This winter has been a bad phase for our garden. Almost 70% of our produce has either been eaten away or destroyed by monkeys. Only root vegetables like radish, carrots, turnips etc have been spared by the monkeys. All kind of beans have been eaten away. In some cases the young leaves too have been eaten in all types of bean plants not allowing them even to grow. Cabbage heads have been half eaten and then left. Tomatoes, Eggplants have not only been eaten , they have also been plucked and thrown around in the garden. Monkey attacks have become … Continue reading “How to Save Tomato Seeds for Planting Next Year”
Tag: Terrace Gardening
Garden Updates
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 … Continue reading “Garden Updates”
How To Grow Bitter Gourd in a Pot
Bitter gourd is not exactly a favourite vegetable of most people. But there are also quite a few like me who love bitter tasting stuff like neem flowers, dark chocolate and of course bitter gourd. In fact in a complete Odia thali it is difficult not to find something bitter. Bitter tasting stuff is actually very good for the body. In fact if you did a search on internet you would find that Bitter gourd is an excellent source of Vitamin B, C, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, manganese and iron. It contains twice the beta-carotene than broccoli, twice the calcium of … Continue reading “How To Grow Bitter Gourd in a Pot”
How to Grow Cucumber at Home
Summers are here and the temperature this year seems to be rising faster than ever before. In a couple of months time there would be early signs of rains, but till then we need to hydrate ourselves with a lot of fluids throughout the day to beat the summer heat. And there is no better way to do it than with cucumbers. Cucumber has the highest water content for any solid food and is a great snack by itself with a little salt and chilli powder. It is popularly served as a salad and also makes a great summer soup with curd … Continue reading “How to Grow Cucumber at Home”
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”
Growing Pumpkin in Containers – A Complete Guide
Pumpkin is a great plant to grow in your garden. It grows easily without any hassles provided there is enough nutrition in the growing medium and there is enough light available for it. It is rich in calcium and phosphorous and tastes great in curries and as a soup it is excellent. But the best thing about growing pumpkin is that all parts of the plants including its leaves, stems and flowers are edible and there are simple and great tasting recipes which you can do in a few minutes to enjoy them. However many people feel that Growing Pumpkin … Continue reading “Growing Pumpkin in Containers – A Complete Guide”
Benefits of Organic Terrace Gardening
We get frequent visitors to our organic terrace garden. Most of them get inspired to start their own kitchen gardens. But as it turns out a very few actually start and even a fewer continue it. Generally the reason for not continuing is because of failures in the garden. And that could be because all things to be considered before starting an organic terrace garden has not been thought out or because they are not doing the basics of container gardening right. But the reason of not starting at all is because most people do not understand the Benefits of … Continue reading “Benefits of Organic Terrace Gardening”
A beginners’ guide to growing vegetables in containers
My father has planted flowers in pots since as long as I can remember. Growing up it was always a pleasure to watch his flowers and other decorative plants add life to our home. In fact it was quiet inspirational at times. And I did pick up my brushes to create a few art works out of our garden. But generally he avoided planting vegetables as he had not been very successful in growing them. It was because of the low yields. In fact most times it gives no yield at all. The vegetable plants also did not grow well, … Continue reading “A beginners’ guide to growing vegetables in containers”
5 reasons why you should NOT become a terrace gardener
In the last post I gave an introduction to Organic Terrace Gardening. This post is about the most important question that you should be asking by now. And that question is WHY. “Why should one take up to growing food in unused spaces of one’s home like terrace and balconies?” I’ll start by answering the exact opposite question. “Why should one not start a kitchen garden!” Lets face it. Terrace gardening is not a walk in the park. It requires effort and the outcome is not always 100% controllable. There are way too many reasons why one should not take up … Continue reading “5 reasons why you should NOT become a terrace gardener”
So…. What is Terrace Gardening ?
Terrace gardening, Container gardening and a few more such terms are in vogue today. Sometimes one comes across related terms like city farming or urban farming which makes things even more confusing. In essence these are nothing but your good old kitchen garden. Yes it is that simple. Though there are subtle differences (which I’ll touch upon later in this post), in spirit these terms are used only to refer to the activity of growing fruits and vegetables in the confines of your homes. We generally use the terms terrace gardening and container gardening because that is exactly what this … Continue reading “So…. What is Terrace Gardening ?”