Coronavirus lockdown has driven many British Asians to turn into hobbyist gardeners as they look towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle. Amid anxiety caused by collapsing businesses and with restrictions on social mobility, many have embraced nature in their backyards and front porches as they calm their nerves with natural compost. Jaspreet Kaur, a spoken word artist, and her husband are among the few British Asians getting earth under their nails.
Inspired by her husband’s grandmother, Jaspreet explains how the lockdown has provided the couple with the perfect opportunity of bonding with their family members while engaging in cultivating activities. Speaking to Asian Voice, she said,
“We like to believe that our naniji (grandmother) has “green fingers” because everything that she plants, grows beautifully. Whilst we are still amateurs, our grandmother has taught us how to plant bitter gourd, something that is very famous in the Punjabi cuisines. If you have bought bitter gourd from your local cash and carry or supermarket shops, then you just need to scoop out the seeds and plant them in any pot with natural compost.”
Ever since the UK government announced the lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic, prices of exotic Indian vegetables have soared. This can in part be attributed to the massive increase in importing and procuring these raw vegetables from countries such as India and Kenya in Africa. Another strand to this justification remains around the temporary closure of cash and carry shops such as the Kingsbury Fruit & Veg where the owners and staff were concerned about the risks of contracting the infection and therefore decided to shut shop for a few days. But even as the UK looks at easing lockdown restrictions, British Asians are wary about the possibility of a second coronavirus pandemic wave. Not knowing where to begin from, Jaspreet and her husband, therefore, ordered a box of vegetable seeds from Amazon. Jaspreet said,
“We did not know what we wanted to grow so, we ordered a variety of vegetables online. We began planting them in small pots as we had a greenhouse in our garden. Eventually, we started planting other root vegetables such as potatoes, onions, and carrots in vegetable beds and monitoring their cycles.
“But even if you don’t have huge gardens, you can still grow leafy vegetables in pots that can be placed on your kitchen window sills provided there is plenty of sunlight coming through. From spinach, lettuce, rocket leaves to herbs such as coriander, parsley, and mint which are traditionally used in Indian cooking, these can be easily planted in small pots as they don’t require lots of space to spread out.”
The primary sources of gardening literature for the couple are YouTube tutorials, vlogs, and social media blogs with YouTube channel GrowVeg being their favourite. The couple are even picking up expert gardening advice from books such as ‘How to grow in your garden’, ‘How to grow in small vegetable beds’ besides other channels of information. However, she is quick to recognise that most of this content online and offline is predominantly generated by white British authors and influencers who may not have the insight and experience into growing Asian fruits and vegetables. Commenting about the lack of diversity in this area, she said,
“There is not an Asian Voice that we have come across providing tips on how to grow exotic Asian vegetables such as Okra in the British climate. My husband and I are in the initial stages of gardening but going forward we may think of providing some reference material for our British Asian community.”
Jaspreet is not the only one. Dr. Amir Khan is also uploading short videos and expert guidelines on planting vegetables across his Twitter timeline.
