Whenever Hamisha Begam wants fresh vegetables, she just has to step out to her front yard to harvest leafy greens. In the front lane of her condominium house in Klang, Selangor, she has a little garden of vegetables and herbs.

“I grow common vegetables and herbs like Onion, Garlic, Rosemary, Tulsi, Orthosiphon Aristus (misai kucing), Pandan leaves, and Curry leaves. for the decorative plant, there are Roses, Bougaine and Jasmine and for the succulent plant, there are Money plant, Snake leaves, and Aloe Vera. There are also fruiting plants like Mango, Papaya and Chillies as these are my family’s favourites,” says Hamisha, 42, during an interview.

Along the length of her 4m lane, the customer service has 20 planter boxes to grow vegetables and herbs. There are also a few water containers for rainwater harvesting.

Some seedlings have just begun to sprout in a few boxes. Other containers have crops that are fully grown. In a few air pruning pots, vining vegetables like bitter gourd, tomatoes and cucumber are starting to creep.

A mother of three is among a growing number of Malaysian urbanites who are embracing sustainable living through urban farming.

Urban farming is defined as “growing or producing food in or around urban areas”. Although the word “farming” usually refers to large scale activities for commercial purposes, the term “urban farming” has also been widely used to refer to community and home-based gardens.

Hamisha has been very interested in gardening since she was a child with exposure from her mother but due to time constraints, she did it as a small hobby and now her hobby becomes a quality activity with her family.

She is aware of the dangers of pesticides in fruits and vegetables.

“Some of the vegetables contains synthetic colouring or hormone injections that are used to make them look fresher. I became concerned about the risk of pesticides in my food and my family. So I took the step to grow my own vegetables at home. Besides, teaching my family to recognize the types of vegetables and evaluate the quality of fresh vegetables”

She then began reading about urban farming methods and surfed the Internet for ideas on planting vegetables in small spaces. Gardening is easy and isn’t complicated at all if you have done research before doing that. Items needed include seeds, planter boxes and gardening tools – pots, soil, fertilizer and tools. She’s also faced some errors in growing her crops.

“There were issues with the soil’s acidity and moisture. I experimented with different blends until I found an effective organic pest control recipe,” she says, adding that it has been a good learning experience for her.

Hamisha says her journey into urban farming has been both eye-opening and exciting. What she enjoys most is the crops growing well and slowly ready to be harvested for his family.

“Growing my own vegetables have also got me hooked on cooking.”

Pretty soon, Hamisha may be able to harvesting vegetables, all the way to their dinner table.