant ambience for those who walk/sit/exercise or cross through that section of the green belt. Opposite the DLF dispensary is my area of interest. This is a public throughput area; there are large numbers of footfalls every day, crossing from the Sikandarpur area en route to Qutub Plaza market and adjacent residential areas. By its very nature, and the fact that it is low-lying, compared to surrounding areas, this stretch is challenging to maintain. I describe below our efforts at improving this area, helped a lot by the cooperation of many residents of surrounding areas. We are not aiming for a manicured garden, but what is called a ‘rough garden’ where wildflowers mix with table varieties, grass, ground cover for empty patches and shady trees—to create an atmosphere of healthy green, sturdy enough to withstand extreme weather that is the new normal.
Unfortunately, we have had continued problems with old and badly damaged fencing on the roadside perimeter, leading to cattle and human intrusions, but a bigger issue was of malba dumped/buried over past decades—-I have seen whole toilet fittings being excavated and removed from the roadside, along with huge quantities of other trash, not to mention the perennial problem of plastic. This accumulation of Malba and plastic trash prevented our earlier efforts at planting, but over time and with efforts, planting is slowly reviving. Fortunately, concerted efforts by dedicated residents got the area cleared with the help of excavators. To fill in the pits created, we got 22 truckloads of mud and soil spread over the area to smoothen it out! In this, we were helped greatly by some thoughtful residents who gave us quantities of earth excavated while they were constructing on their plots of land in the area. Heavy rains last year, however, led to this soil damaging the existing fence. We hope the Municipality, which has helped out in many ways, will soon repair and reset this roadside fencing to make it sturdier.
The stones, and bricks retrieved from these diggings have been recycled/upcycled to create mounds and features on the land. These mounds are used for landscaping arrangements and also act as water breaks to channelize excess water that floods the belt during rains. Further, we make full use of all the leaves that fall from trees, by composting them in surface bins or pits dug to create pure leaf compost, which is very helpful for plant growth. We use most of it for our plants, but a portion is also sold to gardeners to augment our resources. We have also created connected rain harvesting pits to conserve and trap water which would otherwise go to waste. In short, we make as much use of available resources as possible.
With the advent of monsoon this year, we are aerating the soil, controlling excess water that flows into the area due to the existing gradient. We are also bringing in changes in the mix of vegetation—planting ground covers and hardy plants such as Singonium, Pothos(money plants), Wadelias, Wandering Jew (a vital ground cover), purple tulsi, basil, Senseveria and a few fruit trees as Amla, Guava, Jamun, Saijan and neem. Also flower plants as Harsingar, Champa, Kaner, Kachnar, Hibiscus and Amaltas. Along with this, we are trying to make the landscape aesthetically appealing by planting tall varieties of plants with shorter ones for balance, with variegated shades of leaves. We have placed some rubbish bins in the area, as a continuing problem is people dumping plastic waste here and there. We want, by example and by guidance, to persuade all who use the green belt to put rubbish in its proper place. The effort is to keep the area clean, and cover open spaces to prevent soil erosion due
