Have you been feeling like the seasons haven’t been adhering to their roster? You aren’t the only one.

Rainy days have been making way for a short ‘summer’ in between the downpours; cool winds coexist with humidity. And sometimes, a single day sees three seasons play out in tandem.

This seasonal cacophony has gardeners in a flummox.

Do we prepare our gardens for the rains?

Do we plant vegetables and fruits that can brave the heat?

Do we plant an all-season garden?

Well, looks like Aditi Rai Dastidar from Bengaluru has cracked the code. Her 25 x 6 feet balcony garden in her apartment is an aesthetic argument for how different plants can live together — philodendrons, sunflowers, hoyas, orchids, cauliflowers, tomatoes, zucchini, spinach and dahlias amongst others.

Gardening is in her DNA; Aditi grew up watching her grandfather and father tend the home garden. She watched and learnt.

“I have fond memories of picking flowers from the garden for my teachers and rushing to grab the fallen mangoes after a heavy rainstorm,” she says. As the years went by, gardening became a yardstick for happiness. “It taught me the value of what comes to the table,” Aditi shares. Today, in her home garden, she’s attempting to carry forward those same green traditions.

“There must be around 500 pots around the home,” she affirms.

How do you manage a garden in erratic seasons?

Nature takes care of itself, is what most gardeners would reason. Fair point. But with

© The Better India