Ms. Le Thi Ngoc Tran, a resident of Ho Chi Minh City, has almost 15 years of experience in growing organic vegetables and about eight years in cultivating fruits such as grapes, apples, guavas, bananas, and more on her rooftop garden. Her rooftop garden is quite small, measuring only about 25 square meters, but due to her clever utilization of space and strategic arrangement of pots, she’s able to cultivate a diverse range of plants.
“Just the other day, I harvested 12 pumpkins at once. Since my family couldn’t finish them, I posted them for sale on my personal page at a price of 20,000-30,000 VND each, and my friends snapped them all up in a day,” shared Ms. Tran.
Ms. Tran harvested pumpkins on May 18th.
A Year-Round Supply of Organic Vegetables
To achieve her success, Ms. Tran credits not only her passion for gardening but also the hard work and dedication that she and her husband invested during the initial stages of establishing their garden. The first challenge was carrying the soil up to the third-floor rooftop. Initially, Ms. Tran hired someone to do this task, but they gave up after a day, leaving her and her husband to take turns carrying the soil up one floor at a time, taking breaks in between.
To save time, Ms. Tran installed an automatic irrigation system. The couple tends to their garden in the evenings and on weekends, as they both work during the day.
Every morning, Ms. Tran harvests organic vegetables from her rooftop garden to supply her family’s daily needs before heading to the market to buy meat and fish.
Photo: NVCC
Due to the limited space, Ms. Tran practices crop rotation to ensure a sufficient supply of various vegetables.
Photo: NVCC
Ms. Tran grows a variety of herbs, eliminating the need to purchase them for many years.
Photo: NVCC
As Ho Chi Minh City is in the rainy season, leafy vegetables tend to rot, so Ms. Tran focuses on growing gourds, melons, and various types of cucumbers.
Photo: NVCC
Ms. Tran grows only a few plants of each type, but during harvest, her family often has more than they can consume, as evidenced by her recent sale of 12 pumpkins.
Photo: NVCC
For many years, Ms. Tran’s small rooftop garden has provided her family with a daily supply of vegetables and fruits.
Photo: NVCC
A Diverse Orchard of Over 10 Fruit Trees
In addition to vegetables, gourds, and melons, Ms. Tran and her husband also have a green thumb when it comes to fruit trees. To date, they have successfully cultivated about 10 types of fruit trees, with each tree yielding fruit year-round.
Ms. Tran’s garden boasts two apple trees, each producing about 30 kg of apples per harvest, with two harvests per year.
Grapes are the most challenging fruit to grow, but thanks to her husband’s dedication to learning the necessary techniques, their grapevine bears fruit continuously throughout the year.
Photo: NVCC
With about 10 types of fruit trees taking turns bearing fruit, Ms. Tran’s family enjoys a regular supply of clean, healthy fruit.
Photo: NVCC
“I left too many watermelons on one vine, resulting in small fruits the size of a fist,” Ms. Tran laughed as she recounted her first attempt at growing watermelons, adding, “I’ve learned my lesson for next time.”
Photo: NVCC
Ms. Tran’s granddaughter, who lives with her, has grown up enjoying clean fruit from their rooftop garden.
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Now that Ms. Tran’s granddaughter is older, she joins her grandmother in harvesting the fruits and vegetables from their rooftop garden.
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While Ms. Tran doesn’t grow a large number of turnips, each harvest yields enough for her family to enjoy for several days.
A bountiful harvest from Ms. Tran’s rooftop garden.
Photo: NVCC
Ms. Tran, a native of Ho Chi Minh City, has become a bona fide urban farmer, cultivating organic vegetables right on her rooftop garden. She shared that her greatest joy is creating a green, peaceful space in the middle of the bustling city, where her family can spend quality time together. “As a homemaker, my greatest satisfaction comes from knowing that I can always head up to my rooftop garden to pick fresh vegetables and herbs whenever I need them, even when I don’t feel like going to the market,” Ms. Tran said.
Grapes and pumpkins thrive in Ms. Tran’s rooftop garden.
Photo: NVCC
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