Grow-Bag Farming Kit, Installed in Mumbai

Chawl-style buildings, common in several of the city's older mill districts, typically give a resident a shared courtyard rather than a private balcony or terrace, so a small kit of grow bags placed along a railing or a windowsill is often the only realistic setup rather than a compromise.

In newer flats where the balcony is the household's one outdoor space, the same bags are arranged to leave a walking path clear, since Mumbai balconies tend to be narrow relative to the size of the flat behind them.

Care through the city's two seasons

In the dry months from November to May, the drip line on a timer is what keeps a small bag of soil from drying out faster than a full bed would, since less soil mass holds less water in reserve.

Once the rain sets in, usually by 10 June, grow bags drain faster than a built bed if their outlets are clear, which makes them a safer choice than an unraised terrace bed for a home without a good drainage slope.

Redeveloped chawl buildings and their new balconies

As older chawl buildings in the city's mill districts are redeveloped into taller towers, residents who move into the new blocks often get a balcony for the first time, and a grow-bag kit is frequently the first garden that household has ever had space for, which changes the brief from working around no outdoor space to making good use of a small new one.

For these first-time balconies, we lean the plant and seedling choice toward quick, visible results, herbs and fast greens rather than a slower-growing kitchen garden, since a household new to growing anything benefits more from an early harvest than from a longer-term planting plan.