Garden Updates - Terrace Gardening the Organic Way

Some good news first. Organic Terrace got featured in Oh Desi website this month. Oh Desi is run by Mumbaikar Sneha who writes about healthy living practices through Organic and Natural products. The website has some great content with a pleasant design. Here is the link to the article. which talking about my journey in Organic Terrace Gardening. Thanks to Oh Desi again for this feature.

This year we have had an unexpected problem in our organic terrace garden; that of monkeys. The monkeys discovered our garden earlier this year and since then have been regular visitors to our terrace garden. Frustratingly we have had to share more than half of our produce with them throughout the year. Not only they eat away our produce they also create havoc in the garden by tearing away leaves, breaking branches, plucking immature vegetables and throwing them around. Hence for the winter season this year we decided to secure our shade house and limit our winter garden only to the shade house. We also had to restrict our vertical garden to inside of the shade house only. The outer boundary of shade house which was used to to grow creepers and climbers has not been used this year. But still we are having good enough produce to cater to all of our raw salads and some of our stir fries and curries. Here are some picture updates from our limited winter garden this year.

Cherry Tomatoes Everywhere

Second batch of spinach doing well with some mulch of paddy straw

Some lovely marigold to light up the garden

Another variety of cherry tomatoes grown from seeds I save last year

We have planted turnip for the first time in our garden

Young carrot plants doing well under some shade

We have started getting bell peppers already

Cabbage plants will start growing a head soon

Marigold acts as a good trap crop and adds some warmth to the garden

Fresh coriander in our kitchen comes from here

We already have harvested few batches of radish this year and will be harvesting even more

What People Are Saying About Us

Navneet AroraHome Maker
The summer course on Urban Farming organised by Prabal and Shweta was just what I needed. Though I am an enthusiastic amateur kitchen gardener, I was beginning to feel tired due to poor yield and crops lost to pests as I was against using any chemicals. Learning tried and tested methods from Prabal's and Shweta's own experience as successful organic gardeners filled the gap in my understanding. I feel I now understand the entire process of soil preparation, composting, crop rotation etc much better. I am back into gardening with renewed vigour and am looking forward to a bumper harvest this season.
VanshitaStudent at KIIT International School
Our generation really needs to understand and appreciate the skill of growing one's own food. It is important for each of us to have the knowledge and skill to do so. Urban Farming course with Shweta Di and Prabal sir was of the eye opener experiences of my life. Not only did I understand the actual importance, but also got to know that urban farming is not so tedious if done correctly. I would suggest every student of my age to take up these courses in order to become independent and responsible in life. If we grow what we need it will be a two fold benefit. First there would be minimum or no wastage and second we'll consume minimum chemicals. Being self sufficient has always been a goal in my life and this course has helped me to take a huge step towards my goal. Both Prabal sir and Shweta Di are very helpful and interactive which made the experience and learning interesting and fruitful.
Uday SahuAtmaram Chain of Hotels and Restaurants
I had been planting the odd vegetables in my terrace without real success. But last year I started taking consultation from Prabal of http://organicterrace.in and things have completely changed since then. Not only I learned proper ways of growing vegetables in containers, the passion of Prabal was so inspiring that in approximately 3 months I had a full fledged vegetable garden on my terrace. I also managed to get free giveaways of eggplant, tomato saplings by organicterrace.in, which helped me to build my garden faster. Huge thanks again to organicterrace and Prabal.
G JagadishFormer LIC Officer
The "Organic Urban Farming Crash Course" organised by Sri.Prabal Mallik, Founder, Organic Terrace and Ms.Shweta Agarwal, Director, Paz Farming has come to my fortunes at the right time when I was in need of it the most.

I knew that my desire was ripe to start my own terrace vegetable garden but was unsure of how to start one. I came to the program with almost zero gardening experience. Thanks to Prabal Babu and Madam Shweta for making the aspirants like me learn most of the latest skills in organic terrace gardening. Now with this 21-day course I feel that I am thoroughly equipped having bestowed with the right knowledge, skills, abilities and confidence to start a successful "terrace garden" and "open land farming" as well.

My sincere thanks with whole lot of appreciations go to the duo for a splendid academic exposure clubbed with hand-holding guidance.
I wish OT n PF all success in their future endeavors.
Shweta NarulaNarula Restaurant, Bhubaneswar
The reliability of and emphasis on organic fertilizers such as compost, green manure as an alternative to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides is the need of the hour. With increasing number of diseases and ill health of people, consumption of organically grown fruits and vegetables will contribute largely towards well being of all. Prabal's workshop on organic urban farming is an ideal platform to learn and utilize the methods of preparing organic materials, residues, nutrients and recycling them. Very interesting and knowledge enhancing workshop. Must do.
Pulak PatnaikNetwork Engineer
Messenger of Greens, that's what I would call Prabal who has shown me the path to terrace gardening. He has gone on from being a friend and a terrific painter to become a guide and showed me the how to grow my own vegetables in my own house. An IT guy and a painter who is now spreading awareness about the need of urban population to go green and grow green is doing a terrific job through this website. Cheers and I hope more people follow this path not just to help nature, but to help themselves.
Nikky PujariChicago, Illinois
The Organic Terrace blog is well researched, simple to follow and written by someone who is not just passionate about growing organic vegetables but very experienced in all of its facets. I followed instructions on tomato growing and immediately saw results - 13 big, red, sun-ripened organically grown tomatoes on a 10 inch container..wish I could attend the workshop too. Love the blog!

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