Soil Care Archives - Terrace Gardening the Organic Way

Book Now Available in Full Color Print

Before I go into the post here is some good news. Organic Terrace has been selected as one of the top 10 Indian Gardening Blogs by Feedpost. A huge thanks to the panelists and to my readers for this. After I released my book ‘Organic Urban Farming, The Indian Way’ in e-book form I got a lot of requests to do a printed book as a lot of people are either not conversant or comfortable with an e-book. After weighing in a few options I decided to self publish the book. And with friends chipping in with cash and publishing … Continue reading “Book Now Available in Full Color Print”

How to Grow Mushrooms at Home

Terrace gardening is all about using unused space at your home to grow vegetables and greens. No matter what space you use, be it balcony or terrace or windowsill, sunlight availability is a basic requirement for growing any plant. But mushrooms are something that you grow without sunlight in indoor spaces. They are also very easy to grow and score very high on nutrition scale. They have high iron and protein content and zero cholesterol and low calorific value. Mushrooms are grown on organic waste and the water requirement is very low. In this post on How to grow mushrooms at … Continue reading “How to Grow Mushrooms at Home”

How to Prepare Garden Soil for Organic Vegetable Garden

Sometime back one of our readers wrote to us about his ridge gourd plant that he was growing in his backyard vegetable garden. And he wanted to know if there is any special way to prepare garden soil for farming in the backyard. I am making this post to help him out on preparing a raised bed garden. And I am sure this will be useful to many others who want grow organic vegetables in raised vegetable beds. In organic farming and especially in natural farming as made famous by Masanobu Fukuoka we follow a ‘no till’, ‘no dig’ method of farming. … Continue reading “How to Prepare Garden Soil for Organic Vegetable Garden”

How Not to and How to Water Plants in Pots

The happy gardener. You see him/her everywhere; on TV, on bill boards in magazines. And its mostly a very happy and content looking person watering plants with a hose or a watering can. And the water falling on the plants in an almost poetic manner with shower like effect. The image conveys the beauty and happiness involved in gardening (and sometimes it is also to sell some gardening equipment). Most gardeners I have met tend to water their plants in this popular way as it feels and looks really nice as per them. Unfortunately this is exactly how you should NOT water … Continue reading “How Not to and How to Water Plants in Pots”

What People Are Saying About Us

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.
Abhishek JenaEntrepreneur
I recently stepped into organic urban farming in pursuit of having fresh homegrown vegetables. And this was made simple and exciting, thanks to organicterrace.in and its founder Mr Prabal Mallick. The site not only has detailed explanation of growing plants, but also helps in every step of the growing stage, giving you insight on the maintenance process meanwhile familiarizing one with behavior of different plants. So far my experience has been excellent. I started off with eggplants which came out to be really delicious and now I have tomatoes, ginger, lemon, herbs, beans and garlic growing in my terrace garden. Now I am more confident on growing more fruits and vegetables; All thanks to organicterrace.in and the guidance of Prabal Bhai.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.