ludhiana there is good news for people who want to grow vegetables for selfconsumption but do not have the space for it it is the income tax department surprisingly that has found a way out for them almost a year after the it department of ludhianas green plastic initiative of making vertical gardens in the city turned out to be a huge success the departments green team has registered yet another unique achievement by successfully growing vegetables verticallythe team conducted an experiment at the departments rishi nagar office by planting tomato seeds in some plastic bottles installed on the walls of the department and a few days ago they discovered that tomatoes had started growing successfully jubilant over the accomplishment the green team has now started work on making a fullfledged vertical vegetable garden and in the first phase along with growing tomatoes other vegetables too would be grownspeaking to toi on the new development income tax chief commissioner binay k jha who is spearheading the green plastic initiative said the vertical garden at it departments rishi nagar office gave us another happy surprise a few days ago an experiment by way of tomato seeds in one of the plastic bottles in the vertical garden yielded the first pair of tomatoes germinating and tossing up a saladfull of possibilities and ideashe added earlier we had considered setting up a rooftop garden in tubs which would also grow vegetables with the success of vegetables growing in bottles on walls we are thrilled as it would provide every citizen the scope of having a kitchen garden without occupying any space on land we will grow cherry tomatoes salad greens parsley thyme basil peas and even karela and strawberries in the bottles the advantage is that the vegetables will be totally organic as we use cocopit they will be protected from groundlevel predators and wont spoil from sitting on bare soil jha further added we are working out methods to secure the roots of the plants laden with vegetables as the plants will need support or stringing so they do not pull away from the soil the inherent advantage of using plastic bottles is that the bottle cutting pattern combined with other support can firmly secure plants and prevent them from slipping from the bottle we are really looking forward to sharing the success of our green plastic initiative team with everyone by adding the exciting and productive new dimension of healthy chemicalfree vegetables to the gifts of clean air cooler environment and a visual delight according to additional commissioner rohit mehra a part of the green plastic initiative team this vertical vegetable garden can prove to be a boon for people who want to grow vegetables for selfconsumption but do not have space for doing so we are ready to help residents interested in taking up such initiatives in their homes or elsewhere