Organic Kitchen Gardening

Kitchen gardening is a growing trend specifically among the urban population. Organic growth and production of vegetables not only helps you, but also helps the community as well. A kitchen garden is a place where vegetables, fruits and herbs are grown in small areas of a house such as in kitchens, windows, roof, or in galleries or in any other portion of house, for domestic use.

In kitchen gardening, we can easily use any kind of empty space in our homes and any kind of jars, bottles, plastic buckets, containers, or other useless utensils. This is also a hobby for many people, as it is the cheapest source of organic food. The vegetables available in the market contain pesticides because many sprays are used during their production, but vegetables grown through kitchen gardening are safe from all kinds of chemicals. It is not only safe but affordable because no fertilizers are used in its production and we can use green manure or kitchen waste manure for good growth of plants.

Many people think it is a difficult task to manage a kitchen garden, but it is quite easy. For kitchen gardening, initial planning is a must.

1.      Site selection

Plants need sunlight, soil, water, and air to survive. During site selection always select

a site which is exposed to sunlight (at least 4 to 6 hours a day). Site soil must be well-drained otherwise a few hours of rainwater can cause damage to the garden.

2.      Soil Preparation for Gardening

If you are establishing a new garden, then, I would recommend you to not start from a

large scale. Start from small, but before that, research about sustainable growth of

your garden. If you are starting your garden on a patch of soil, then raise beds and sow seeds or seedlings in the bed for better production. Mix kitchen waste compost in your garden soil in order to enhance the soil fertility.

3.       How to Make Compost (Organic Fertilizer)

Compost making is an easy task. You need some kitchen waste, collect the degradable material from the kitchen waste, cut it into small pieces and then store it in a basket. When the basket is finally filled with kitchen waste, add some soil and water it, then cover the basket head completely with soil or some other hard material. Make a small hole at the bottom of the basket for water drainage. Now put this basket in any corner of the house under shade. After 2 or 3

months the basket waste will convert into compost (organic fertilizer).

4.       Plantation and Management of Garden Crops

In the beginning always start with what you like the most. The easiest way is to start with a salad garden, with your favourite vegetable of the season, otherwise people who start with multiple crops fail usually and get disappointed easily, and so they never try again. The most important thing for kitchen gardening is to select the vegetables according to their season. Sketch your garden and allot your available soil/space to different crops. One can easily grow vegetables such as tomatoes, chili,onions, garlic, ginger, spinach and cucumbers etcetera. And if pests or any other diseases attack, then there are many organic ways to control or reduce these factors. Spraying cold water can repel many insects. If insect/pest attack is severe then you can use neam oil (works as organic pesticide). We can irrigate our plants through drip irrigation by using plastic bottles. Always irrigate your garden at the time of sowing and irrigate after 3 to 4 days initially. Always irrigate your plants at the flowering/fruiting stage.

Note: (Every crop water requirement is different according to the stages of plant growth)

Conclusion

Increased population and increased urbanization might lead Pakistan to a serious issue of food scarcity and malnutrition. Kitchen gardening can be a good alternative to tackle these issues. The benefits of kitchen gardening are very wide ranging such as: we can grow healthy and fresh organic vegetables by ourselves and can save the cost of buying vegetables from markets. Home grown vegetables are better in taste and growing our own vegetables is very satisfying. It is a healthy and creative activity and makes us active and fresh. People should carry out this activity. Watching your garden crops grow is a great fun and it provides us internal calm and happiness.