Friday 02 / August / 2024
Muscat: For Mohammed Shakeel gardening is not a hobby, but a passion, which makes him happy, healthy and active.
Today, the Times of Oman (TOO) is featuring Shakeel, who has transformed his home into a vegetable garden, in its #OmanPride campaign.
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“I have loved nature and plants since childhood,” Shakeel, who has worked at the Diwan of Royal court for 37 years told TOO.
He recently grew a type of pumpkin called the bottle gourd with some matchless characteristics in his garden.
“When I cut it, it weighed 9.5 kilograms and it was lengthy too,” he said.
Right now, Shakeel is planning to approach the Guinness World Record officials to enter into the record book with this exceptional bottle gourd.
“Gardening helps me to spend my leisure time nowadays, it makes me happy and also gives us healthy organic vegetables,” Shakeel said.
Speaking about how he got into gardening, Shakeel said “During my childhood I used to sow seeds in small containers and enjoyed seeing them grow with curiosity.”
“When I grew up I started planting plenty of indoor plants and arranged them all over my house and later started roof gardening. I have cultivated various kinds of vegetables in wooden boxes on my roof garden,” Shakeel added.
According to Shakeel, he had to sweat it out to make this land amenable for cultivation.
“When I came here (Wadi Kabir), this was an area with full of stone; I have to put lot of effort to convert this land into an agricultural area,” he said.
“I always find time to take care of my garden during my busy schedule and whatever I have sown has been accepted by the soil and it has paid me back for my hard work,” he added.
According to him, the fruits and vegetables grown in his garden are used by his family friends and neighbours.
“I export dates, mangoes and chikku to my relatives in Al Ain, Dubai, Jeddah and Riyadh,” Shakeel said.
Vegetables, such as onion, radish, spinach, lady finger, green chilly etc. and fruits, such as apple, mangoes, chikku, banana, tamarind dates, grapes etc. are cultivated in his garden.
Shakeel said to develop a passion for gardening, the first and foremost thing is that you should have an interest.
“First we need to have an interest, be ready to work hard in the initial stages, we must love nature and plants, and must be curious to gain knowledge about fertilisers, seeds, and the process of growing it,” Shakeel said.
“You should also be prepared to spend some money as well, if you like to get into this hobby,” he added.
He also said that many people walking in front of his house took pictures and this made him happy and proud.
“I use only organic fertilisers in my garden, so my products are better than what we get outside,” Shakeel asserted.
He also thanked the Muscat Municipality for maintaining a beautiful lawn in front of his house.
