If you live in a city, your house may be smaller than you’d like, and you don’t have a lawn or a backyard for your kitchen garden. The good news is that your herbs and veggies don’t need a lot of room to expand. And you are assured of a supply of chemical-free, pesticide-free, delicious vegetables along the way, of course.
Growing your own food is a great way to reduce your food budget, support local businesses and improve the quality of your diet. A kitchen garden will give you fresh produce year-round and make more meals with fresh ingredients! Examples of what you can grow include: tomatoes, basil and oregano, eggplants and peppers, strawberries, onions and garlic…you get the idea. It is easy to create a kitchen garden along any windowsill or small patio area with just a little money for supplies.
If you start right and start small, the day is not very far when you’re going to enjoy paranthas made with your home-grown Fenugreek (methi). You can grow all these greens quickly in the best cluster pots. Here are the simple steps to being a small-apartment-kitchen-gardener.
Access sunlight
Sunlight is an essential ingredient for growing edible plants. Each plant is a mini-factory that transforms solar energy into nutrition for us through its leaves and fruits. Most kitchen garden plants require at least 3-6 hours of sunlight on a daily basis. Warm temperature and good air circulation are very important factors that should be taken into consideration.
Your kitchen garden doesn’t need to be in the kitchen. It can be on a small balcony or a grill with a window, or even in the living room. Know that the location that gets sunlight for the longest time is the most appropriate for growing vegetables. Also remember to keep turning different parts of your plant facing the sun every few days so they grow evenly and properly.
Get the room right
The first advice would be to choose the space for your kitchen garden where you can get to easily.
You should plan a kitchen garden according to the size of the available space as you have to prepare and maintain it. The best way to begin is by making a sketch of the chosen area and then dividing it into squares or rectangles. Each section can then be allocated a specific vegetable or herb that you’re planning to grow.
If a house is constructed according to the books and plants can be grown on the terrace in the right way, anything can bear even larger trees’ weight. To make a lawn, you can also cover the entire surface with soil and play with it. If the terrace’s surface is filled with dirt, make sure that the surface is waterproof to prevent any leakage into the house. If you go to a formal terrace garden with pots, no extra effort is required.
Containers or beds?
You can opt for raised beds if the soil in your garden is not of that good quality. They are easy and manageable and have better drainage. They can easily protect your kitchen plants from pests. 3 or 4 beds are ideal to begin with and to do crop rotation.
As far as containers are concerned, earthen pots are a great choice as they’re affordable, easy to handle and shift and growing different plants. You just have to make sure that the size of your containers suit the crop to be grown.
Get the proper soil
If your sunny spots have been worked out and you have settled on your pots and plants, then go and find the right soil. Healthy, fertile soil, with good structure promotes good growth of the fruit and veggie plants by helping them to absorb the water and nutrients better. Many nurseries now sell ready-made potting mix, a mixture of soil, compost, and cocopeat (organic fertilizer). You could buy ready-made bags for that. Don’r forget to test the pH of the soil to check if it’s not too acidic or alkaline.
Gardener for the first time? This should be the first step for you.
You can start with a small pot and a single vegetable if it’s your first take at gardening and then gradually expand to other veggies. Don’t forget to buy proper tools to use in your garden like gloves, fork, spade, rake and whatever is required.
It would be best to grow herbs like mint, coriander, thyme as we need them in everyday food preparations and they don’t take much space to grow. A small conatiner like a mid sized bowl can help grow a lot of herbs. Planters and shelves can be attached to a wall, and pots can be arranged on ladders or steps.
It’s also easy to grow plants such as tomatoes and chilies and does not require much maintenance, so that you can start with those. You’ve got to be incredibly patient. It will take a few months to generate results, but you should not give up and continue to take care of the farm.
What to grow on the terrace?
It is simpler to grow French beans, chilies, tomatoes, brinjal, okra, and lime. You should try the cucumber, ridge gourd, and bottle gourd as well. It is also possible to grow root vegetables such as potatoes, onions, radish, carrots, groundnuts, but they need a more significant field.
Enjoy the kitchen garden and continue learning
The more food that you try to develop, the more you will learn. You’ll learn how little we know about our everyday food, too. You may face a new challenge every day, but you will experience tremendous joy once your plant begins flowering and bearing fruit.
Whatever materials you need to set up the garden is readily available. You can get the soil, seeds, and even the cluster pots online