Tips to Start Your Own Kitchen Garden

You always wanted to cook fresh vegetables but not sure about how it is done? The world is now moving towards consuming more and more organic produce. How about starting your own kitchen garden? And the monsoon is the perfect time to do so. TRDSW shares some basic tips on how to help you set up your very own kitchen garden with herbs and vegetables that you can use in your everyday cooking.

TIP #1 : Choose the right place for your garden

From water supply to distribution, ample sunlight, quality of soil and easy access from the house are key issues to be considered for choosing the best site for the garden.

TIP #2 : Protection and Tools

A permanent fence is need for protection from livestock entering the garden. For the fence, thorny plants can also be used. Protection is also needed from pests and plant diseases. Cover with a plastic wrap and keep it in a warm area until germination starts. Keep the soil moist, but not soaking wet. Mixed cropping, rotations, liquid manure can help. If you are using pots for herb plants, make sure they have drainage so that the roots don't clog or develop mould due to water clogging. Use kitchen scissors to trim the plants.

TIP #3 : Water Management

Mulching prevents the wind and sun drying the bare soil, green manures cover the soil and helps conserving water. Collecting and using waste water directly from the kitchen can be enough to water the garden.

TIP#4 : Choose herbs and plants that you use often

Grow traditional varieties of vegetables used in Indian cooking and those that are most commonly used in your kitchen. It is necessary to save and protect the good seeds in order to grow good and healthy saplings in the future using the transplanting method.

TIP #5 : Garden Design

Ensure more production in a small area. If seeds and seedlings are planted too wide apart, much of the space in between goes to waste, where weeds will grow. Weeds use precious water and compost, and cause extra work to keep clear. So it's better to plant a mix of small and large types, to make different layers of crops on the same bed. These will also have different layers of roots in the soil. This means many plants can be grown in a small space, but there is no competition between crops for space, water and nutrients.