KAANCHI HOME GARDEN

KAANCHI HOME GARDEN My Garden of Hope

Asisha Paul, EMD-IQC

First Lockdown has affected a lot of my Husband’s shop business where we were struggling to ensure the ends meet. Once the lockdown is over, we were able to regain 50% of the business hoping to increase in due time. But the announcements of the second lockdown dimnished the possibility of regaining the business. My hubby was seriously thinking on the alternatives and I also wanted to contribute to his thought process. The only thing came into my mind was how could I support him during my free time. Being a mother of two kids and responsible position in EMD IQC, I could help him only in the late evening hours and holidays. Since both of our working fields are different, I was thinking on the option which can be common to us. That time one of my friend suggested a great idea called “Home Garden”. We could start selling various types of plants and home gardening is now a trend due to pandemic. I discussed with my hubby and first response from his side was “YES”. Lot of challenges were there since even we have a very small garden at our home. Everything had to start from Scratch. But I was excited since I was going to be a part of it, during my free time. Procuring plants and utensils was not so easy during this restricted movement period. We went to Mannuthy Agricultural University and spend a half day taking their guidance and buying some plants. Once we started the work, it seemed easy. But when it came to SALES we do not know where to sell since our garden is at home and my hubby’s shop does not have the permission to sell plants. One of my Colleagues suggested starting whatsapp group with known circle as well as searching in facebook for interested groups. We were not well versed on this type of online business, but we tried. Finally, we got several facebook relevant groups and the enquiries started coming. We needed a name and we got several suggestions. Finally we took a name suggested by my colleague “KAANCHI” which means ‘Cute and Sweet’. Everyday evening from 7 to 9, me & my mom started watering the plants, making potting mix and planting. Packing process were completed in the early morning for daily courier. At the initial stage I did not know even the names and variants of most of the plants other than Rose, Jasmine, lilly and so on. But now the names Aglonema , Calathea , peperomia, begonia and so on became a part of my day today life. The first month itself the sales crossed 10k which was really unexpected. My mother-in-law is the pillar of strength behind the smooth running of this venture. She treats each and every plant as her own kid. Without her and family support, it couldn’t have been a success. We take so much effort behind this venture. Many of my relatives had contributed some variety plants which I didn’t have in my collections. Now ‘KAANCHI HOME GARDEN’ has grown to more than 250 varieties of plants and we started selling more than 100 varieties including medicinal plants. Enquiries started flowing and we are having complete hope on this venture since has worked well even in pandemic. From frustration to Hopefulness, it took creative thinking, friend’s guidance and consistent actions for reaching the destination.

Homely Plant Care Tips:

Tea dust & black tea (diluted with water) & vegetable wastewater are good fertilizers for plants. • Spread used tea dust under the plant or mix the tea dust with potting mix before you plant in the pot. • For Vegetable wastewater, keep your kitchen wastes in half bucket water (only vegetable waste). Keep this closed for 5-6 days. Then mix it with one full bucket water. Use this mix for watering your plant. • Boiled rice water is another good fertilizer. Keep it closed for 3-4 days then mix with water and use it. • Big onion skin is a good fertilizer. Keep it in a closed jar of water for 4-5 days. Then mix with water and use it. • Use Banana skin & egg shells for orchids.