Dowries have been illegal in India since 1961, but the practice of a bride’s family gifting money to a groom’s is still widespread in many parts of the country. The dowry system inevitably marginalises poor Indian women, who become financial liabilities and are pressured to marry landowning suitors while they are still teenage girls. After My Garden Grows follows 16-year-old Monika as she learns basic agricultural techniques through a programme called the Girls Project, aimed at empowering West Bengali women to avoid child marriage and improve their social standing through financial independence.