New Organic Gardens Sprout Up

Prakash Vora exited his return flight eager to make a phone call.

Rishi Kumar, the founder of the , was busy working on Vora's new home garden. Vora couldn't wait to hear the latest.

"I always had a dream to grow vegetables," Vora said.

But over the years, nothing had worked. Finally, Vora saw a chance to bypass the grocery store for home-cooked meals grown right in his backyard.

When Vora returned to his yard, the thin strip of soil that formerly held a swath of ivy was ready to sprout okrah, gourds, peppers, eggplant, melons, herbs, and more.

"Now we don't have to go to the grocery store for okrah and eggplant," Vora said. "I can feed people from my backyard."

The garden installation was Kumar's first — a project that transformed Kumar's Diamond Bar home into an urban farm.

Since, Kumar has expanded the reach of his project by and by starting a business to help others start their own home garden.

Kumar said the new project, "Growing Your Home", aims to help people like Vora who want to plant a home garden but don't know where to start.

"I tried years ago and nothing grew in that soil," Vora said. "So, I had the idea and didn't let it go: I called Rishi had asked him over to show the disaster."

With a 13,000 square foot lot, Vora said, "why not make use of it?"

Vora said he and Kumar installed the garden over a period of three weeks, where Vora learned all of the steps that Kumar had used in creating the Growing Home, including how to garden without using chemicals or pesticides.

"He was the teacher and I was the student," Vora said.

Without Kumar, for instance, Vora would not have known to plant beans at the base of the okrah plant, giving the bean sprouts something to spiral around.

For Vora, the process of building the garden involved having ivy removed from the side yard, bringing in manure that was otherwise destined for the landfill, compost, and installing a low-volume drip irrigation system to provide consistent water to the garden.

Now, Vora said his ideas are already set on expansion to a hillside at the back of his yard.

"I want to do the whole slope in three levels, but I need to wait for that," Vora said.

For now, Vora said he is just happy to have the garden around for food and peace of mind.

"Now, I go out to the garden two times a day to check the inventory," Vora said.

For more information on Growing Your Home, see the project's website.