Padam Singh cannot remember the last time he bought a lemon.

That is because outside the rooms of his Delhi home, fruit grows almost everywhere. Mangoes, guavas, berries, starfruit, custard apples and even pineapples fill pots across his terrace and verandahs.

Over the past 13 years, the 64-year-old retired additional income tax commissioner has turned every available corner of his home into a thriving garden. Today, he tends to more than 1,000 trees and plants, including over 400 fruit plants across 40 varieties.

And he has done it in the middle of Delhi, where scorching summers, water shortages and pollution can make keeping even a handful of plants alive a challenge.

A childhood love he found again

Padam’s relationship with plants began long before this garden took shape.

He grew up in a small village in Muzaffarnagar, where his mother taught him to love plants and care for them. Gardening remained close to him through the years, but after she passed away in 2003, that connection faded.

Work took over, and his garden gradually became barren.

Nearly a decade later, at the age of 52, Padam returned to gardening.

He started small, adding plants around........

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