When engineering student Richmond Tan visits his alma mater Tanglin Secondary School, he does not talk to the students about schoolwork. Nor does he conduct remedial classes.

Instead, he gets the students out in the sun.

'Rather than sit in front of the computer the whole day, students can do some gardening, and it is a form of exercise,' he says.

At the school, where he started a garden, the 24-year-old Nanyang Technological University undergraduate conducts gardening training for the students and staff. The Secondary 1 and 2 students help out with the weeding and watering.

The school garden contains basil, lime, pepper, curry leaves and lemongrass, which are harvested to make drinks or cookies served at school events.

He got bitten by the gardening bug five years ago, after his family decided to buy plants for their home in Jurong East. Since then, he has grown herbs, orchids and carnivorous plants at home.

'I get much satisfaction from taking care of my plants, seeing how well they grow,' he says. 'My friends and other young adults think gardening is boring, and I want to change that.'

He hopes to reach out to more youths in other schools.

Apart from conducting talks at HortPark, he dishes out gardening tips through his blog (dreamandgrowit.wordpress.com) and has written two e-books about starting a gardening hobby and growing carnivorous plants. Both books, which are on CD-ROM, are given out to audiences at his talks.

He believes that everyone has green fingers: 'You don't need to be a botanist to do gardening.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.