MCD sets up Delhi’s first school of gardening at Roshanara Bagh

The new school will offer hands-on gardening and plant care courses taught by retired horticulture experts and civic officials.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)’s horticulture department has finished the construction of its first school of gardening at the Roshanara Bagh in north Delhi, and is currently reaching out to universities across the capital to see if students want to attend practical gardening courses which will be offered at the school, said officials have said.

The school is located in the nursery section of the garden, next to the high tech nursery and a newly set up arboretum. (HT Archive)

The school is located in the nursery section of the garden, next to the high tech nursery and a newly set up arboretum. It is a one-floor structure with three rooms, one each for an office, a kitchen, and a classroom capable of seating 70 students.

The classroom is equipped with a portable projector, and the boards on the walls carry details about the garden’s flora. The boards list the trees, climbers and creepers, and indoor plants the garden has, next to further details about them such as when they flower, their botanical names, as well as when the seeds of the trees can be collected and their methods of propagation.

An MCD official said that the school will offer practical, hands-on gardening training, which related courses at universities in the city currently lack. This includes preparing the soil for potted plants, the process of repotting them, what plants should be kept outside, how to treat plants infected with pests, and identifying different plants. Students will even be allowed to operate machinery such as lawnmowers.

“Practical knowledge will be central to all the courses, as theory is readily available. The grounds of Roshanara Bagh and the nursery will be used to provide the same, and we will conduct visits if needed,” he said.

While the courses could be particularly beneficial to students of agricultural courses, the MCD is considering keeping them open to all of Delhi’s public.

“We plan to start training the gardeners who work in the horticulture department within this month, on a variety of topics such as kitchen gardening, lawn maintenance, plant propagation, seasonal knowledge, and others,” said the official. The department does not currently have a confirmed timeline for when they will begin offering courses to students.

The courses will be paid, with the total fees as well as the exact length of each course currently under consideration. The official quoted above said that different courses will have different lengths, and could range from 2 days or a week to multiple weeks, depending on their subject matter.

“The courses will be taught by retired members of the city’s civic agencies such as the MCD, DDA (Delhi Development Authority), and PWD (Public Works Department). It could be anyone from the directors and deputy directors to gardeners, as long as they are interested and have the required knowledge. While they will be paid, we are choosing to employ retired members as faculty to make the initiative more cost-efficient,” said the official.

Currently, Delhi’s only school of gardening is operated by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), and operates out of the Purana Quila Road nursery set up in 2011. The school’s objective is to provide training to gardeners and horticulturists appointed by the above civic agencies, Delhi Police, state bhavans, and other government departments.